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The Problem of the Obelisks

Fig. I.— obelisks OF TUTHMOSIS I (left) AND HATSHEPSOWET {right) AT KARNAK. (The nearei obelisk leans to the left owing to soil-subsidence.)

[Frontispiece.

THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

FROM A STUDY OF THE UNFINISHED OBELISK AT ASWAN

BY

R.JENGELBACH

Assoc. C. & G. Inst.

Qhief IntftctOT of Antiquities^ Upper Egypt (Author of RiQQtH, 1915 Ths Aswan Obelisk, 1922 ; Haragkh, igi^f etc.J

ILLUSTRATED

T. FISHER UNWIN, LIMITED

LONDON ADELPHI TERRACE

RneArfc

•02

First publish fd in 1923

(all RICHTl RISKRVID)

PREFACE

THIS book has been written, not only to give the general reader the results of the latest researches on the ages-old problem as to how the obelisks were extracted and erected

THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS R. Engelbach

ERRATA

Page 19, last line, for " Ramose " read " Seti I." ,, 48, lines 13, 20, and 22, for " 3'i5 inches" read

" 315 inch." ,, 60, line 5, for " rollers " read " baulks." „ 70, lines 15 and 17. for ^-„Vt read ^i^.

quarry in 1921 ana 1922 nave aireaay oeen published by the Antiquities Department, under the title of The Aswan Obelisk, with some remarks on the Ancient Engineering, of which this is practically a popular edition. It has been entirely re-written and re-arranged, omitting the rather elaborate calculations on stresses and leverages which are given at length in the official volume, but giving in far greater detail

7

'02

(all rights RtSSRVIo)

PREFACE

THIS book has been written, not only to give the general reader the results of the latest researches on the ages- old problem as to how the obelisks were extracted and erected in ancient times, but also to furnish visitors to Aswan with a full description of the huge unfinished obelisk lying in the quarries a short distance from the Cataract Hotel, which has thrown a great deal of light on the ancient methods. I have included in it, for comparison, brief accounts of the removal and re-erection in modern times of the Vatican, Paris, London and New York obelisks. No detailed account of the Aswan Obelisk has yet appeared in any guide- book.

The results of my clearance of the obelisk quarry in 1921 and 1922 have already been published by the Antiquities Department, under the title of The Aswan Obelisk, with some remarks on the Ancient Engineering, of which this is practically a popular edition. It has been entirely re-written and re-arranged, omitting the rather elaborate calculations on stresses and leverages which are given at length in the official volume, but giving in far greater detail

7

8 PREFACE

the results of my experiments with the scale model shown in figs. 27-33, which Mr. Donaldson, of the Egyptian State Railways, kindly made to my design. No photographs of this model have been hitherto published.

Although more than a year has elapsed since sending the manuscript of The Aswan Obelisk to press, I have not had to modify my views on the ancient methods in any point of importance ; further study of the quarry has, however, induced me to omit the alternative suggestion on the manner in which the obelisk was rolled clear of the quarry (page 53) and to assert, with some confidence, that sleds were an essential in the transport of all large obelisks.

To the reader who may charge me with expending so much space on such a restricted subject as that of the making of obelisks, I would recall the deathbed answer of the old professor to his friends, who had asked him if he did not think he had wasted his life by devot- ing it exclusively to the study of Greek preposi- tions. He repUed : " It is true ; I should have confined myself to those governing the Dative ! " Like him, I feel that I have unduly digressed in Chapter VIII, when so much remains to be discussed on the mechanical side.

In explaining the various processes, I have tried to indicate clearly where fact ends and deduction begins, and frankly to admit — as in

PREFACE 9

the case of the details of the transport barges — where there is not sufficient evidence on which to speculate, or when any stage of the mechanical history of the obelisk is not clear to me.

There is an increasing demand, among the 10,000 visitors who come to Egypt each year, for facts about the arts, crafts, engineering and practical life of the Egyptians ; in other words, for a compact account of what is known on a subject that interests them; and there is a corresponding and natural dislike to descriptions of the never-ending scenes of gods and kings, which, after all, convey very little information even to the archaeologist. There is a surprising difference between the taste of the average visitor now and that of fifteen years ago. Then the chief point of remark about the tourist was his Baedeker and his boredom ; now Breasted's Ancient Records and the latest archaeological works are constantly seen in his hands, in addi- tion to that excellent guide-book.

