The following is a translation of the hieroglyphic writing which is set into it: "The Horus; the living from his birth; the king of Upper and Lower Egypt; Ra Kheper Ka; Lord of the two diadems; Son of the sun; Osirtasen; the loved of the God of Heliopolis from his birth; Ever-living; The golden Horus; the Good God; Ra Kheper Ka to the first celebration of the panegyry. He (has) made (this obelisk) the eternal generator."
The Greeks never made obelisks outside of Egypt. The Macedonian kings, or Ptolemies, who reigned in that country, from Alexander to Augustus, erected, terminated, or enlarged many monuments, but always according to Egyptian rules. Egyptian artists executed obelisks for their Greek princes, but they did not depart, any more than in the other monuments, from their ancient customs. The Egyptian style and proportions are always to be recognized, and the inscriptions are also traced in hieroglyphics. The obelisk found at Philæ was erected in honor of Ptolemy Evergetes II. and of Cleopatra, his sister, or Cleopatra, his wife, and placed on a base bearing a Greek inscription relating the reason and occasion of this monument. It was removed from Philæ by Belzoni, and has been now erected at Kingston Hall, Dorset, by Mr. Bankes. It is very far from equaling the Pharaonic obelisks in dimensions, it being only twenty-two feet high.
After the Romans had made Egypt a Roman province they carried away some of its obelisks. Augustus was the first who conceived the idea of transporting these immense blocks to Rome; he was imitated by Caligula, Constantine, and others. They were generally erected in some circus. Thirteen remain at the present day at Rome, some of which are of the time of the Roman domination in Egypt. The Romans had obelisks made in honor of their princes, but the material and the workmanship of the inscriptions cause them to be easily distinguished from the more ancient obelisks. The Barberini obelisk, on the Monte Pincio, is of this number; it bears the names of Adrian, of Sabina, his wife, and of Antinous, his favorite. The obelisk of the Piazza Navona, from the style of its hieroglyphics, is supposed to be a Roman work of the time of Domitian. The name of Santus Rufus can be read on the Albani obelisk, now at Munich, and as there are two Roman prefects of Egypt known of that name, it was, therefore, one of those magistrates who had executed in that country these monuments in honor of the reigning emperors, and then had them sent to Rome. The Romans also attempted to make obelisks at Rome; such is the obelisk of the Trinita de' Monti, which formerly stood in the Circus of Sallust. It is a bad copy of that of the Porta del Popolo. The Roman emperors in the east had also some Egyptian obelisks transported to Constantinople. Fragments of two of these monuments have been found in Sicily, at Catania; one of them has eight sides, but it is probably not a genuine Egyptian work. The use of the obelisk as a gnomon, and the erection of it on a high base in the center of an open space, were only introduced on the removal of single obelisks to Rome.
RELIGION OR MYTHOLOGY.[ToC]
Mythology is from the word myth, meaning fable, it is therefore a system of fabulous opinions and doctrines respecting the deities which the heathen nations have supposed to preside over the world or to influence its affairs.