The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1877-11-02

of Thothmes IV, and originally stO cd
before the great temple Of AaanlOn Rd-
the "sun-god" OF Egyptian worship. OF
all brought to Rpme only twelve re-
main.
The purpose Of these obelisks was evil
IDENTIFY monumental, as among the an
clent Egyptians. They all bear craven
Inscriptions, which are found, since the
hieroglyphs have become translatable,
to record heroic deeds or the virtues of
some beloved or distinguished parsonage.
And right royalty was this monumental
work performed. The form, the size,
the material, the workmanship, each
perfect for the purpose as proposed, all
combine to give assurance to the modern
world OF the existence in those ancient
times of attainments in the mechanic
arts that amaze while they convince.
1t must be remembered that these obe-
lisks are each composed Of but one sin.
gle stone, and are what we cal monoliths.
This stone is uniformly reddish gran
ite and hornblende combined, the hard =
est stone known for architectural USE
With all our present appliances, of the
lure, it is found difficult to cut our plain
R0manic letters i'll such stone. And
yet, each Of the four faces of these obe-
llsks is found covered with the finest hi
eroglyphical inscriptions, clean Cut in
all their fine lines, and symbolicel fig
ures. No bungllng hand with soft.iron
chisels could have done such mastery
| work as that.
1t must furthermore be remembered
that all these obelisks brought from
Egypt to Europe have been obtained
from The delta OF the lower Nile, and
most Of them from Alexandria, directly
adjacent to the Mediterranean shore.
Now, there is no granite found on the
lower Nile in quarry. There is no place
| nearer than the neighbornoOd Of the
Iirst ca cstaract, about Syene, where this
9'auite rock could have been obtained /;
and this is full six hundred
miles from Alexandria. Then,
If we are amazed at the perfect
polish and delicate engraVings found
| u ! on this hard rock in its finished torn.
how much must our amazem4nt be ill.,
creased when we consider That those
| immense monolIths, weighing hundred S
of tons, must each be quarried, raise d
from their quarry beds, removed to the
| riverside, placed on some suitable river
craft, columns 70, 80, and even 100 feet
long, transported 800 miles, again lifted,
carried TO its place, raised upon its ele-
waited platform base, and then finally
| Itself erected thereon, upright, perpen-
dlcuar, perfect, aud all with such pre-
cisiOn Of workmanship as to
stand there in all their monu-
! mental beauty for more than 5000
years; and yet remaining almost uu.
touched by all the defacing changes Of
those thirty centuries OF time. The con.
sideration Of all this swe.ls our amaze
menJ into wonder. We wonder at the
marvellous skill in artisanship, at The
| powerful me- echanical appliances, at the
inventive genius and tOilsome perse.
verance OF those ancient sons of Ham
as displayed in these works of monu
mental granite which nations now the
most refined are coVetous to obtain.
These oDelisks form bat single
branch Of the workmanship of thal
wonderful race, whose civilization il
stamped upon records of granite for the
editication OF all succeeding ages;
race who first taught commerce &nC
navigation to the world; II race WAC wal
the sclOoimaster to the Greeks, ant
who first gave to Greece her alphabet;
race from whom Moses received his higi
culture to fit him for the worlds law
giver, and of whom the hgh encOmiuu
was, that che was learned III all tn
wisdom O. the Egyptians"