In the following pages I have been occasionally guilty of levity. My defence is that it is as a sort of protest against a habit — so dear to the dilettanti in Egyptian lore — of never speaking of anything " Ancient Egyptian " except in sepulchral tones and with bated breath, lest a curse fall upon them ! As a matter of fact the Egyptian, apart from his religion, was essentially a practical man, and by no means opposed to

10 PREFACE

a little levity ; one has only to read the text accompanying some of the banqueting scenes in the tombs — such as that of Paheri at El-Kab — to be convinced of this. Further, this book deals with work, and lacks the " romance " popularly associated with the gods, graves and ghosts of ancient Egypt. I have only dipped into the graveyard for purely secular information, such as the careers of the ancient architects. My feeble attempts to brighten up a rather *' tough '* subject may therefore be pardoned, if not approved.

On the subject of the transcription of Egyptian names, a word of explanation may not be out of place. I am constantly asked, *' Which should it be : Tuthmosis, Thothmes, Tahutimes, Dhutmose, Tuthmose or Thutmosis ? " or : " Was the Queen called Hatshepsut, Hatshepsowet, Hatshepsuit, Hatshopsitou or Hatasoo ? " The reason for these variants is that the Egyptians wrote their names in consonants only, except — apparently under protest — when they indicated the presence of an initial vowel or final i. The system adopted here is practically that given by Dr. Alan Gardiner in his Topographical Catalogue of the Private Tombs of Thebes, and that is an attempt to reconstruct the names, following the latest researches in the ancient vocalisation. In the case of kings, where the Greek or Manethonian form is well known and appears

PREFACE II

to be close to the probable articulation, it has been retained. Thus we say Hatshepsowet, Dhuthotpe and Sennemut, but Tuthmosis, Ame- nophis and Ramesses. This system is being adopted by the Survey of Egypt for their future publications. The variants given in Appendix II will, I hope, clear up all the reader's difficulties in this respect.

In collecting the history of the obelisks and their architects for Chapter VIII, I am greatly indebted to Prof. J. H. Breasted's invaluable Ancient Records, which give, in a handy form, translations of every historical document in Egypt. Though in most cases the translations given in that chapter are based on Prof. Breasted's work, I have occasionally sacrificed his strictly literal translation in order to give the reader a freer rendering.

My thanks are due to the Antiquities Depart- ment of the Egyptian Government for permission to reproduce from The Aswan Obelisk figures 5-1 1, 13-20, 22, 25, 26, 34-36 ; to Messrs. Macmillan and Co. for the loan of the blocks for figures 21, 23 and 24 ; and to Messrs. Harmsworths, Ltd., for permission to reproduce the photographs on figures I, 2 and 38-40 from my article on obelisks in Wonders of the Past. Photos 3, 4 and 18 were taken by Mr. A. M. MacGillivray, of Aswan ; I, 2, 38-40 by Gaddis and Self, Luxor ; the remainder are mine.

CONTENTS

Page

Preface 7

CHAPTER I Obelisks and Quarries .... 17

CHAPTER II

Description of the Aswan Obelisk . . 25

CHAPTER HI Setting Out an Obelisk .... 32

CHAPTER IV

Extraction of an Obelisk ... 41

CHAPTER V Transport of an Obelisk .... 52

CHAPTER VI Erection of Obelisks 66

CHAPTER VII

Some Ancient Records .... 85

CHAPTER VIII

A History of Certain Obelisks and Their

Architects 92

13

14 CONTENTS

Page CHAPTER IX Removals of Obelisks in Modern Times . 114

APPENDIX I

Dates of Egyptian Kings Mentioned in

THE Volume 123

APPENDIX II Vocalisations of Egyptian Words . . 125

Index 128

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

No. of Fig. Page

1. Obelisks of Tuthmosis I (left) and Hatshep-

s6wet (right) at Karnak . {Frontispiece)

