BREASTED (Dr. J. H.), Ancient Records.—Translations of the inscriptions on most of the obelisks can be obtained from the general index under ‘obelisks’. Many of these translations are accompanied by interesting footnotes.
References to some large transportations are given in section [28] of this volume, to transport boats in section [34].
(50) CHOISY (Auguste), L’Art de bâtir chez les Égyptiens, published at 76 Rue de la Seine, Paris, 1904.—The author, in this work, gives what he considers to have been the ancient methods of building, together with his ideas as to those of the transportation and erection of monoliths. The chapters on construction do not come within the province of this volume. Obelisks are dealt with on pages 121 to 127. Under the heading of ‘extraction’, he gives some suggestions, or rather assertions, as to the manner in which the obelisk was given a curved surface, but none as to the quarry work. In his notes on transport by water, he favours the method described by Pliny (section 34 of this volume), which we know is not confirmed by an examination of the Aswân quarries. As to the method he proposes for the transport of obelisks, it is extremely laborious; the obelisk was heaved up by a series of levers acting on both sides simultaneously, {50} being packed from below after each heave. Figure 11, taken from his book, makes this clear. When the obelisk was sufficiently high, an embankment was constructed so as to make a ramp leading down in the direction in which it was desired to travel, and the obelisk was pulled, butt foremost, along the ramp until it reached ground-level again, the process being repeated for the whole journey. His method for erecting an obelisk is, to me, mechanically unsound. Figure 12 is taken from his book; referring to it, he says: “Soulevons le bloc (fig. [11]), en ayant soin de maintenir le remblai d’appui par les bajoyers. Arrivés à une hauteur telle que a′, passons, par-dessous, des traverses c et un tourillon n. A ce moment rien n’empêche de déblayer les terres et d’établir en sous-œuvre une glissière g. La glissière faite, remplaçons par du sable les terres enlevées; retirons les traverses c et affouillons le sable. L’obélisque, pivotant autour du tourillon n, va s’incliner suivant a″ et arriver à l’aplomb de sa base b. Il suffira pour empêcher d’aller trop long, de réserver en d un arrêt qui le contre-bute du pied, et de retenir le sommet par des haubans.”
Fig. 11.
He does not tell us of what material the ‘tourillon’ n is to be made in order to stand the enormous strain, neither does he give any details as to the material of the ‘glissière’ which would allow the point of the sled to slide along it without burying itself.
Fig. 12.—Choisy’s suggestion for erecting an obelisk.
Choisy imagines the procedure after the obelisk had attained a vertical position to have been to fill in the space between the obelisk and the pedestal with filled sand-bags, a long sausage-shaped bag having been placed in the slot in the pedestal. The bags were then to be perforated {51} one by one until the obelisk rested on its edge and the long bag only. The empty bags were to be withdrawn from under the obelisk and finally the long bag opened and the material removed through the slot. This may possibly have been the method used with medium-sized blocks, such as sarcophagus-lids, but I very much doubt whether any bag would stand half the weight of the Aswân obelisk without bursting, besides, the crushing of the inner edge of the slots in the pedestals of all the obelisks at Karnak, except that of the standing obelisk of
