Cartouche of the emperor Augustus Cæsar. "The divine lord of the world, Autokrator, the son of Ra, lord of the diadems, Cæsar-Ankh-Zeta-Ptah-Ast-Mer."
The four sides of the obelisk were now filled, and it would appear impossible for another king to have used any other part of it for his own purpose. Such is, however, not the case. Osarkon I. had chiseled into the stone at the very edges of each side in diminutive characters his own name. He was a Pharaoh of the xxiid dynasty, who lived about 960 B. C., and represents the decline of the ancient Egyptian empire.
Cleopatra VI. (From an ancient coin.)
Cartouche of queen Cleopatra VI. "The queen and mistress of the world, Cleopatra."
Of the history of our obelisk since that time very little would be known except for the inscriptions found on the brass crabs at the base. From them we learn that the obelisk was taken away from its position in front of the temple of Heliopolis in the XVIIIth year of the reign of Augustus Cæsar (12 B. C.) by Pontius during the prefecture of Barbarus. It was then transported to Alexandria and placed in front of the Cæsareum, the temple of the Cæsars, with the obelisk at present in London. During the transportation a large portion of the edges at the base was very badly damaged. Four large bronze crabs were then placed under the obelisk to keep it from falling over. Since this time of their erection in Alexandria tradition has associated one of them, the New York Obelisk, with the name of the monster-queen Cleopatra VI. She had, however, nothing whatever to do with the removal of the obelisks as she and all her predecessors of the same name had been dead long before these were erected in Alexandria. Here both remained for many centuries until one—the present London Obelisk—fell prostrate and was left to lie half-hidden in the ground. It was subsequently taken in 1877 to England, while the other obelisk remained standing in Alexandria until 1880, when it was lowered into the steamer Dessoug, brought over to our country, and presented to New York City through the munificence of the late Mr. William H. Vanderbilt.
Cleopatra VI. (From Egyptian monuments.)