24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



The various Egyptian obelisks not only vary slightly in proportions 

 but also in decorations : some have pictures and inscriptions, others 

 not. There is a variety in mounting; thus, the obelisk of the Piazza 

 del Minerva in Rome and one at Catania in Sicily are carried on the 

 backs of stone elephants. Supporting the corners of Cleopatra's 

 Needle now in Central Park, New York, were bronze props repre- 

 senting crabs, which probably belonged to a later cult and were placed 

 under this monolith when it was first moved and set upright in 

 Alexandria. 



Egyptian obelisks, as those of Karnac (Thebes), commonly stood 

 in pairs before the gates of the temples and were made of hard stone 

 obtained from quarries at Syene, from which fact the word syenite 

 has come to designate this geological formation. They commemorate 

 the deeds of rulers whose cartouches they bear, accompanied by invo- 

 cations and grandiloquent references to the mighty deeds of the 

 builders, or subsequent rulers. 



The prostrate obeliscoid column of Begilg near Crocodilopolis, in 

 the fertile valley of Fayum, differs in the shape of its shaft and form 

 of the apex from the others. Its sides are unequal and bear repre- 

 sentations of beings J formerly worshipped. Its top is rounded, 

 deeply grooved across the middle, and the sides are of unequal breadth. 

 From an inscription on the narrow sides, as translated by M. Chabas, 

 and as interpreted by the practices of native women about its fallen 

 fragments, one is led to regard this obelisk as somewhat different 

 from the majority of commemorative monuments. It is still regarded 

 in the same light as the Phenician monoliths known as baetylia that 

 are found on both shores of the Mediterranean from Asia Minor to 

 Spain and Morocco. 



Many theories have been framed to explain how these obelisks 

 were quarried. A large specimen still remaining in place in the 

 quarries at Syene is attached to the rock by one side, the other three 

 sides having been fashioned into shape. It is supposed by some 

 authorities that the form of the obelisk was first marked out on the 

 surface by cutting a groove, and that the rock was cracked by first 

 building fire on it, after which the ashes were swept away and water 

 poured into the groove — a method still used at the present day by 

 the East Indians. Other authorities have supposed that holes were 

 made at intervals and a series of wedges was placed in these holes 



1 The upper part is occupied by 5 vignettes representing the king Usertesen I, 

 before io pairs of divinities, 5 on the right and 5 on the left. 





