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VOL. 61 



and its beauty a has been admired from earliest times. Good examples 

 are found in Italy, England, the United States, France, Germany, 

 and Constantinople ; it has been stated by an acute student of the sub- 

 ject that at present there are more obelisks above ground in Rome 

 than there are in Egypt," their native land. 



The purest type of obelisk, like that of Heliopolis, is a monolith 

 tapering from base to apex, its height being about 10 times the length 

 of one side of the base. In true obelisks all four faces are plain sur- 

 faces equal in width, although sometimes as observed by Verninac at 





Fig. 13. — Obelisk, Heliopolis, Egypt. 



Karnak there is a marked entasis or convexity similar to the curves in 

 pediments of temples. When obelisks bear hieroglyphics they are 

 regularly arranged in three rows reading from above downwards, 

 the oldest vertical row being always in the middle. 



The original inscriptions on some obelisks have been erased and 

 new ones added, a method adopted by some rulers to express their 

 consummate egotism. 



1 The obelisk has the three essential qualities indispensable in architecture 

 as pointed out centuries ago by Vitruvius. It has firmitas, utilitas, and venustas 

 — stability, utility, beauty. 



2 The largest number of obelisks found in one place in Egypt was 10 or more, 

 some in fragments (Ebers says 12; Fergusson 13) at San in the Delta, the Zoan 

 of the Bible (Brugsch's Egypt). 





