OBADIAH OBERKAMPF. 



285 



handsome city, with 24,000 inhabitants, sixty-five 

 miles from the Pacific, is situated in a delightful 

 valley. The population of the state is about 600,000. 

 OBADIAH, or ABDIAS ; one of the twelve 

 minor prophets, who foretells the speedy ruin of the 

 Edomites. The time when he lived is uncertain. 

 Some have supposed him to be the same person as 

 the Obadiah who preserved 100 prophets from the 

 fury of Jezebel; but he probably flourished at a much 

 later period. 



OBEAH ; a species of witchcraft practised among 

 the negroes, the apprehension of which, operating 

 upon their superstitious fears, is frequently attended 

 with disease and death. 



OBELISK (ifitliirxo!, and <>'/3aj). Obelisks belong 

 to the oldest and most simple monuments of Egyptian 

 architecture, and are high four-sided pillars, dimi- 

 nishing as they ascend, and terminating in a small 

 pyramid. Herodotus speaks of them, and Pliny gives 

 a particular account of them. The latter mentions 

 king Mesphres, or Mestres, of Thebes, as the first 

 builder of obelisks, but does not give the time ; nor 

 is this king noticed either by Herodotus or Diodorus. 

 It is probable that these monuments were first built 

 before the time of Moses, at least two centuries be- 

 fore the Trojan war. There are still several obelisks 

 in Egypt : there is one erect, and another fallen, at 

 Alexandria, between the new city and the light-house; 

 one at Matarea, among the ruins of old Heliopolis ; 

 one in the territory of Fajum, near ancient Arsinoe ; 

 dight or ten among the ruins of Thebes ; the two 

 finest at Luxor, at the entrance of the temple, &c. 

 These obelisks, exclusively of the pedestals, are mostly 

 from 50 to 100 feet high, and of a red polished gra- 

 nite (sienite) ; a few of the later ones are of white 

 marble and other kinds of stone. At their base, they 

 commonly occupy a space of from four and a half to 

 twelve feet square, and often more. Some are adorned 

 on all sides, and some on fewer, with hieroglyphics 

 cut in them, sometimes to the depth of two inches, 

 divided into little squares and sections, and filled with 

 paint : sometimes they are striped with various co- 

 lours. Some are entirely plain, and without hiero- 

 glyphics. The foot of the obelisk stands upon a 

 quadrangular base, commonly two or three feet broad- 

 er than the obelisk, with a socket, in which it rests. 

