Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1881-01-29
%'jrginia &rer grc55.
H. y. G u ". Il. GILLAHER, Editors.
Chariesto,ra, Jefferson County, Hest Ia.
January 20. 1851
THE LESSON OFTHE OBELISK.
An Interesting Chap;er on Egypt.

4 Contributor to the New York Journal
of Commerce writes OF the Obcisk rs fol-
lows:
I take NO stock in the doctrine Of some
writer's that objects like the obciisk are bet
ter lcil I'm their own countries. Tie inter
csts of scholarship are better served by re-
moving them. Tie unity Of the human
race is better taught by thus making the
people of various lands and ages familiar
by sight with the work of other men and
other times. No possible object could be
served by keeping this monolith in the place
where % Roman put it long after il was first
erected at Heiopois.
1t has been a restless stone. Quaued at
Syenc, Aoated to lleiiopolis, again iioated to
Alexandria. and now again across the ocean
to America, it will perhaps vet make the
circuit of the world and return to Heliopo-
lis before the old faith of the Egyptian be-
comes .cality and he returns in the flesh to
see his great works which be butt for cter-
nifty.
/ see that it is now making It's slow pro-
gres- through the stress of th' CITY TO-
ward the park. 1t was cut ouJot that quar-
rv at Es-Souan. the ancient Sycne, at the
first cataract of the Nile. some thirty-iour
hundred wears ago. If twas erected at He
lio2ols by Thotlmcs Ill, that must have
been toward B. c. 1900. The date is not
certain. No Psychologist pretcnds to fix
f.. Egyptian chronology Is very much in
the dark AT earlier dates than B. {. 500.
Taking its commonly received history q,
true. il was moved by the CCarr5 iacn Just
ab9u; as far overland from the quarry To the
Nile as it is now moving from the water to
Central Park It probably moved quite as
fast perhaps faster. From the monument
al pictures of transported colossi we are led
to suppose that such heavy weights were
drawn on slides BIZ brute force OF thousands
of men at the ropes But it was down hill
from the quarry to the river, and it is uphill
work now. 1t was hoated down the Nile
some hundreds of miles, and probably by a
short canal TO Helio7olis which was city
few miles north OF the site OF modern
Cairo. This city is supposed to be idcnti-
cal with On. and. though small, was re-
knowncd seat Of learning.
1t did not stand, rs some have supposed
on q plain. Il IS matter OF course that
the temples az Heliop0lis stood on elevated
ground. and S.rsbo describes the city as Sc
standing. The annual deposit of the Nile
has raised the surrounding plain to a leve
above part OF the ruins. The rise was not
great. but sufficient to keep il above high
+ Nile. and therefore at least fifteen or TWEEN
ty feet above the plain of Egypt. With
/ companion 0helisk on the the other side
+ this stood at the front Of the temple by the
gateway. and between the two rosy mono
liths the worshipers entered.
The obeliskS i'm front OF the temple sto0C
and one now stands on the summit Of n low
+ Hill. The obelisks at Karnak stood inside
/ the temple walls. There Is no truth in th'
prevalent idea that obelisks shouldstand OF
plains. At Tanis Zoan?l the city OF obe
, iisks. where fragments Of ten or twelve re
main i'm the ruins of one temple 1t j. prob
I able that most of them stood within tn
temple courts. And 1t may betaken rs Ger
tain that every temple obelisk in Egyp
stood on a mound above the reach of hlgl
Nile at the time it was erected. Modern I
cvut. after centuries of depositof high Nile
is considerably above the level on which tn
ancient Egyptians lived.
They were people of a. great civ lizatio
rs the world has since known. Probably Il
many respects their civilization was highe
than ours Elegance, refinement, splendol
characterized HeliopOlis, and also Memphis
which Law some fifteen miles distant acros
the Nile. The people, rich and poor, wer
educated. The prevalence Of sculpture
and painted inscriptions on every wall an
stone shows that the whole people were q
pectrd 70 read and appreciate them. "