OBELISK, a form of monumental pillar; and also the term for a bibliographical reference-mark in the form of a dagger. The typical Egyptian .obelisk is an upright monolith of nearly square section, generally ten diameters in height, the sides slightly con vex, tapering upwards very gradually and evenly, and terminated by a pyramidion whose faces are inclined at an angle of 6o°. Obe lisks were usually raised on pedestals of cubical form resting on one or two steps, and were set up in pairs in front of the entrance of temples. Small obelisks have been found in tombs of the Old Kingdom. The earliest temple obelisk still in position is that of Senwosri L of the XIIth Dynasty at Heliopolis (68 ft. high). A pair of Rameses II. (77 and 75 ft. high respectively) stood at Luxor until one was taken to Paris in 1831. Single ones of Teth mosis I. and Hatshepsut still stand at Karnak and remains of others exist there and elsewhere in Egypt. Colossal obelisks were erected by only a few kings, Senwosri I. in the Middle Kingdom and Tethmosis I., Hatshepsut, Tethmosis III. and Rameses II. of the Empire. Smaller obelisks were made in the Saite period. The Romans admired them, and the emperors carried off some from their original sites and made others in imitation (e.g., that for Antinous at Benevento) ; 12 are at Rome, one in Constanti nople; two, originally set up by Tethmosis III. at Heliopolis, were taken by Augustus to adorn the Caesareum at Alexandria : one of these, "Cleopatra's Needle," was removed in 1877 to London, the other in 1879 to New York. The pyramidions were sheathed in bright metal, reflecting the sun's rays as if they were thrones of the sunlight. They were dedicated to solar deities, and were especially numerous at Heliopolis, where there was probably one of immemorial antiquity sacred to the sun. The principal part of the sun-temple at Abusir built by Neuserre of the Vth Dynasty appears to have been in the shape of a stumpy obelisk on a vast scale; only the base now remains, but hieroglyphic pictures indi cate this form. The hieroglyph of some other early sun-temples shows a disc on the pyramidion The material employed for the great obelisks was a pink granite from Syene, and in these quarries there still remains, partially detached, an example 7o to 8o ft. long. The largest obelisk known is that in the piazza of St.
John Lateran at Rome, set up by Tethmosis III. at Heliopolis in
the 15th century B.C. and brought from Egypt by Constantine the Great and erected in the Circus Maximus, being ultimately re erected in 1552 by Pope Sixtus V. It was ios ft. 9 in. high, in cluding the pyramidion, and its sides measured 9 ft. io in. and 9 ft. 8 in. respectively. On the base of the obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak, 97 ft. 6 in. high, there is an inscription stating that it and its fellow were made within the short space of seven months.
There was another form of obelisk, also tapering, but more squat than the usual type, with two of the sides narrow and ter minating in a rounded top. One such of Senwosri I., covered with sculpture and inscriptions, lies at Ebgig in the Fayum.
In Abyssinia, at Axum and elsewhere, there is a marvellous series of obelisk-like monuments, probably sepulchral. They range from rude menhirs a few feet high to elab orately sculptured monoliths of ioo feet. The loftiest of those still standing at Axum is about 6o ft. high, 8 ft. 7 in. wide, and about 18 in. thick, and is terminated by a rounded apex united by a necking to the shaft. The back of the obelisk is plain, but the front and sides are subdivided into storeys by a series of bands and plates, each storey having panels sunk into it which seem to represent windows with mullions and transom. These architectural decora tions are derived from a style of building as found by a German expedition ex tant in an ancient church; courses of stone here alternate in the walls (both inside and out) with beams of wood held by circular clamps. In front of the best-preserved obelisk is a raised altar with holes sunk in it apparently to receive the blood of the sacrifice to the ancestors.
Most of these must date before the adoption of Christianity as the State religion in the 6th century.
See G. Maspero, L'Archeologie egyptienne (new ed., 1907) ; H. H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks (New York, 1882 ; London, 1885, etc.) ; F. W. von Bissing and L. Borchardt, Das Re-Heiligtum des Konigs Ne-woser-Re (1905) ; on the ancient method of raising obelisks, L. Borchardt, "Zur Baugeschichte des Amonstempel von Karnak," in Sethe's Untersuchungen zur Geschichte and Altertumskunde Aegyptens, vol. xv. For the Abyssinian obelisks see especially E. Litt mann and D. Krencker, Vorbericht der deutschen Aksum Expedition