 They were commonly hewn out of a single stone, in 

 the quarries of Upper Egypt, and brought on canals, 

 fed by the Nile, to the place of their erection. Sev- 

 eral learned men have doubted this, and others have 

 sought to prove it ; but, according to the accounts of 

 travellers, there are still to be found, in Upper Egypt, 

 old quarries with obelisks already hewn out, or with 

 places whence monuments of this form must evidently 

 have been taken. Of their origin we know nothing 

 with certainty. Perhaps the first images of the gods, 

 which, at an early period, were nothing but stones of 

 a pyramidal form, gave occasion to them. Thus the 

 ancient image of Venus, at Paphos, was a pyramid of 

 white marble. According to Herodotus, they were 

 first raised in honour of the sun, and meant to repre- 

 sent its rays. This is confirmed by their name and 

 their form. They might also have been raised to 

 perpetuate the memory of certain events, since the 

 hieroglyphics contained the praises of their g(xls and 

 their kings, or inscriptions relating to their religious 

 notions. It is not probable that they were intended 

 for sun-dials, because their point did not throw a dis- 

 tinct shadow. They were afterwards, however, used 

 for that purpose, and balls were placed upon the 

 points of some, as was the case with that which Au- 

 gustus had brought to Rome, and which he placed in 

 the field of Mars, under the direction of the astrono- 

 mer Manilius, in such a position that it could be used 

 for a dial. It is well known that, among the ancient 



Egyptians, they made a principal ornament of the 

 open squares and the temples, before the large gates 

 of which two or more were commonly placed. For 

 this purpose, they used only obelisks of considerable 

 height. After the conquest of Egypt by the Persians, 

 no more were erected, and the successors of Lagus 

 adorned Alexandria with the obelisks of the ancient 

 kings. The Roman emperors carried several of them 

 from Egypt to Rome, Aries and Constantinople, most 

 of which were afterwards overturned, but have been 

 put together and replaced in modern times. Augus- 

 tus, for instance, had two large obelisks brought from 

 Heliopolis to Rome. One ot them we have already 

 spoken of. The other stood upon the Spina, in the 

 Circus Maximus, and is said to have been the same 

 which king Semneserteus (according to Pliny) erected. 

 At the sack of Rome by the barbarians, it was thrown 

 down, and remained broken, in three pieces, amidst 

 the rubbish, until, in 1589, Sixtus V. had it restored 

 by the architect Domenico Fontana, and placed near 

 the church Madonna del Popolo. Under Caligula, 

 another large obelisk was brought from Heliopolis to 

 Rome, and placed in the Circus Vaticanus. It has 

 stood, since 1586, before St Peter's church : it is 

 without hieroglyphics ; and, with the cross and pe- 

 destal, measures 126 feet in height. It is the only 

 one in Rome which has remained entire. Its weight 

 is estimated at 10,000 cwt. Claudius had two obe- 

 lisks brought from Egypt, which stood before the 

 entrance of the Mausoleum of Augustus, and one of 

 which was restored in 1567, and placed near the 

 church of Santa Maria Maggiore. Caracalla also 

 procured an Egyptian obelisk for his circus, and for 

 the Appian Way. The largest obelisk (probably 

 erected by Rameses) was placed, by the emperor 

 Constantius II., in the Circus Maximus at Rome. In 

 the fifth century it was thrown down by the barbari 

 ans, and lay in pieces upon the ground, until Sixtus 

 V., in 1588, had it raised upon the square, before St 

 John's church of the Lateran, thence called the La- 

 teran obelisk. It is beautifully adorned with sculp- 

 ture. Its weight is more than 13,000 cwt.; its height, 

 exclusive of the pedestal, 140 feet; with the pedes- 

 tal, 179. Several others have been erected by suc- 

 ceeding popes. The famous obelisk, called Cleopa- 

 tra's Needle, was presented by the pacha of Egypt to 

 the king of England, in 1820. It was erected in 

 Waterloo place, in London. See Zoega, De Origine 

 et Usu Obeliscorum, etc. (Rome, 1797. seq.). Cham- 

 pollion, Jr., has published, in Rome, copperplate 

 engravings of obelisks, with his explanations of the 

 hieroglyphics. A. Fea has written a history of these 

 monuments, with an account of their erection, to ac- 

 company Champollion's work. 



OBER ; German for Upper, appearing in innu- 

 merable German geographical names. 



OBERKAMPF, CHRISTOPHER PHILIP; the founder 

 of the manufacture of printed linens of Jouy, and of 

 the cotton manufacture of Essonne, in France. He 

 was born in 1738, in the territory of Anspach, in 

 Germany, and was the son of a dyer, who, after 

 exercising his occupation in several parts of Germany, 

 had taken up his residence at Arau, in Switzerland. 

 Young Oberkampf, having acquired the art of mak- 

 ing printed linens, quitted his father at the age of 

 nineteen ; and, two years after, he commenced, on a 

 small scale, a manufactory in the valley of Jouy. The 

 design of the figures, the printing and the dyeing of 

 the goods, were all performed by himself; and, in 

 spite of various difficulties with which he was sur- 

 rounded, he acted with such spirit and perseverance, 

 that, in the progress of time, he collected a popula- 

 tion of 1500 persons in a spot which had been almost 

 a desert, and, by the supply of printed linens at home, 

 put an end to the importations of those articles into 



