HELIOPOLIS. 159 
around this pillar, concealed only by a thin chap. 
superficies of soil, can hardly be doubted; and ^ 
these, succeed ng travellers may bring to light. 
The antiquities observed by Pococke are pro- 
bably anKmj, the number. Yet, if this alone 
continue to mark the situation oi Htiiopoiis, the 
evidence it affords, when added to other proofs, 
will be sufficient to identify the locality ct" the 
city. Indeed, when it is considered that Helio- ^J'^!'','^,"^ 
•' tlie ul'(!U.<ik. 
polls was altogether a deserted city so long ago 
as the time of Sirabo", and that the Romans car- 
ried from Egypt so many of its antient monu- 
ments, it is surprising that this obelisk, stupen- 
dous as it is, remains in its original position. 
Among several trophies of this description, 
which were removed to Itali/, Sirabo mention:^ 
two obelisks that were carried to Ro7ne from the 
ruins of Heliopolis^. According to Pliny, the 
first monuments of this kind that were raised iji 
Egypt were placed within this city*; and the 
(2) Tiitnoyii^o; ■/) mXi; — " Omnino urbs deserta est." Strab. Gcog. 
lib. xvii. torn. II. p. 1142. Ed. Oion. 1807. 
(3) ^O.v "iio y.xi £;': 'V^pctjn Ixsfitff^tto'ay, el fin xixKXv/jt,ivoi rlXia;. " Quo- 
rum duo Romam delali sunt, non omnino conupti." Ibid. 
(4) " Primus omnium id instituit M'tlres, qui in Soils urhe rcjnali.it, 
somnio jussus : et hoc ipsuin iiiscriptum est in eo : ctenim sculiilura^ 
ilia elTigiesque, quas \iile:nus, Egvptis sunt liters. Postea et a!ii 
roifuni in supra dicta ur1)c." Plinii Hist. A'at. lib. xxxii. c. 8. 
(vm. III. p. iZl. L. Bill. ir,d3. 
