126 ANCIENT EGYPT. 



typifying generative power ; and it is among the hieroglyphic 

 signs. These monoUthic columns are quadrilateral in form, 

 the sides inclining slightly towards each other; they have 

 slightly convex faces. The pillar tapers gently upwards, and 

 the apex, sometimes sheathed with gold, forms a pyramidion. 

 There are, however, examples with a rounded top, as instanced 

 the one in the Fayoom. The proportion of the thickness to 

 the height is nearly the same in all, being about one-tenth, 

 and the top is never less than half the thickness of the bottom. 

 Pedestals are usually of a single block. 



An obelisk was usually placed in front of each colossal 

 statue of the founder of a temple before which it stood, and 

 the two guarded the portal of the pylon on either side. The 

 pylon is the temple fagade, though in the case of Karnak, 

 where other temples have been added beyond, this is not 

 apparent to the casual observer. Obelisks were thus usually 

 in couples, although no couple is to be found still standing 

 together erect; but where there is one upright a careful search 

 will generally reveal traces of a fallen fellow. I believe, how- 

 ever, that they were always of unequal height. Small ones 

 have been found as far back as the times of the fourth 

 dynasty, that is, the period of the erection of the great 

 pyramid at Geezeh. 



The most ancient obelisk now standing in situ is that at 

 Heliopolis, the ancient Oxford of Egypt, from which city two 

 others were removed by the Roman Emperor Augustus C?esar, 

 and these were still to be seen up to some twenty years ago at 

 Alexandria, the capital of the Ptolemies, where they were 

 known as Cleopatra's needles; but it is improbable that any of 

 the queens of the name had anything to do with them. These 

 obelisks were erected before the imperial palace, the Caesarium, 

 soon after the death of the last Cleopatra. The largest was 

 transported to England in 1877, and now stands on the 

 Thames Embankment; the other found its way some years 

 later to New York. Both these monuments spring from the 

 reign of Thotmes III. of the XVIIIth dynasty. The tallest 

 obeHsk now standing, the one at Karnak, is about 109 feet in 



