POSTHUMUS, PR,EFECT OF EGYPT, AND THE PEOPLE OF THE METROPOLIS, (HONOUR) THE MOST REVERED EMPEROR THE PROTECTING DIVINITY OF ALEXANDRIA, THE DIVINE HADRIAN AUGUSTUS.
With regard to the column itself, Dr. Clarke remarks, that the shaft is of much earlier antiquity than either the capital or the pedestal. He observed, that the pedestal did not rest upon the sand ; but, by removing the sand, he found that this immense pile, consisting of pedestal, shaft, and capital, was sustained upon a small prop of stone, about four feet square, exactly as described by Paul Lucas, (Voyage fait par ordre de Louis XIV. en 1714, tom. ii. p. 23, Amst. 1744,) though this is denied by Norden. " Around this central base," says Dr. Clarke, " but in very irregular positions, had been placed other masses, the sepulchral fragments of ancient Egyptian monuments, which did not appear to contribute to the support of the column, but to have been brought there for the purpose of maintaining the prop in its adjusted situation, until the pedestal could be raised upon it." The prop consists of
Egyptian breccia, and its four sides are covered with hiero glyphic figures, which are inverted, so that the stone is turned upside down, and must have formed part of some more ancient ruins.
For further information on this curious subject, the reader is referred particularly to Clarke's Travels, vol. iii. p. 254-270, where there is an excellent representation of the pillar and of the hieroglyphics. See also Pococke's Description of the East, vol. i. p. 8; Hamilton's rEgyp tiara, p. 403, Lond. 1809 ; Norden's Travels in Egypt, vol. i. p. 16; and Brotier's Armor. in Tacit. Hist. lib. iv cap. 84.