Cleopatra's needle

by Sir Erasmus Wilson

First Side, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of Tum, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra, lord of diadems, who protects Egypt and chastises nations; son of the sun, Ramessou Meriamen, who throws down southern peoples as far as the Indian Ocean, and the northern peoples as far as the prop of the sky; the lord of the two lands, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra; son of the sun, Ramessou Meriamen, vivifier like the sun.”

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Ma (truth), the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Ra-ousor-ma-Sotep-en-Ra, lord of panegyrics like his father, Ptah Totnen; son of the sun, Ramessou Meriamen, strong bull, like the son of Nou (Set); none could stand (against him) in his time, the lord of the two lands (prenomen); son of the sun (name).”

Second Side, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of Khepra, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (prenomen). Golden hawk, of abundant years, very victorious; son of the sun (name). (He) enabled men to behold (what) he has done; never was uttered denial (against it). The lord of the two lands (prenomen); son of the sun (name); splendor of the sun”....

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Truth, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (prenomen); son of the sun, offspring of the gods, possessor of the two lands; son of the sun (name), who made his frontiers to the place he chose, and got peace through his victory; the lord of the two lands (prenomen); son of the sun (name), splendour of the sun.”

Third Side, 1.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, beloved of Ra, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (prenomen); lord of panegyries, like his father, Ptah; son of the sun (name); son of Tum, from his loins, who loves him; Hathor generated him; he who opened the two lands; lord of the two lands (prenomen); son of the sun (name), vivifier like the sun.”

2.—“The kingly Horus, strong bull, son of ...... the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (prenomen); lord of diadems, who cares for Egypt and chastises nations; son of the sun (name).”

The Flaminian obelisk is a beautiful example of the species; it was constructed by the Pharaoh Seti I., otherwise Osirei, the blind king, or as he is designated by the carvings on the stone, Menephtha Scthai; and was completed by his son, Rameses II.: we therefore find his own personal narrative in the middle column, and that of the great Sesostris in the side columns. This obelisk was originally erected at Heliopolis, and was brought thence and conveyed to Rome by the Emperor Augustus in the tenth year before the Christian era. At Rome it was taken to the Circus Maximus or Campus Martius, where it would seem to have fallen into neglect, inasmuch as, at a later period, it was found partly buried and broken into three pieces. It was one of the five obelisks set up by Pope Sixtus V., and was placed by him in front of the church of St. Maria at the Porta del Popolo, the old Flaminian gate, in 1589; and although it has lost a portion of its base, is the third in height of the obelisks of Rome, measuring upwards of eighty-seven feet.

The Flaminian obelisk has been made the subject of an excellent paper, contributed to the Royal Society of Literature, in 1841, by the Rev. George Tomlinson, and published in the Transactions of the Society. Mr. Tomlinson produces a careful and exact translation of the inscription on all the sides of this obelisk; and as there is necessarily a considerable amount of repetition, we have endeavoured to curtail it, without, as we hope, doing injury to the sense. On three sides of the pyramidion Seti supplicates three separate deities:—Thoré of the sacred bark; Horus-phra, lord of the two worlds; and Athom, lord of Heliopolis. He appeals as follows:—“The good god, the Pharaoh, establisher of justice, the son of the sun, Menephtha-Sethai, says: Give me a life strong and pure. To which the deities reply:—We give thee all strength; we give thee a life strong and pure.”

On the fourth side of the pyramidion, Rameses II., son of Seti, prefers a similar request to Athom, lord of Heliopolis, thus:—“The good god, the Pharaoh, guardian of justice, approved of the sun, the son of the sun, Ammon-mai Rameses, says: Give me a life strong and pure; and the deity responds:—We give thee a pure life.”