“Of the triumphal monuments, the most magnificent are the obeliscs, which are reported by Pliny to have been dedicated to the Sun; and there is every reason to suppose, that the translation of one of these inscriptions, preserved by Ammianus Marcellinus, after Hermapion, contains a true representation of a part of its contents, more especially as ‘the mighty Apollo’ of Hermapion agrees completely with the hawk, the bull, and the arm, which usually occupy the beginning of each inscription. These symbols are generally followed by a number of pompous titles, not always very intimately connected with each other, and among them we often find that of ‘Lord of the asp bearing diadems,’ with some others, immediately preceding the name and parentage of the sovereign, who is the principal subject of the inscription. The obelisc at Heliopolis is without the bull; and the whole inscription may be supposed to have signified something of this kind. “THIS APOLLINEAN TROPHY IS CONSECRATED TO THE HONOUR OF KING ‘REMESSES,’ CROWNED WITH AN ASP BEARING DIADEM; IT IS CONSECRATED TO THE HONOUR OF THE SON OF ‘HERON,’ THE ORNAMENT OF HIS COUNTRY, BELOVED BY PHTHAH, LIVING FOR EVER; IT IS CONSECRATED TO THE HONOUR OF THE REVERED AND BENEFICIENT DEITY ‘REMESSES,’ GREAT IN GLORY, SUPERIOR TO HIS ENEMIES; BY THE DECREE OF AN ASSEMBLY, TO THE POWERFUL AND THE FLOURISHING, WHOSE LIFE SHALL BE WITHOUT END.” “It is true, that some parts of this interpretation are in great measure conjectural; but none of it is altogether arbitrary, or unsupported by some probable analogy: and the spirit and tenor of the inscription is probably unimpaired by the alterations, which this approximation to the sense may unavoidably have introduced.