OBELISK. From the Greek obeliskos and obelos. Schaal berg, in his Handbuch der Symbol& die Freimaure, ei, says: "It was a frequent custom in Egypt to place before the main entrance to a temple two high obelisks, which obelisks were called 'the rays of the sun.'" This species of temple orna ments belongs to the oldest and most simple monuments of Egyptian architecture, and are high four. sided pillars, diminishing as they ascend. It is probable that these monuments were first built before the time of Moses. There are still several obelisks in Egypt; at Alexandria, at Matarea, and at Thebes. The two finest are at Luxor, at the entrance of the temple. These Egyptian obelisks are generally constructed of red granite, from 30 to 100 feet in bight., and occupy at their base a space of from 4 to 12 feet square. Some are plain, while others are adorned on all sides with . hieroglyphics. Of their origin nothing is known with certainty. Probably the first images of the gods, which at an early period were nothing but stones of a pyra midical form, furnished the idea of them. According to
Herodotus they were first raised in honor of the sun, and meant to represent its rays. This is confirmed by their name and form. They might also have been raised to perpetuate the memory of certain events, since the hieroglyphics con tained the praises of the gods and kings, or inscriptions relating to their religious notions. They were generally hewn out of a single stone in the quarries of Upper Egypt, and brought on canals to the place of their erection. Old quarries are still found there with obelisks already hewn out, or with places whence monuments of this form must evi dently have been taken out. The two columns, Jachin and Boaz, which stood at the entrance of Solomon's Temple, were fac similes of these Egyptian obelisks, and from them arose the fashion in the middle ages of surmounting cathe drals and churches with two towers.