The New York Obelisk: Cleopatra's Needle: With a Preliminary Sketch of the History, Erection, Uses, and Signification of ObelisksMoldenke, Charles E.
History
The New York Obelisk: Cleopatra's Needle: With a Preliminary Sketch of the History, Erection, Uses, and Signification of Obelisks
Moldenke, Charles E.
Cleopatra's Needle (New York, N.Y.); Inscriptions, Egyptian
mummy, discovered in 1881, now rests in the Museum of Bulak at Cairo.
[Illustration: Cartouche of Osarkon I. "The king of Upper and Lower Egypt,
Kherp-Kheper-Ra-Sotep-en-Ra, the son of Ra, Amen-Mer-Usarken."]
[Illustration: Cartouche of the emperor Augustus Cæsar. "The divine lord of
the world, Autokrator, the son of Ra, lord of the diadems,
Cæsar-Ankh-Zeta-Ptah-Ast-Mer."]
The four sides of the obelisk were now filled, and it would appear
impossible for another king to have used any other part of it for his own
purpose. Such is, however, not the case. Osarkon I. had chiseled into the
stone at the very edges of each side in diminutive characters his own name.
He was a Pharaoh of the xxiid dynasty, who lived about 960 B. C., and
represents the decline of the ancient Egyptian empire.
[Illustration: Cleopatra VI. (From an ancient coin.)]
[Illustration: Cartouche of queen Cleopatra VI. "The queen and mistress of
the world, Cleopatra."]
Of the history of our obelisk since that time very little would be known
except for the inscriptions found on the brass crabs at the base. From them
we learn that the obelisk was taken away from its position in front of the
temple of Heliopolis in the XVIIIth year of the reign of {39}Augustus Cæsar
(12 B. C.) by Pontius during the prefecture of Barbarus. It was then
transported to Alexandria and placed in front of the Cæsareum, the temple
of the Cæsars, with the obelisk at present in London. During the
transportation a large portion of the edges at the base was very badly
damaged. Four large bronze crabs were then placed under the obelisk to keep
it from falling over. Since this time of their erection in Alexandria
tradition has associated one of them, the New York Obelisk, with the name
of the monster-queen Cleopatra VI. She had, however, nothing {40}whatever
to do with the removal of the obelisks as she and all her predecessors of
the same name had been dead long before these were erected in Alexandria.
Here both remained for many centuries until one--the present London
Obelisk--fell prostrate and was left to lie half-hidden in the ground. It
was subsequently taken in 1877 to England, while the other obelisk remained
standing in Alexandria until 1880, when it was lowered into the steamer
Dessoug, brought over to our country, and presented to New York City
through the munificence of the late Mr. William H. Vanderbilt.
[Illustration: Cleopatra VI. (From Egyptian monuments.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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