CHAPTER VII
Notes on the translation and the crabs.
§1. On looking over the translation of our obelisk, as set forth in the preceding pages, the reader will perhaps feel disappointed in the substance of its inscriptions. These contain, as has already been stated, only laudatory phrases and vainglorious titles, and furnish us with no historical data nor anything that would be of value to scholars. People have for many centuries suspected them of an utterly different meaning, and have given them the most fanciful and ludicrous explanations. For instance, Athanasius Kircher in his "Œdipus" (published in 1650), when speaking of our obelisk, says: "It [the New York Obelisk] sets forth the activity and functions of the twelve solar genii in the world's government, which result from their protection and presence, and with what rites and ceremonies each of them must be propitiated; for each in his tour around each of the four sides keeps watch over his particular quarter of the world, which he both guards against the attack of the evil genii and preserves". All this, of course, is sheer nonsense. Besides this ridiculous explanation Kircher mentions that at the base of our obelisk were engraved the words مسلة فرعون "Pharaoh's Needle", which is both improbable and impossible, though, as a matter of fact, the obelisk always went by that name among the Arabs.
The most silly guess at a translation, however, is probably that of the Mohammedan writer Ibn-el-Vardi, who visited Alexandria and saw our obelisk there in 1340. He writes of it as follows:
"This is on it [the obelisk]: 'I, Yaﻋmer-ben-Shaddād, have founded this city, when old age did not yet overtake nor death disturb nor gray hairs trouble me, when stones were here in abundance, and men did not acknowledge masters. I have built its porticoes, and dug its canals, and planted its trees, and desired to embellish it with wonderful monuments and amazing structures. I have sent my servant El·Thabūt-ben-Marrat, the ﻋAdite, and Maqdām-ibn-El·ﻋAmr-ben-abī-Reﻋāl, the Thamūdite, the caliph, to Mount Tarīm, the red mountain, and they cut out of it two rocks and carried them both on their shoulders. Then one of the ribs of El·Thabūt having been crushed, I caused the people of my kingdom to make reparation. Now these two [obelisks] were erected for me by El·Fatan-ibn-Jārūd, the Mūtafakite, on an auspicious day.'"
The same writer then states: "And this is the very obelisk which is in the corner of the city looking toward the East, while the other is seen further in the interior of the city."
This translation of our obelisk reads very strange and was, of course, only drawn by that ancient author from his own fertile imagination. Still it shows how much importance was even at that early time attached to our monolith. Almost every traveler of note mentions it and gives a description of it. All their scattered notices help us to trace the history of our obelisk through the last few centuries, without, however, our gaining any new or important knowledge from them.
Note. It may be of some interest to know that all the old writers agree in calling the erect obelisk in Alexandria "Cleopatra's Needle"; in other words, this epithet was only applied to the New York Obelisk in Central Park. The claim of the English that their obelisk in London was ever named after the famous queen rests on no foundation whatever.
§2. When the Romans transported our obelisk to Alexandria, its base was badly damaged. That it might still be erected without planing off the surface of the stone, they filled up the cavities with lead and put bronze crabs in the corners. The reason why they should have selected the crab or scorpion (
The crabs at present supporting the obelisk are new, and were cast at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. What is left of the old ones is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park (cf. page [72]). The following inscriptions were engraved on the eight claws:
First crab, first claw:
| L. Η
ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ ΒΑΡΒΑΡΟΣ ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕ ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΟΝ ΟΥΝΤΟΣ ΠΟΝΤΙΟΥ | ANNO VIII AVGVSTI CAESARIS BARBARVS PRAEF AEGYPTI POSVIT ARCHITECTANTE PONTIO |
[The corrected form and the translation of these inscriptions are given on page [73] and [74].]
First crab, second claw:
| QUARRIED AT SYENE, EGYPT; ERECTED AT HELIOPOLIS, EGYPT, BY THOTHMES III IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY B. C. |
Second crab, first claw:
REMOVED TO ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, AND ERECTED
THERE B. C. 22 BY THE ROMANS.
[The date should be B. C. 12. Cf. page [73].]
Second crab, second claw:
REMOVED TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A. D.
1880, AND ERECTED IN NEW YORK CITY JANUARY 22,
1881.
Third crab, first claw:
PRESENTED TO THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
BY ISMAIL, KHEDIVE OF EGYPT.
Third crab, second claw:
RUTHERFORD BURCHARD HAYES, PRESIDENT; WILLIAM
MAXWELL EVARTS, SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE
UNITED STATES.
Fourth crab, first claw:
THE COST OF REMOVING FROM EGYPT AND PLACING
ON THIS SPOT THIS OBELISK, PEDESTAL, AND BASE,
WAS BORNE BY WILLIAM H. VANDERBILT.
Fourth crab, second claw:
LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER HENRY H. GORRINGE,
UNITED STATES NAVY, DESIGNED THE PLANS FOR AND
SUPERINTENDED THE REMOVAL AND RE-ERECTION.