The Portland daily press., 1877-10-24
WEDNESDAY, MORNING, OCT. "a.

Indrla TO London. So far as is known the
voyage has been performed with success; and
IL no untoward accident should happen, there
Will shortly repose in some form or other on
the banks of the Thames the massive block
winch has for so many years been buried IN
the sand not far from the waters of the Nile.
Two questions naturally arise in the consid
Grafton of this matter. The first relates to the
history of the obslisk ITSELF and the second to
the uses to which it may now be put. 1t is
hot very easy to furnish minute and accurate
Information on the first point. A recent
writer has said that the monarch for whom
this block was excavated from the quarries of
Syene lived in the very dawn of the historical
Ierloo, ana only In very recent years has the
Nell OF the past been so far drawn aside as to
ave some record of his reign. The erection of
TINS and other famous obelsks at Heliopois is
attributed by Champolion to M8ris, the sover-
eign who constructed lake known by his
name for regulating the overflow Of the Nile.
But more recent historical students have
Changed all this; and Egyptologists now gen.
trally agree that the two obelisks which, till
within few weeks, were both in Alex andris,
Snd latterly known there as Osopatra's
Needles, were originally erected at Helopols
py Ihothme5 III, That monarch set up many
ooelisks; among the rest the highest one
knowp, which is now at Rome and goes by the
name of 81. John Lateran. The date of the
reign of Thothmes Ill. may be placed (within
century or two) at 1900 B. G.
AT this point good deal of confusion gets
into the history. In the opinion of some writ
ers this Thothmes Ill was the Pharaoh of the
Biblical narrative, under whom the Israelites
escaped from Egypt. According to Mari
cite the exodus from Egypt occurred about
1850 b. c.. in the reign of Marnepah son of
Rameses III. In this light the obelisk is I'M.
doubleday very ancient; but at what time it
was removed from Heliopolis to Alexandria it
JIG very difficult to say. 1t is almost certain
shat it was done in the time of the C@s but
statement has been made that it occurred in
the time of Rameses Ii. AS has been re-
marked, the chief difficulty about the latter
assertion is. that the founding of Alexandria is
usually dated about a thousand years later
The companion obelsk to the one now on its
way to England is still standing at Alexandria,
and bears the name of Rameses II. among its
inscriptions; but his name is found on many
monuments which he did not erect, as we'll as
on those which he did. The removal of obe-
lisks from Africa to Europe began in the Au-
GUSTAV era. Most of them went in the time of
the Caesars to Rome, and there are dozen
there at the present day. There is no date as
certain that it has long lain buried in the sand
at Alexandria.
1t is hardly possible to define with precision
the object in view in the erection of this and
other obelisks. That they played some i'm
portsnt part in the religious worship of the
ancient Egyptians seems certain. Pliny says
that tina Egyptian equivalent for the word ODE
lisk meant the rays of the SUM-" There may
have been some special appropriateness in
placing numerous obelisks in Heliopolis, "the
City of the Sum-" Their position there and
elsewhere was always in front of the temple.
In London 1t will, doubtless, excite much
curious interest; but beyond that it is not likely
to falfl any useful purpose. Like many an
firYna nhi in fha - x~r;1
serve to throw some small light on the history
of the past. Wherever it may be placed in the
metropolis, it will be better than remaining
imbedded in the sand at Alexandria; and one
OF the chief lessons it will serve to teach to the
present and future generations will relate to
the value of art and science, and the import
ance of individual energy in even. public
works.-ScottiSh american Journal.