, 1877-04-18
"THR
A MONUMENT OF THE PHARAOHs.
is PUBLISHED
EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.

giant splinters, which have been hewn out
of the rock of the r~ose-coloured syenitlc
granite from the q%narries of Syene, sculp.
tured with inscriptions of three lines Of
~hieroglyphs on each side, and transported
from E~lephantine to Heliopolis, where the
pair stood before the door of the Temple
Of the God Tum, or the Setting Sun, at
that third of the principal cities Of Egypt
on the Eastern frontier. Hence they
were transported in the days Of Cleopatra
to the Cesareum, or temple of Caesar at
Alexandria, and the modern appellation Of
Cleopatra's Needles retains the memory Of
their ~tranefer. One of the giants " tower
ing to the skies" has defed, for nearly 20
centuries, time and the spray of the Medi-
terranean, the other lies buried in the
circumiacent sand, and it is now proposed
to move it from its present pace and
erect it on q suitable site on the Thames
Embankment. It is not the first time
that the idea has been started, but the
aloment has come when it appears nearest
to its realization. A private person, who
though it will be difficult for HIN to
prevent it-does not desire his name to
be connected with tho matter, has shown
what is unfortunately a rare example OF
public generosity by Offering to contribute
E1O. coo for the conveyance of the giant
10 England. The agreement is signed,
and oil that remains is to m the
task. London will, therefore, at last
have its obeliSk, The puny modern
specimens, not even monoliths OF lime
stone, in Fleet-street and the Blackfriars-
road. are hardly worthy OF the name OF
obe'isk.
The Egyptian obelishs in England are
scarcely known there is a miniature one
of limestone in the collection Of the Duke
of Northumberland at Alnwick, another of
red granite of Thothmes Ill, which for
meriy stood at Elephantine, but is now at
Sion House, and a third of Ptolemy
EuerCetes II. and Cleopatra II. is at Corte
Castle. Two other obelisks of Nictauebes
l., of small proportions, but of fine mate
rial and execution, are in the British
Museum. Obelisks were employed in
Egypt from the earliest times, and dwarf
examples were planted before the doors
of sepu!chres, at q moderate computation
1000 years ago. They formed a part OF
the serulchre, standing before its door.
They were made OF q single piece of stone.
and at n later period, and for public
buildings. granite appears to have been
preferred. They are squared columns,
fapering slightly from the base to the
apex, and the proportions OF the base
are one-tenth of the height of the shaft
up to the base Of the pyramidion or pyra-
midal top. This, at o later period, was
capped with gold, copper, or iron. AS
early as the 18th Dynasty they passed
from the decoration of sepulchres TO the
adornment of temples, and were erected
before the pylons, or massive doorways,
at that period the triumphal arches OF
ancient Egypt. the obelisks being in reaII"
ty triumphal columns. like the Roman
only covered with inscriptions, not rellets.
The oldest extant is that of Usertesen l.
at Matarieh or Heliopolis, and the moss
magnificent specimens were erected dur"
ing the 18th and 10th Dynasties. after
which others of inferior merit and dlmen-
= sionnas were occasionally set up as late as
the Roman dominion. 1t is to the period
Of Egypt's s~plendour. the summit OF its