Classical authors tell us next to nothing; as an example I give Pliny’s account of an erection done by the Egyptians. In his _Natural History_, book XXXVI, chap. 14, he tells us: “Rhamsesis, who was reigning at the time of the capture of Troy, erected one 140 cubits high (73 metres). Having left the spot where the palace of Mnevis stood, this monarch erected another obelisk 120 cubits (63 metres) in height, but of prodigious thickness, the sides being no less than 11 cubits in breadth (5.77 metres). It is said that 120,000 men were employed upon this work, and that the king, when it was on the point of being elevated, being apprehensive that the machinery employed might not prove sufficiently strong for the weight, and with a view of increasing the peril that might be entailed by the want of precaution on the part of the workmen, had his own son fastened to the summit, in order that the safety of the prince might at the same time ensure the safety of the mass of stone . . . . . ” (36) Mediæval and modern writers have speculated freely on the ancient method of erecting obelisks, their ideas ranging from fairly sound theories to the assertion constantly made to me by the less responsible spiritualists, that it was done by _levitation_! Of modern theories two seem to be popular; the first suggests that the obelisk was laid flat, with one side of its base just above the notch, which in nearly all cases runs along one side of the pedestal, and that it was gradually levered up, and at the same time banked from below, being assisted when it had become sufficiently high by pulling with head-ropes, and similarly checked by ropes when on the point of tilting over on to its base. This with slight modifications, was the method used for the erection of the obelisk of Seringapatam, and is described by Gorringe in his _Egyptian Obelisks_ (p. 157), and by Commander Barber, in _The Mechanical Triumphs of the Ancient Egyptians_ on page 102. It must be remembered, however, that the whole obelisk weighs only about 35 tons. To assert that this method was that to be used for the Aswân obelisk is not justifiable. The reasons against this method may be summed up as follows: (1) It would be almost impossible to lever up a large obelisk, close to a pylon, on an ever-increasing earth slope, and it could not be ‘rocked’ up as it would slip out of the notch. (2) Pulling by head-ropes, with or without the aid of a strut or ‘raising-lever’, would be useless until the obelisk was almost upright, even if it was done from a high embankment. {37} (3) It would not explain how Ḥatshepsôwet’s obelisks were introduced into the middle of the court of Tuthmôsis I^{st}.