DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0208
amount of other material used in erecting the obelisk were furnished Mr. Dixon free of cost by
merchants.
Unlike Fontana and LeBas, his two modern predecessors in the held, Mr. Dixon received no
public recognition of his services in beautifying the capital of his country. In the busy modern world
the assumption of risks, in the hope of gain, is considered an every-day matter; and, this affair having
assumed the aspect of a private transaction, royal favor could but ill have graced final success. The
time-worn shaft will remain erect, however, for many years to come, and just so long will it be a
monument to the liberality and enterprise of two of London's citizens.
RECORD OF THE LONDON OBELISK. (BY H. H. G.)
The record of the London obelisk is the same as that of its mate now standing in the Central
Park, until the former was thrown from its pedestal in Alexandria. Thothmes III (i5Qi to i565
B. C., Lepsius), erected them before the great temple at Heliopolis. They were removed to Alex-
andria and re-erected there before the temple of the Caesars during the reign of Augustus, B. C. 22.
The London obelisk remained standing at Alexandria until the beginning of the thirteenth
century. There is conclusive evidence of its having been mounted, in the same manner as its
companion, on four bronze supports. The Arabian geographer, Edrizi, writing before n5q A. D.,
refers to the obelisks at Alexandria as if both were still standing. The Arabian physician Abd-el-
Lateef, writing in 1201 A. D., mentions two obelisks near the sea at Alexandria, and says nothing
of one being prostrate, while he carefully notes, in his description of Heliopolis, that one of the
obelisks there had fallen. The next mention of these obelisks, that I can find, is that of Petrus
Bellonius, who visited Alexandria in the middle of the sixteenth century and saw one of them
prostrate. From Mallet's " Earthquake Catalogue," of the British Association it appears that a
severe earthquake occurred at Alexandria and Acre and throughout the Peloponnesus, Candia, and
the Adriatic Sea, on August 8, 1303. This earthquake nearly demolished the walls of Alexandria.
In Colonel Howard Vyse's explorations and discoveries it is recorded that during the reign of En
Nasir, A. D. 1301, an earthquake occurred, so severe that it is said to have nearly ruined Cairo,
giving it the appearance of a city demolished by a siege. Other chroniclers give the dates as
1302 and 1304.
The London obelisk was doubtless thrown down by this earthquake. Cooper and other
authorities allege that it was overthrown by plunderers who coveted its bronze supports. This
cannot be correct, for the crabs remained in some way connected with the obelisk, and were studied
and written about by travellers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
According to Birch, the vignettes of the pyramidion represent Thothmes III, in the form of a
sphinx, presenting offerings to Ra and Turn, the chief deities of Heliopolis.
Three columns of hieroglyphs appear on each of the four faces : the central column of each side
being that of Thothmes III ; the lateral columns were added by Ramses II. The south and east sides,
as erected at Alexandria, are much worn.
The inscriptions of Thothmes III, according to Birch, indicate that the obelisk was erected late in
this monarch's reign : their one theme is his devotion to the Temple of the Sun. He is the " ruler
of An" (Heliopolis) ; he " supplies the altar of the spirits of An"; " his father Turn has set up to
him his great name, placing it in the temple belonging to An" ; mention is made of " his festivals
in the midst of the place of the Phoenix" ; " crowned in Uas (Thebes), he has made his monument
to his father, Haremachu ; he has set up to him his great obelisks, capped with gold."
The inscriptions of Ramses II, according to Birch, were added in that monarch's youth; they
are chiefly devoted to the praise of his conquests. He is " the powerful victor," " making his frontiers
wherever he wished"; "the guardian of Egypt, the chastiser of foreign countries, dragging the South to
merchants.
Unlike Fontana and LeBas, his two modern predecessors in the held, Mr. Dixon received no
public recognition of his services in beautifying the capital of his country. In the busy modern world
the assumption of risks, in the hope of gain, is considered an every-day matter; and, this affair having
assumed the aspect of a private transaction, royal favor could but ill have graced final success. The
time-worn shaft will remain erect, however, for many years to come, and just so long will it be a
monument to the liberality and enterprise of two of London's citizens.
RECORD OF THE LONDON OBELISK. (BY H. H. G.)
The record of the London obelisk is the same as that of its mate now standing in the Central
Park, until the former was thrown from its pedestal in Alexandria. Thothmes III (i5Qi to i565
B. C., Lepsius), erected them before the great temple at Heliopolis. They were removed to Alex-
andria and re-erected there before the temple of the Caesars during the reign of Augustus, B. C. 22.
The London obelisk remained standing at Alexandria until the beginning of the thirteenth
century. There is conclusive evidence of its having been mounted, in the same manner as its
companion, on four bronze supports. The Arabian geographer, Edrizi, writing before n5q A. D.,
refers to the obelisks at Alexandria as if both were still standing. The Arabian physician Abd-el-
Lateef, writing in 1201 A. D., mentions two obelisks near the sea at Alexandria, and says nothing
of one being prostrate, while he carefully notes, in his description of Heliopolis, that one of the
obelisks there had fallen. The next mention of these obelisks, that I can find, is that of Petrus
Bellonius, who visited Alexandria in the middle of the sixteenth century and saw one of them
prostrate. From Mallet's " Earthquake Catalogue," of the British Association it appears that a
severe earthquake occurred at Alexandria and Acre and throughout the Peloponnesus, Candia, and
the Adriatic Sea, on August 8, 1303. This earthquake nearly demolished the walls of Alexandria.
In Colonel Howard Vyse's explorations and discoveries it is recorded that during the reign of En
Nasir, A. D. 1301, an earthquake occurred, so severe that it is said to have nearly ruined Cairo,
giving it the appearance of a city demolished by a siege. Other chroniclers give the dates as
1302 and 1304.
The London obelisk was doubtless thrown down by this earthquake. Cooper and other
authorities allege that it was overthrown by plunderers who coveted its bronze supports. This
cannot be correct, for the crabs remained in some way connected with the obelisk, and were studied
and written about by travellers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
According to Birch, the vignettes of the pyramidion represent Thothmes III, in the form of a
sphinx, presenting offerings to Ra and Turn, the chief deities of Heliopolis.
Three columns of hieroglyphs appear on each of the four faces : the central column of each side
being that of Thothmes III ; the lateral columns were added by Ramses II. The south and east sides,
as erected at Alexandria, are much worn.
The inscriptions of Thothmes III, according to Birch, indicate that the obelisk was erected late in
this monarch's reign : their one theme is his devotion to the Temple of the Sun. He is the " ruler
of An" (Heliopolis) ; he " supplies the altar of the spirits of An"; " his father Turn has set up to
him his great name, placing it in the temple belonging to An" ; mention is made of " his festivals
in the midst of the place of the Phoenix" ; " crowned in Uas (Thebes), he has made his monument
to his father, Haremachu ; he has set up to him his great obelisks, capped with gold."
The inscriptions of Ramses II, according to Birch, were added in that monarch's youth; they
are chiefly devoted to the praise of his conquests. He is " the powerful victor," " making his frontiers
wherever he wished"; "the guardian of Egypt, the chastiser of foreign countries, dragging the South to