Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-11-07
NEW WORKS. OBElISK.
Au Account OF the Cleopatra'S Needle
Egypt to e. Transported TO New York
and Erected In That City.
New York Would

i not only one Of the most interesting
but on all accounts decidedly the most
interesting of the obelisks OF Egypt. Ii
was originally erected on the original
site under the greatest Of the Egyptian
princes Of the eighteenth dynasty,
ThothmeS III, the brother and success
or Of Hatshepu, the "woman-king, :"
whose name is born on the two great
Obelis&s Of Amen.ra, one standing and
the other proStrate, rs the name OF
Thothmes Ill. is upon the oheliSk now
given 10 New York and upon its long
PROSTATE companion which WAS last
year brought TO London. The inScrln.
tons which have been dociphered upon
the New York obclisk, MS it may now
be called, take us back, therefore, u n
period more than fifteen centuries be.
fore Christ and to the Araneocan aye III
the history Of the Holy Land, which
was invaded and conquered by Thoth-
mes Ill. The monolIth which we may
hope ere long to see adjoining the me-
tropolis of the New World was ga2ed
upon by Moses. 1t was an ancient
monument the significance Of which
had grown dim with the miSts OF time
when Augustus Caesar and Antony
fought out the question Of universal EN-
pire iii the sight Of the volup,uous
Queen whose name given 10 it i'll mis-
take has made 1t known throughout the
earth for more than thousand years
past. During the whole of this time the
obeli>k now given to New York has stood
erect ASA landmark OF the Levant, near
A 10,
erected in London. lay half buried in the
sand At its feet. Egyptologists tell
us how these great mouoiths, nearly
seventy feet high, were hken from the
granite quaries III Syeue by the skill
full workmen Of antiquity, and conveyed
thence to karnac and HehopoliS. In
order to move them the stone was
marked the whole length required and
metal wedges were driven into the line.
Anothei plan which showed wonderful
ingenuity was To insert wedges Of OK.
uemcly dry WOOD and then to pour
water upon them till they split and dis
placed the stone. Pliny says that they
were transported to the Nile with the
aid of flat bottomed boats, floating III
canals specially prepared for the pur
pose. Sharpe says that they were
placed in an erect position by cutting n
groove in the pedestal III which the
lower edge of the monolith might turn
rs il it were hinge, the top of the obe-
isk being elevated by means ola mound
of earth, the size of which was. continu.
ally increased till the stone stood
securely erect. From Heliopolis, where
| Il, al, al
temple of the CAD Tum or the Setting
Sun they We're transported to Alexan-
dria, during the reign Of Tlberius, but
bear their popular name because Of a
tradition that they were brought to
Alexandria in time of Cleopatra. A
great deal of controversy has ragged
among the learned in regard to their
meaning, but Notwithstanding all that
has been sand and written about them
rs well rs about other similar monu-
ments which still stand in Egypt, or
have been transferred to Rome, Aries,
Paris, and London, no absolute certain
ty rs to their import has yet been
reached. Plny supposed them to be
symbols of the suns rays; other writers
have identified them with the joachim
and Boaz If Sliomon's temple mt Jeru.
salem apparently only because the
ohelisks were placed in pairs before the
entrance ofan Egyptian temple. They
have been regarded as identical with
the Hindu Linvain, ard score Of
Opinions more or less reasonable have
been advanced by speculative inquirers,
but there still is quite rs much diff
Guilty in arriving ut their true mean
ing and origin rs there is no III.
terpreting the story Of the round
towers OF Ireland, or, to compare small
things with great, the origin Of the
Newport mill Mr.. Bonomi, who is a
better authority than most writer's, in
asmuch rs he has spent q long period
on the banks Of the Nile in unwearled
and intelligent research, says: " As re-
CARDS the original sites of obelisks it
should be mentioned that there arc
none on the western bank of the river
proper-the obelisk appearing to be a
decoration Of the cities Of the living
symbollzed by the rising sun, as the
pyramid is those of the dead, symbo
lied by the setting Of that luminary.
| Taken in connection with the fact that
at Heilepolis the monOliths now known
as Cleopatra's Needles stood at the en-.
trance Of the temple Of the Setting
Sun, this explanation rather shows the
difficulties surrounding the question Of
their meaning and origin than throws
any decisive light on the subject.
Nevertheless, study Of the hierogly.
phics with which the Needles al cover.
ed seems to confirm the view Of Nj
Bonomi. These inscriptions generally
describe the greatness, magnificence
and glory Of the monarch in whose
reign they were erected. On the other
hard, and touching the theory that
obelisks were raised for the living
alone, il should be remarked that
dwarf obelisks were employed in Egypt
from the earliest times, and were placed
before the doors OF sepulchres at least
1000 years ago. Obelsks are squared
columns tapering slightly from base to
apex, the proportion Of the base being
one-tenth Of the height Of the shaft up
to the foot Of the pyramidian or pyra-
midal top, which in later times was
sometimes capped with gold, ron and
/ ,n,,.ar n ..aa yrohab1t, Iurinu fha