DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4669#0106
82 THE LAND OF THE MONUMENTS
were originally erected by Thothmes III. in the
Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis) is known to us by
the name of "Cleopatra's Needle," and was brought
to London and erected on the Thames Embankment
at the expense of the late Sir Erasmus Wilson. The
central column of inscriptions on this obelisk record
the name of Thothmes 111., his titles, and the occasii in
of the dedication of the obelisks. The two outside
lines were sculptured 260 years afterwards by
Rameses the Great.
Moses must have often looked upon these very
shafts when a student at the university, where they
were then standing, and where the}- remained through
all the storms of war that assailed Egypt until 23 B.C.,
when they were removed to Alexandria, and after
nineteen centuries they were again moved to America
and England.
The solitary obelisk now standing at Heliopolis is
of rose-coloured syenite. It had been standing for
seven hundred years when Pharaoh gave Asenath,
the daughter of Potipherah, Priest of On, in mar-
riage to Joseph the Hebrew, on the occasion of his
elevation to the highest office in the realm.* "Only
in the throne will I be greater than thou." • The shaft
is sixty-six feet six inches in height, but the annual
inundation of the Nile has in the course of many
centuries covered the floor of the court of the temple
with alluvial deposit to a depth of upwards of four feet,
so that the base of the obelisk is hidden from view.
Its companion, which stood on the other side of the
entrance, has disappeared. A single line of inscription
is cut down the centre of each face ; the charactei -
are very clear and distinct, except where concealed by
the nests of the mason bees, j
• Gen. xli. 40, 45. I [bid. lv.40. ; See Note 7.
were originally erected by Thothmes III. in the
Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis) is known to us by
the name of "Cleopatra's Needle," and was brought
to London and erected on the Thames Embankment
at the expense of the late Sir Erasmus Wilson. The
central column of inscriptions on this obelisk record
the name of Thothmes 111., his titles, and the occasii in
of the dedication of the obelisks. The two outside
lines were sculptured 260 years afterwards by
Rameses the Great.
Moses must have often looked upon these very
shafts when a student at the university, where they
were then standing, and where the}- remained through
all the storms of war that assailed Egypt until 23 B.C.,
when they were removed to Alexandria, and after
nineteen centuries they were again moved to America
and England.
The solitary obelisk now standing at Heliopolis is
of rose-coloured syenite. It had been standing for
seven hundred years when Pharaoh gave Asenath,
the daughter of Potipherah, Priest of On, in mar-
riage to Joseph the Hebrew, on the occasion of his
elevation to the highest office in the realm.* "Only
in the throne will I be greater than thou." • The shaft
is sixty-six feet six inches in height, but the annual
inundation of the Nile has in the course of many
centuries covered the floor of the court of the temple
with alluvial deposit to a depth of upwards of four feet,
so that the base of the obelisk is hidden from view.
Its companion, which stood on the other side of the
entrance, has disappeared. A single line of inscription
is cut down the centre of each face ; the charactei -
are very clear and distinct, except where concealed by
the nests of the mason bees, j
• Gen. xli. 40, 45. I [bid. lv.40. ; See Note 7.