https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_and_Obelisk

The Latin inscription at one side of the pedestal reads: “Let any beholder of the carved images of the wisdom of Egypt on the obelisk carried by the elephant, the strongest of beasts, realize that it takes a robust mind to carry solid wisdom.”^[5]

The red granite obelisk was originally erected by Pharaoh Apries of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt,^[1] about 580 BC, in his capital Sais. The obelisk was rediscovered in 1665 during excavations near the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. It had probably been brought to Rome in the first century AD for the temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis that was located there. The obelisk is 5.47 meters tall and is the smallest of the 13 ancient obelisks present in Rome.^[2] Together with pedestal and elephant, the statue stands 12.69 meters tall.

The obelisk is considered to be one of a pair; the other is in Urbino.