§5. The question as to the invention of that wonderful, simple, yet strange figure we call obelisk, can be answered without hesitation. The invention belongs wholly to the Egyptians. As has been pointed out before, the people of the IVth and Vth dynasties already made use of this form of monument. Perhaps its first appearance dates back even further, although no such old obelisks exist to warrant this assumption.
The next question to be answered is: to what use were the obelisks put? The ancient dynasties did not use them for ornament's sake, as the tomb would hardly be a suitable place for works of art that were to be admired. They originally served as memorial tablets and tomb-stones. Afterwards their surpassing beauty as monuments of art was perceived, and they were placed in pairs in front of the gates and pylons of the temples for ornament. They broke the monotony of the straight and peculiar Egyptian style of building, and by their apparently thin and column-like appearance set off to advantage the massive and ponderous structures round about. A position in front of the temples was certainly the very best which could be assigned to them, and it can therefore be no matter of surprise, that the Pharaoh sought to commemorate his victories and virtues on such splendid tablets. We find the king in most cases use all the available space on the obelisk, and whenever he did not use all of it, another would be sure to add his own glorious name and deeds to those of some predecessor. We consequently find some obelisks that bear the inscriptions of as many as three different rulers; for instance, the Lateran, London, and New York Obelisks. These inscriptions would effectually serve the purpose of history, if they recorded events of vast political importance, but, unfortunately, of obelisk-inscriptions still extant, none are dated after the manner of other historical monuments.
The Romans immediately recognized the artistic merits of the obelisks, though they were perhaps more struck by their grandeur and elegance than anything else, and carried off many of them as trophies to sunny Italy. They adorned Rome with them, where, with all their rents and fractures, and after all the injury by the hand of man and havoc of the elements, the obelisks still baffle the ravages of time in the "City of the Seven Hills". As a "smart" people, however, the Romans tried to utilize them in some way: so they hit upon the idea to make them serve as sun-dials. Augustus experimented to this end with the obelisk now on the Monte Citorio in Rome, but, as he was not successful, this project was entirely abandoned.
CHAPTER IV
The signification of the obelisk and the worship of the sun.
The most interesting point to be touched upon in our further investigation concerning obelisks is undoubtedly that with regard to their meaning and signification, or, in other words, what the mind of the Egyptian priest saw expressed under the figure of an obelisk. This leads us into the religion and mythology of a nation that had some very lofty conceptions of life, death, and eternity. The objects which called forth such thoughts were pre-eminently the obelisk and the pyramid, the former representing life in the sunshine of glory, the latter death in the darkness of passing night.
In the cosmogony of the Egyptians the Sun plays the most important part. Its birth is thus aptly described from the monuments by Prof. Dr. H. Brugsch: "In the beginning there was no heaven or earth. A boundless water, shrouded in dense darkness, made up the universe. This held in its bosom the male and female germs or beginnings of the future world. The divine primeval spirit, inseparable from the matter of the primitive water, felt a longing after creative power, and his word called into being the world, whose figure and variegated form had already manifested themselves to him. Its corporeal outlines and colors corresponded, in consequence of their derivation, to Truth, that is, to the exact intention of the divine spirit with reference to his future work. The first act of creation consisted in the formation out of the primitive water of an egg, from which the light of day (Rā 'the sun') proceeded, which animated everything in the world. In this rising sun is embodied the almighty divinity in its grandest manifestation".