OBELISK. 



599 



Herodotus, who visited Egypt and conversed 

 with her priests, about 440 B. o., says (B. II, 

 111), " To the Temple of the Sun he (Pheron *), 

 son of Sesostris, sent two obelisks, too re- 

 markable to be unnoticed; each was formed 

 of one solid stone, 100 cubits high and eight 

 onbits broad." 



''Whence Pharaoh, 



Diodorus Siculus, who lived about 60 B. o., 

 tells us, in his " Bi/SXto^xr; IsropiKT) " (His- 

 toric Library), that Serniramis (1250 B. o.) or- 

 dered an obelisk 130 feet high and 25 feet 

 square from the Armenian mountains, and had 

 it floated down the Euphrates and erected at 

 Babylon, which she made her capital. Pliny 

 tells us: "Khamsis, who was reigning at the 



