Scope: Obelisks are a purely Egyptian invention. Here we will see the religious significance of obelisks and how the phenomenon arose. The erecting of an obelisk is perhaps an even greater engineering feat than the building of a pyramid. We will discuss how obeliskswere quarried and the theories about how they were erected. To illustrate how difficult it is just to move an obelisk, modern attempts to remove obelisks from Egypt will be discussed.
Outline
I. The origin of obelisks is religious.
A. Obelisk comes from the Greek for “meat skewer.”
B. The benben stone, worshipped in temples, was its precursor.
C. Sun temples highlighted obelisks, and every obelisk had a pyramidion on top.
D. Heliopolis, “On” in the Bible, had more obelisks than any other city.
II. The locations of the obelisks.
A. Heliopolis now has only one obelisk left.
B. Karnak had a dozen: two by Tuthmosis I, four by Hatshepsut, and six by Tuthmosis III. Only two are still standing (by Hatshepsut and Tuthmosis I). Hatshepsut was very proud of her obelisks, which she claimed were completed in only seven months.
C. Ramses II had dozens of small ones in Pi-Ramses in the Delta.
D. Ramses II had two at Luxor and had his son tied on top of one as it was erected!
III. How to erect an obelisk.
A. All obelisks come from the same Aswan pink granite quarries.
B. The Unfinished Obelisk is the largest ever attempted.
1. It weighs 1,000 tons—equal to two jumbo jets!
2. Pounded out of the quarry with dolorite balls, it shows no chisel marks.
3. Caverns were created underneath obelisks until they could be freed. They were then pulled on rollers to the Nile.
4. A canal was dug under the obelisk, and a barge was placed underneath it. When the obelisk was in place, it was pivoted lengthwise onto the barge.
5. The barge was then towed with the current to the final site.
6. There are several theories about how obelisks were erected. It was probably done with ramps, then ropes. WGBH-TV did an experiment to try probable techniques with Egyptologist Mark Lehner and a 37-ton obelisk.
IV. Obelisks are in exile all over the world.
A. Roman fascination led to many obelisks being brought to Italy.
1. Two were moved in 10 BC by Augustus from Heliopolis to Alexandria.
2. Thirteen were moved to Rome for circuses and other events. They were re-excavated in the sixteenth century. Techniques for erecting them had been lost, but the obelisks were erected using human- powered winches.
B. The Paris obelisk was moved in 1832. The Alexandria obelisks had been given to France by Mohamet Ali, but Champollion picked the Luxor obelisk.
C. London’s obelisk (1877) fell at Alexandria in the 1301 earthquake.
1. Wayman Dixon built a caisson, and the obelisk was towed from Egypt to England.
2. In a storm, six men died. The caisson in which the obelisk was being towed floated free; it was salvaged and eventually got to England, where it was erected on the Thames.
D. The New York obelisk was the last one removed, in 1880.
1. Navy lieutenant Henry H. Gorringe was paid by William H. Vanderbilt to remove the standing Alexandria obelisk.
2. The land was owned by an Italian who wanted compensation.
3. The streets were owned by foreign merchants, who said that the obelisk would damage sewers if it were moved through the streets. So Gorringe went another way.
4. There was not enough timber to lower the obelisk properly, and it stuck on the four crabs installed by the Romans at the base. It was lifted vertically first, then rotated horizontally.
5. The base contained an ancient trowel and plumb bob, so the Masons adopted the obelisk!
6. Gorringe moved the obelisk on cannonballs to water and floated it to port.
7. The steamer Desoug (without valid registration papers) was opened up, the obelisk was inserted, and the vessel was sailed by an alcoholic Yugoslav crew!
8. Brought first to Staten Island, then to the east side of New York, it finally landed at 96th Street from the Hudson River.
9. A special railroad was built, and for 112 days the obelisk moved at the rate of one city block a day.
10. The pedestal (which weighed 50 tons) was the largest object moved on wheels up to that time.
11. On January 22, 1881, the obelisk was erected in Central Park with 9,0 Masons present. The Grand Master made a speech, and placed in the pedestal were 1880 proof coins and “a small box [whose] contents were known only to Mr. William Henry Hurlbert.” It’s a mystery worthy of ancient Egypt!
Essential Reading:
Labib Habachi, The Obelisks of Egypt.
Supplementary Reading:
Aubrey Noakes, Cleopatra's Needles.
Questions to Consider:
1. What were the major difficulties in quarrying obelisks?
2. What modern difficulties were encountered in moving the obelisks to New York and London?