HELIOPOLIS, he-li-op'6-lis (aCity of the Sun"), Egypt, the On of the Hebrew Scrip tures, on a site now partly occupied by Mats riah, six miles northeast of Cairo, was one of the most ancient and extensive cities during the reign of the Pharaohs, and so adorned by monu ments as to be esteemed among the first sacred cities of the kingdom. During the flourishing ages of the Egyptian monarchy the priests and scholars acquired and taught all the learning of the Egyptians within the precincts of its temples. Its sacred name was Per-Re (house or city of Re), of which Heliopolis is the Greek translation. It may be regardekl as hav ing been the university of the land of Misraim, and at the time of Strabo, who visited this town. 24 B.C., the apartments were still shown in which, four centuries before, Eudoxus and Plato had labored during 13 years to learn the philosophy of Egypt. Solon and Thales were
also reputed to have visited its schools. Here Joseph and Mary are said to have rested with the infant Jesus. Near the village stands the Pillar of On, a famous obelisk, supposed to be the oldest monument of the kind existing in Egypt. Its height is 67Y2 feet, and its breadth at the base 6 feet. Hieroglyphical characters are sculptured upon it, but are partly illegible. The obelisks known as Cleopatra's Needles, of whit* one is now in London and the other in Central Park, New York, were originally erected at Heliopolis by Thothmes III. A fierce battle was fought here, 20 March 1800, between the French under Kleber and the Turks, when the latter were defeated. Consult Pauly-Wissowa, 'Real-Encyclopidie der classischen Alterttns (Vol. VIII, Stuttgart 1913),