At the bottom of each of the four faces of the obelisk are two horizontal lines of almost totally destroyed hieroglyphs. They bear the cartouches of Ramses II., and are so written as to read from the centre each way. The inscription is
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| Râ-en-sotep-Râ-Mâ-User | nefer | nuter | ânkh | nuter | nefer | Ȧmen-mer-Râ-meses-su |
| Râ-en-sotep-Râ-Mâ-User | nefer | nuter | ânkh | nuter | nefer | Ȧmen-mer-Râ-meses-su |
| Ramses II. · | gracious · | god · | life · | god · | gracious · | Ramses II. |
| Ramses II. · | gracious · | god · | life · | god · | gracious · | Ramses II. |
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| Râ-en-sotep-Râ-Mâ-User nefer nuter ânkh nuter nefer Ȧmen-mer-Râ-meses-su | ||||||
| Râ-en-sotep-Râ-Mâ-User nefer nuter ânkh nuter nefer Ȧmen-mer-Râ-meses-su | ||||||
| Ramses II. · gracious · god · life · god · gracious · Ramses II. | ||||||
| Ramses II. · gracious · god · life · god · gracious · Ramses II. | ||||||
i. e. Long life to the gracious god, Ramses II.!
i. e. Long life to the gracious god, Ramses II.!
i. e. Long life to the gracious god, Ramses II.!
i. e. Long life to the gracious god, Ramses II.!
III. Inscriptions of Osarkon I.
Besides the three columns of hieroglyphs on each face of our obelisk, all chiseled in large and bold characters, we find at the lower end of each face near each edge inscriptions by a later king. The hieroglyphs of these inscriptions are so minute and so mutilated as to be scarcely legible. They seem to have started at the first of the lower cartouches and to have extended to the two horizontal lines at the bottom of the obelisk. As each face has two of these columns, there are eight of these inscriptions on the obelisk. The last half of the inscriptions is destroyed in each case and may have been different on every column. The eastern column on the south face is the most legible one and presumably reads thus
| suten-kaut? | kherp-kheper-Râ-sotep-en-Râ | sa Râ |
| The king of Upper and Lower Egypt · | Osarkon I. · | the son of Râ · |