ALEXANDRIA. 355 
raised upon it. The prop itself consists of a ^^^^' 
mass of that beautiful kind of breccia, called, 
peculiarly, Egyptian. The four sides of it are 
inscribed with hieroglyphic figures ; but the posi- 
tion of these figures shews that the prop has its 
original base uppermost, for they appear in- 
verted : thus affording a complete proof, that 
the stone, whereon they are inscribed, belonged 
to other more antient works ; and that these 
must have been in ruins before the Column 
was erected upon its present basis'. But this 
is not all the intelligence we derive from the 
topsyturvy position of the hieroglyphics : we have, 
in this curious circumstance, most satisfactory 
evidence that this Column was not set up, as it 
now stands, either by the antient inhabitants of 
Egypt, or by the people of Alexandria under the 
Ptolemies ; for nothing would be more absurd, 
than to suppose that, in an age when Egyptian 
superstitions were revered, and the hieroglyphics 
were regarded as sacred, such sacrilegious 
work would have been tolerated, as the burying 
of the holy images and symbols, pell-mell^ to prop 
and to support a Corinthian pillar, even if it 
(3) See the /"/«<« annexed, where those kierogli/p/iks are represented, 
accordins: to a desiji;ii wh'c}i the author made of them upon the spot, 
as accurately as the diiRculty of the situation, and the lOiperfert 
state of those rude symbols, would admit. 
A A 2 
