OUR EGYPTIAN OBELISK:
CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE.
ENGRAVED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE:
WITH BRIEF NOTES ON
EGYPT AND EGYPTIAN OBELISKS.
BY ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S.
CLEOPATRA’S NEEDLE AT ALEXANDRIA.
LONDON: BRAIN & CO., 26, PATERNOSTER ROW.
ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL.
TO HIS ESTEEMED FRIENDS,
CHARLES ALFRED SWINBURNE
AND
HENRY PALFREY STEPHENSON,
WHOSE JUDICIOUS COUNSELS
HAVE AIDED HIM IN CARRYING OUT
THE PROJECT OF SECURING
THE BRITISH OBELISK
TO GREAT BRITAIN,
THIS LITTLE WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.
[Pg v]
PREFACE.
The accompanying pages are intended as an introduction to themagnificent Egyptian Obelisk which is about to take its place among themonuments of London. This Obelisk was hewn in the renowned quarriesof Syené, at the extreme southern boundary of Egypt, and was thencefloated down the stream of the Nile to Heliopolis, the City of the Sun.It was erected, as one of a pair, in front of the seat of learningwherein Moses received his education, and stood in that position forabout 1,600 years. Shortly before the Christian era it was conveyed toAlexandria, where it has remained until the present time, and is nowon its voyage to the banks of the Thames. Its age, therefore, may becomputed at upwards of 3,000 years.
At that early period, when other nations had not yet awakened intothe dawn of civilisation, Egypt had made substantial progress inarchitecture and sculpture; and the British Obelisk may be taken as an[Pg vi]admirable example of their excellence. The hieroglyphs which adornits surface, inform us that it was erected by a powerful Pharaoh ofthe eighteenth dynasty, Thothmes III.; and that, 200 years later, itwas carved with the name of another illustrious Egyptian potentate,Rameses the Great. The sculptures of Thothmes occupy the central lineof each face of the shaft from top to bottom, and those of Rameses theside lines; so that, at a glance, we are enabled to compare the art ofsculpture at periods of two centuries apart.
Heliopolis was the On of the Bible, and one of the cities of theLand of Goshen, where Abraham sought refuge when driven by famineout of Canaan. It was at Heliopolis that Joseph endured his slaveryand imprisonment, and was rewarded by the Pharaoh of his day withthe hand of Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, a priest and rulerof On. Here he received in his arms his aged father Jacob, and Jacobfell on his neck and wept with joy at the recovery of his long-lostand well-beloved son: whilst in the neighbourhood of Heliopolis isstill shown the venerable sycamore tree, under which, according totraditional report, the Holy Family took shelter in their flight into Egypt.
These are some of the interesting associations which will crowd intothe mind when we look upward at this colossal monolith, and of which itwas once the silent spectator. Ancient Egypt, Egyptian enlightenmentand refinement, scenes and a