OBELISK (Cigi. obt fiseus, from ;;31-2.1r;Koe, obt liskos, spit. pointed pillar, diminutive of ..)3E X6s, ohdos, spit. pointed pillar). A word applied to prismatic monuments of stone, terminating in a pyramidal top. In .1.rabie they are called niescllah, 'pack needle.' The ancient Egyptians (-ailed them tekhen. a 11:1111e of unknown etyinol og,y, and stated that they were dedicated to the sun-god; they were therefore most numerous in the sacred city Heliopolis, whence most exist ing obelisks come. As most Egyptian gods were :sooner or later identified with time sun. it eVe11111 ally became appropriate to place obelisks at the entrance of every temple; even Isis had. in l'tolemaie times. two obelisks before her temple in Phil.. We first meet small private obelisks in the time of the pyramid builders ; in the Fifth 1)y nasty some gigantic lao1111111(.11tA, half obelisk, half pyramid, which were also dedicated to the sumgod, seen: to he an attempt to develop the obelisk into larger proportimis by sacrificing the monolithic principle. The pairs of obelisks flanking the en trances of temples were always monoliths. usually of granite. from Syene (.\ssuan). From un finished specimens in these quarries, we can form an of the way in which they were roughly separated from the rock, by means of borings and moistened wooden pegs. flow these gigantic monuments Avert% during the inundation, trans ported by water on rafts or specially constructed boats is depicted in a relief at Heir el-Itahri, lin.tinced in the of the I:fort Exploration. t'und 1895-96; unfortu nately, in regard to the machinery used for ing them. we know' nothing. Judging from the difficulties experienced by niedheval and oven modern engineers in transporting and erecting them, it is difficult to vonerive how the ancient Egyptians. with the simple apparatus at their disposal, (Todd handle these great bloel:s of a hundred :111.1 Wore feet in length. One of the tallest obelisks—that of Ilat-sliepS111 ( Ilatosii) at 1:arnak—is estimated at but in length. its diameter at the base is feet. its mass is estimated at 1;73 (glide feet. and its weight at 367 tons. The inscriptions state that this obelisk, together with its companion. was Cut in 7, and finished in 19 months. Inscriptions mention still taller obelisks. .111 obelisks have four faces, and are hroader at the base than at t lie top: the pyra mid ion or cap on the top is sonic t lines r I. The pyromidion was often covered with nietal (brass or as were also the inscriptions running down the sides of the obelisk. The pyramidical frequently con tained more elaborate senlpturcs than the obelisk itself. These sculptures merely represent the King engaged in worshiping and making offer ings before the god; the inscriptions also are al mays of a very sunple character, containing nigh log more than the titles and praises of the dedi cating King. The obelisk always stood on a cubical pedestal, slightly broader than the base of the obelisk. and on this pedestal significant ornaments were sometimes sculptured. For ex ample, on the pedestal of an obelisk in Karnak may be seen the cynocephali worshiping the ris ing sun. In later times, the ltomans put decora tions on the top, like brazen The earliest obelisk yet standing is that of Heliopolis (modern .latarielO, erected by User tesen I. (the second King of the Twelfth Dynn: ty) before the son temple: another of the Twelfth Dynasty is the fallen obelisk of Ilegig in the Farms t. In Karnak. of two obelisks of Thoth me 1.. one is still standing, 76 feet high. ohelisks of Thounues Ill. were specially Milner oils. One was removed in antiquity to Constanti nople (now in the Atineidan or Hippodrome) ; it is only the upper part of an obelisk originally ninth over Dal feet in height. Another is that of
Saint John of the Lateran at Home. now 106 to 107 feet high. The two famous Treadles of Cleo patra' were first erected by Thothmes ill, at Heliopolis. and were, in Ptolenmie times, trans ported to Alexandria. One came thence to Lon don in 1879 ( now On the Thames embankment ), the other to New' York by the ship Dessong. at the expense of William I1. Vanderbilt, in lssu (erected in Central Park, February 2.2„ I1S111. Both these monuments were richly remmamented by Ilanieses 11. The ['iris obelisk, whose com panion still stands at Luxor, dates from the time of Mimeses iI. was removed in 1s31 and erect eel in the Place de la Concorde in 1S33. The Flaminian obelisk is the work of Mimeses II_ though his father. Seti I.. commenced it. It was removed to lt0Ille by Constantin.. and in the Pontificate of Gregory N III. it was found 16 feet under the surface of the earth. The architect Fontana it under Sixtus V. with great difficulty. Of the numerous obelisks brought to llome, that of the Alonte Citorio (brought to Home by Amoistus. rediseovered in 17-IS1 dates from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, hav ing been sculptored by Psammetielms 11. Two obelisks in the British Museum hear inscriptions of Neklit-har-hcb of the fourth n.c.: others from the reign of Ptolemy VIII. once Mood before the Temple of Phil:v. These mom'. Monts were so popular at Rome that the em peror. had several of them cut ; for example, the Pamphilian obelisk, erected by Bernin. in 1651, in the Piazza Navona. was originally erect ed before the Surapemn at Rene by Domiliam IA hose m toe it bear-.: thenee it was removed to the sirens of Maxentius. The Barberini obelisk originally stood before the mausoleum (or peno• taph ?) of Antinons, the favorite of Hadrian. whose death il commemorates, It was in the eirens of Aurelian in 1633, and (.reeled on the Monte Pincio in 1;•22. The Sallustian obelisk and that of Beneventinn belong to the same period. In modern Bone obelisks arc al ways used as ornaments in the centre of pnblie places, sometimes near a fountain, and often with the addition of ltenaissance ornaments In Assyria several monuments have been found which are palled obelisks, althrmgh they bear but a slight resemblance to those of Egypt, being merely stela. in the shape of truncated, slanting prisms, with step-shaped apices. The most re markable is the 'black obelisk' of ?-dialmaneser IL, covered with long inscriptions recording the victories of this King and representations of the tributes brought to among them the bearers of King .1clin of Israel (B.c. 842). A broken 'obelisk' of Assurnazir-pal (s.c. 885-860) is the next in importance; than one of Shamsi lawman ( B.C. 825-812 I .
Consult : Loega, Origine et l'su Obeliscorum (Rome, 1797) : Cipriani. Su/ dodici obelischi di Voina lib_ 16231 ; Votiec historique stir les obi7isql1CN 1836) ; Birch, Notes mutter •1 fbelisks" in the .1/ use?' in of Classiral Antiquities (London, 1853) ; above all, Maruvehi, G/i obc/isehi cyi:iani di Roma (Rome, 1898). See Ki:YPTIAN ART, OBER, S'blr, FREDERICK ALBION (1849—). An American traveler and author, horn in Bev erley. Mass. He was educated at the Massachu setts Agricultural College, and in 1872 he began his tropical explorations. lie traveled in the West Indies (1576-80), making a valuable col lection of and visited Mexico. Spain, North Africa, and South America. Ile wrote travels, historical sketches, and novels, including Camps in the Caribbees (1879); Trarels in (1883) ; Porto Pico and Its Resources (1892) ; dascphine, Empress of the Preneh (1895) ; His tory of the West Indies (1900) : and The Ca eique':4 Treasure Care (1901).