DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5538#0289
QUEEN HATASU. 269
sheathed with pure gold, taken from the chiefs of all na-
tions.
" His Majesty gave these two gilded obelisks to her father
Amen, that her name should live forever in this temple.
" Each is one single shaft of red Mahet stone, without joint
or rivet. They are seen from both banks of the Kile, and
when Ea arises betwixt them as he journeys upward from
the heavenly horizon, they flood the two Egypts with the
glory of their brightness.
" His Majesty began this work in the fifteenth year of her
reign, the first day of the month of Mechir, and finished it
on the last day of the month of Mesore, in her sixteenth
year."(")
The shaft of this obelisk bears on its western and south-
ern sides long dedicatory inscriptions in the name of Hatasu
only; whereas on the eastern side we find, to the right and
left of the central column of hieroglyphs, two outer columns
in which Hatasu and Thothmes III. are represented togeth-
er in adoration before various manifestations of Amen - Ea.
The fact that the name of Thothmes III. here appears with
that of his'sister in the sixteenth year of her reign acquires
an especial interest when it is remembered that this is the
same date at which we meet with it on the before-mentioned
tablet of Sinai. It seems, therefore, to mark the precise
time at which he was finally recognized.
With regard to the dates recorded in the inscription on
the plinth, they show that these magnificent monoliths were
extracted from the quarries of Syene, thence conveyed to
Thebes (a journey of one hundred and thirty-three miles),
engraved, and placed in position within the amazingly short
period of seven months—Mechir being the sixth month of
the Egyptian year, and Mesore the twelfth; which is just as
though we were to say that some great public work was
begun on the first of June, and finished on the thirty-first
of December. It is, however, only when we consider the
enormous size and weight of these obelisks that the magni-
tude of that task can be fully appreciated, each of them
sheathed with pure gold, taken from the chiefs of all na-
tions.
" His Majesty gave these two gilded obelisks to her father
Amen, that her name should live forever in this temple.
" Each is one single shaft of red Mahet stone, without joint
or rivet. They are seen from both banks of the Kile, and
when Ea arises betwixt them as he journeys upward from
the heavenly horizon, they flood the two Egypts with the
glory of their brightness.
" His Majesty began this work in the fifteenth year of her
reign, the first day of the month of Mechir, and finished it
on the last day of the month of Mesore, in her sixteenth
year."(")
The shaft of this obelisk bears on its western and south-
ern sides long dedicatory inscriptions in the name of Hatasu
only; whereas on the eastern side we find, to the right and
left of the central column of hieroglyphs, two outer columns
in which Hatasu and Thothmes III. are represented togeth-
er in adoration before various manifestations of Amen - Ea.
The fact that the name of Thothmes III. here appears with
that of his'sister in the sixteenth year of her reign acquires
an especial interest when it is remembered that this is the
same date at which we meet with it on the before-mentioned
tablet of Sinai. It seems, therefore, to mark the precise
time at which he was finally recognized.
With regard to the dates recorded in the inscription on
the plinth, they show that these magnificent monoliths were
extracted from the quarries of Syene, thence conveyed to
Thebes (a journey of one hundred and thirty-three miles),
engraved, and placed in position within the amazingly short
period of seven months—Mechir being the sixth month of
the Egyptian year, and Mesore the twelfth; which is just as
though we were to say that some great public work was
begun on the first of June, and finished on the thirty-first
of December. It is, however, only when we consider the
enormous size and weight of these obelisks that the magni-
tude of that task can be fully appreciated, each of them