144 HELIOPOLIS. 
ill the midst of the pool, and leisurely to 
delineate the hieroglyphics which are rudely 
sculptured upon this superb monument. These 
have been already engraved, both by Norden 
and by Shmu ; but in neither instance with 
accuracy'. From the coarseness of the sculp- 
ture, as well as the history of the city to which 
this obelisk belonged, there is reason to consider 
it as the oldest monument of the kind in Egypt*. 
Its height is between sixty and seventy feet'; 
its breadth, at the base, six feet: the whole 
being one entire mass of red granite. Each of 
its four sides exhibits the same hieroglyphic 
characters, and in the same order. That which 
faces the south has been the least affected by 
decomposition; and it is from the southern side 
that the author's design is taken. He has 
endeavoured to imitate the rude style of the 
( 1) The same may be said of the engraving of this obelisk in Kirchcr'g 
iEdipus ^gypliacus, \vhere the scarabccus p'dulurius is introduceJ, in- 
stead of the rude symbol wliich appears upon the original, and uhiab 
was probably intended to represent that insect. 
(2) "Antiquissima fuit, ut origo etiam ad fabulas referatur." Cellar. 
Gtog. tom.M. Pars 3. p. 42. Lips. 1706. 
(o) Shaw makes its height equal only to sixty-four feet; (Trav, 
p. 336. Lond. 1757.) although he says " other travellers have descriled 
it to be upwards of seventy." Pocoche ascertained its height, by the 
quadrant, and found it to be sixty-seven feet and a half. Deta-ipt. 
of the East, vol. I. p. 23. Lond. 1743. 
