New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-10-02
CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.

| UrSt question usually II, W htiO h"o wv" """N
before in a similar case7 But there is no par
alel in the history of Great Britain for the
receipt of an Egyptian Obelisk. There was, IN
deed, much talk at one time OF setting up
monolith in Hyde Park to the memory OF the
late Prince Consort. That idea was started,
possibly, by the favor which Prince Albert had
! himself extended TO the use OF an obellsk IN
memorial architecture he having ordered the
model for one to commemorate the Exhibition
of 1851. That enterprise did not go beyond
the model. For the Albert Memorial, the
| Queen suggested. at first, an obelisk, and the
subject was discussed by a Committee of Adj
vice. The committee vainly endeavored to
procure suitable stone for the purpose, their
nearest approach to what was wanted be-
ing found iii some light red granite
of the Duke of Argyll; but when
block of the Scotch granite had been ex-
| cayated, it was pronounced weak III the
middle. The estimate of the cost of the ODE
| li5k with incised sculpture was from %25OOOO
| to 100000. All things considered, 1t Is not
surprising that the committee deemed 1t wise
! to foregO the great stone. No precedent can
be offered in answering the question, What
" shall be done with II" when the gift OF
Mehemet Ali and Mr.. Erasmus Wilson reaches
the London docks. In one public square, say
the critics, the monolth VIII be dwarfed by
the size of the buildings around it; in another.
they say, it will spoil the architectural effect
of the neghboring structures. With fore
sight that is creditable, TIE authorities have
set up a wooden model OF CleOpatras
Needle in one of the squares, in order that
criticism may exhaust itself in determining the
4 Il ctr IL itSalf nll N
position.
Whether Parliament Square. or the front OF
the British Museum, or the Thames Embark
ment shall finally receive the 200 tons OF
sienite, il is certain to be unique feature III the
| London streets. There will be nothing more
strikingly quaint, and few things so old In all
England the exceptions, If any, being among
the antiquities of tie British Museum. The
msnOmer OF Cleopatra's Needle Is not more
absurd III its reference to the emblem or fe-
male industry, than in connecting 1t with the
name of a daughter of the Ptoemies who
probably never saw it. and to whom Its hero
glyphs would have been easily worse than
Greek, since Greek was her ancestral tongue,
and presumably her vcrnacular The monarch
for whom this block was excavated
from the quarries of Syene, lived lii
the very dawn OF the historical period,
and only in very recent years has the
veil of the past been so far drawn aside as TO
give us some record of his reign. Champol-
lion attributed the erection of this and other
famous obelisks at HeliopOis, to MGrls, the
sovereign who constructed a lake known by
his name for regulating the overflow of the
Nile But more recent students have changed
all this including the name or the constructor
of the Lake of MGris, which was certainly
one of the greatest of ancient works of en-
gineerlng. Psychologists now agree that the
two obelisks which, till within a few weeks,
were both in Alexandria, and latterly known
there as CIeopatra's Needles, were originally
erected at Heliopolis by Thothmes III. That
monarch set up many Obelisks; among the
rest the highest one known, which is now at
Rome and goes by the name of ST. John Lat
eran. The date of the reign of Thothmes iii.
may be placed within century or two) at
1900 b. c.. great credS is given him by anti
quaries for sound architectural taste.
At this point the confusion begins in the story.
Wilkinson says that ThOthmes iii. was the
Pharaoh of the Biblical narrative, in whose
time the Israelites made their escape from
Egvpt. The incident is calculated to have Oc
Cured in the fourth year of his long reign,
and if that be admitted he could not have been
drowned with his army in following the Israel
ties Marietta dates the Exodus in the reign
of Merneptah, the son of one of the greatest
of Egypt's sovereigns, both as warrior and
builder-Rameses III. The chronology of Ma
riette would place the Exodus at about 1850
b. c. The next point of interest is as TO the
romovol of the obelisks from HelioDolis TO AL
cxandria. There il evidence that this was
effected in the time of the Caesars; but there
is also n statement that il was performed by
Rameses III. The chief difficulty about
the latter assertion is that the founding
of Alexandria is usually dated about thou
sand years later. The companion 0belisl 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, az well on those which he did.
The removal of obelisks from Africa to Eu-
rope began in the Augustan era. Most of
them went in the time of the Caesars To Rome,
and there are n dozen there mt the present
day. No date is assigned for the fall of the
obelsk that is now on it's way TO England; it
has long lain half buried in the sand at Alex
andria, and has been much matreated.
The exact significance of Obelisls in the an
cient religion of Egypt has not been ascer-
tanned. Pliny says that the Egyptian equiya-
lent for the word 0belisks meant 1.-THE RAYS
4" of the sun" There may have been some
special appropriateness in placing numerous
obelisks in Heliopolis, Z" the City of the SUM-"
Their position there and elsewhere was always