Chap, li.] OEELISKS. 331 



it is also to be found at Miletus, "where, however, it verges 

 somewhat more upon the purple. It admits of being melted 

 by the action of fire, and is fused for the preparation of glass. 

 Thebaic stone, which is sprinkled all over with spots like 

 gold, is found in Africa, on the side of it which lies adjacent 

 to Egypt ; the small hones which it supplies being peculiarly 

 adapted, from their natural properties, for grinding the in- 

 gredients used in preparations for the eyes. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of Syene, too, in Thebais, there is a stone found 

 that is now known as *' syenites, "^^ but was formerly called 

 *' pyrrhopoecilon."*^ 



CHAP. 14. — OBELISKS. 



Monarchs, too, have entered into a sort of rivalry with one 

 another in forming elongated blocks of this stone, known as 

 ** obelisks,"" and consecrated to the divinity of the Sun. 

 The blocks had this form given to them in resemblance to 

 the rays of that luminary, which are so called^® in the Egyp- 

 tian language. 



Mesphres,^^ who reigned in the City of the Sun,®° was the 

 first who erected one of these obelisks, being warned to do so 

 in a dream : indeed, there is an inscription upon the obelisk to 

 this efi'ect ; for the sculptures and figures which we still see 

 engraved thereon are no other than Egyptian letters.^^ 



At a later period other kings had these obelisks hewn. 

 Sesosthes^^ erected four of them in the above-named city, 

 forty-eight cubits in height. Rhamsesis,®^ too, who was 

 red heat, for discharging the brown and green tints of glass. See also B. 

 xxxiv. c. 42, and the Note. 



^^ Syenite is the name still given to feldspar, hornblende, and quartz, 

 passing into each other by insensible gradations, and resembling granite. 



8^ "Varied with red spots," similar to our red granite. 



8' " Obelisci." So called from ajStXiaKog, a " small spit," in consequence 

 of their tapering form. 



88 Meaning, probably, that in the Egyptian language, the same word is 

 used as signifying a " spit" and a "ray" of light; for it is generally agreed 

 that the word "obeliscus" is of Greek origin. 



89 He does not appear to have been identified ; and the correct reading 

 is doubtful, ^0 Heliopolis, or On. See B. v. c. 11. 



^^ These figures or hieroglyphics did not denote ihe phonetic language of 

 Egypt, but only formed a symbolical writing. 



'■''^ Perhaps the same as '• Sesostris." The former reading is " Sothis." 

 ^3 Ajasson identifies him witli Barneses III., a king of the eighteenth dy- 

 nasty, who reigned B.C. 1561. This was also one of the names of Sesostris 

 the Great. 



