MR. HORNER ON THE ALLUVIAL LAND OF EGYPT. 
123 
The Excavations at Heliopolis. 
At a distance of about five and a half miles N.N.E. of Cairo, and less than four 
miles, at the time of low water, from the right bank of the Nile, the traveller disco- 
vers the solitary Obelisk of Heliopolis, all that remains above ground of that once 
renowned eity of the Pharaohs, the On of Scripture. This obelisk, the oldest 
known, was erected by Sesurtesen (Sesortosis I. of Manetho) of the Old Monarchy, 
and the twelfth Dynasty, about 2300 years before Christ, according to Lepsius, and 
has thus stood at least 4000 years, which, according to the marginal chronology 
printed in the latest editions of our Bibles, is about 300 years before the death of 
Noah*. 
The obelisk is a single block, measuring from the pedestal on which it rests, 67 feet 
6 inehes, its faces being 6 feet 6 inches at the base, and tapering to 3 feet 10 inches 
at the lowest line of the pyramidal summit. It is of red granite, sueh as is found in 
the district of Assouan, and was doubtless transported from the quarries in that 
loeality. 
The walls which surrounded the city are still to be traced by long mounds of earth, 
covering the unbaked bricks of which they were constructed, in some plaees from 
60 to 65 feet in width, and from 13 to 16 feet in height, enelosing an area of about 
1540 by 1100 yards. These mounds are now much more than sufficiently high to 
keep out the greatest inundation ; formerly the water entered by gaps and converted 
the interior area into a marsh ; but in the time of Mehemet Ali embankments were 
raised to keep out the inundation water and render the ground cultivable. The land 
immediately eastward of the obelisk rises abruptly ; it is composed of coarse sand and 
marl, and is out of the reach of the inundation. It appears probable that the site 
originally ehosen for the temple and city of Heliopolis was a portion of the desert line 
somewhat raised above the level of the rest of the skirt of the desert, and advancing 
into the low grounds then inundated by the Nile. 
On the 8th of June 1851, forty labourers, under the direction of Omar Effendi 
Adjutant of Artillery, were on the ground. The next day was devoted to arrange- 
ments, the men being shown where and how the works were to be commenced, 
and explanations given, that they might have some idea of the nature and object 
of the operations. A party of young engineers from the Polytechnic School in 
* “ Eben so wenig findet sich bei den .45gyptern irgend eine Andeutung einer grossen Fluth. Dass im 
ganzen Verlauf ihrer Geschichte keine grosse Naturveriinderung, keine unheilvolle Katastrophe stattgefunden 
habe, wurde dem Herodot ausdrucklich von den Priestern bezeugt, und es mdchte nach seinen Worten fast zu 
vermuthen sein, dass er diese bestimmte Versicherung erst auf Nachfragen erhielt, welche gerade durch die ihm 
■wohl bekannten Fluthsagen anderer Vblker bei ihm veranlast waren. Seit Menes (3892 b.c.), batten ihm die 
Priester gesagt, habe sich nichts auf ^gypten bezugliches geiindert, -weder in Bezug auf ihr land, noch auf 
ihren Fluss, noch in Bezug auf Krankheiten, noch auf Sterbefiille. Herodot. ii. 142.” — Lepsius, Chronologic 
der .^gypter, Einleitung, s. 24. 
