Study of the Neiu York Obelisk as a Decayed Boulder. 115 



The other pedestal, beneath the eastern obelisk of Luxor, and now 

 buried in sand twenty feet deep, out of sight, was 3.4 meters (11^ 

 feet) in height, sculptured and decorated in the same way. 



At Karnak, the standing obelisk of Queen Hatasu, the sister of 

 Thothraeses III and his predecessor on the throne, has a low square 

 pedestal, whose sides are covered with rows of hieroglyphs, also 

 probably filled with gold like those on the shaft above.^ 



The Corfe Castle Obelisk, formerly on the Island of Philse, has a 

 sandstone shaft, 22 feet and 1^ inches in height ; its sandstone 

 pedestal is 5 feet 9 inches in height, and covered with Greek in- 

 scriptions of Ptolemy Euergetes II, in part cut in the stone, and 

 in part painted upon it, or, according to Cooper, originally written 

 in letters of gold.^ 



The Obelisk of An, according to Lenormant, stands upon a 

 simple foundation, now buried several feet beneath the Nile silt, 

 consisting of two broad steps or slabs of sandstone, each about 2 

 feet high;^ but, on account of its ancient disturbance, we have no 

 certain knowledge concerning its original support. 



In regard to the Campensis or Monte Citorio Obelisk, at Rome, 

 which the Romans tried to use as a sun-dial, it was stated in 1803, 

 "there can still be seen at Rome the original pedestal of the horary 

 obelisk overturned on the Campus Marti us," and also that there 

 was in the Vatican "a granite base cut with a cavity, probably to 

 receive an obelisk."* 



Note the singular fact, however, that we find the huge granite 

 pedestal of the New York Obelisk devoid of sculptures, inscrip- 

 tions, or even polish ; its sides approximately even, but with 

 roughened surface; its edges and angles nicked and uneven; its 

 corners greatly rounded off; and many large spots, showing inter- 

 nal cracks by their hollow sound, when lightly tapped. Yet the 

 shaft above shows amusing evidences of the struggle of two suc- 

 cessors of Thothmeses III on the throne of Egypt, Rameses II 

 and Osarkon I, to find sufficient room on which to record their 

 inscriptions of self-appreciation ; while apparently there were over 

 220 square feet of blank space waiting for glory on the pedestal 

 below. It seems more than a probability that this pedestal, in its 

 original condition at An, was completely covered with hieroglyphs 



^ Lepsius, Denkmiller, Plate 24. 2 Gorringe, idem, 139. 



3 Gorringe, idem, 12.3. 



* Quatremere de Quincj, De I'Architecture Egyptienne, 198, 108. 