2. Obelisk of Senusret I at Mataria, near Cairo . i8

3. Aswan Obelisk from the east ... 26

4. Aswan Obelisk from the west . . . 26

5. Hammer-dressing on pyramidion of Aswan

Obelisk ....... 28

6. Outline of scheme for reducing size of Aswan

Obelisk ....... 28

7. Plan and sections of Aswan Obelisk to a scale

of 1/200 ...... ^ 38

8. Wedge and chisel marks near Aswan Obelisk 42

9. Rough chisel-dressing on unfinished sarcophagi

known as " El-Hamm3,mmat," near Aswan 42

10. Black granite hammer from Gizeh . . 42

11. Interior of separating- trench round Aswan

Obelisk ....... 42

12. View of trench round Aswan Obelisk when

standing within it .... . 42

13. Measuring-Hnes on upper quarry-face, Aswan

ObeUsk .....,, 44

14-17. Traces of inscriptions on upper quarry-face . 46

18. View of Aswan ObeUsk from the north . . 50

19. Bed from which a small monument, probably

an obelisk, has been removed ... 50

20. ObeUsk of Hatshepsowet, mounted on a sled,

from her sculptures at Der El-Bahari . . 57

21. Transport of the statue of Dhuthotpe, from

his tomb at El-Bersheh .... 59

22. Sketch-plan of the neighbourhood of obelisk

quarry, Aswan ..... 60

23. Cargo-boat, New Kingdom .... 61

24. Boat of Queen Hatshepsowet, from the Punt

reliefs at Der El-Bahari .... 62

25. Position of base of Hatsheps6 wet's obelisk on

its pedestal ...... 68

26. Gigantic embankment for transporting stone,

Aswan .......

70

15

i6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

No. of Fig. Page

27. Sectional model of an embankment, to show

method of erecting obelisks ... 70

28. ObeUsk at the top of the slope, overhanging

the sand-funnel ..... 70

29. Sled half removed ..... 70

30. ObeUsk engaging in the sand ; all the lashings

are released ...... 72

31. Obelisk half-way down the funnel . . 72

32. Obelisk at rest at the bottom of the funnel,

its edge engaging in the notch of the pedestal 72

33. ObeUsk after it has been pulled upright . 72

34. Choisy's suggestion for raising obeUsks . 77

35. Choisy's theory on the erection of obeUsks . 78

36. „ ., ,. .. „ 78

37. Statue of Sennemut, architect of Hatshepso-

wet's obelisks, holding her daughter Nef rurS,

to whom he was tutor .... 100

38. King Tuthmosis III presents obelisks, flag-

staves and booty from Palestine to the god Amen-Re, Karnak ..... 108

39. Obelisk of Ramesses II, Temple of Luxor.

Its fellow is now at the Place de la Concorde,

Paris ..... . . 112

40. Contemporary sculpture of Pylon of Ramesses

II in the Temple of Luxor, showing obelisks, flagstaves and colossi . . . . 112

41. Model showing how the Paris Obelisk was

lowered and erected . . . . 116

42. Model to show how the lowering and the raising

of the New York Obelisk were performed. 116

43. Lowering of the New York ObeUsk. Towers

and trunnions about to be removed . 118

44. Lowering of the New York ObeUsk. Removing

the wooden baulks from each end alternately 118

THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

CHAPTER I OBELISKS AND QUARRIES

OBELISKS have always held a great attraction for visitors to Egypt through- out the ages. From the time of Assur- banipal II onwards nearly every foreign con- troller of Egypt has removed one or more as a souvenir. Though there must have been several score of large obelisks in the country — Karnak alone had at least thirteen — there now remain but five standing. Earthquakes, soil-subsidence and the foreigner have indeed taken a toll.

Though records of obelisks extend back into the Old Kingdom, and fragments of them have been discovered, the earliest complete example is that of King Senusret I of the Xllth dynasty at El-Mataria, near Cairo, shown in fig. 2. The others are those of Tuthmosis I, Queen Hatshep- sowet and Seti II at Karnak, and the obelisk in front of Luxor temple dating to the reign of Ramesses II. Of these, that of Tuthmosis I (frontispiece) is in a rather dangerous condition owing to the settling of its pedestal, and that of 2 17

i8 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

Seti II is only a miniature obelisk of gritstone, of which there must have been hundreds in the country. Against this Rome has nine over 20 feet high, while Constantinople, Paris, London and New York all have one large obelisk, not to mention several small ones in museums, private collections and gardens.

In ancient times there must have been a great number of large obelisks in Egypt. Seti I tells us that he " filled Hehopolis with obelisks," and Ramesses II is known to have had fourteen in Tanis alone, though whether he erected them or merely usurped them, according to his habit, is uncertain. Besides the temples of the great centres such as Karnak and Luxor, Heliopolis and Tanis, many of the temples in other places must have had them. We have actual records of obelisks at Philse, Elephantine, Soleb (in Nubia), the mortuary temple of Amenophis III behind the Colossi of Thebes, and elsewhere. The total number of obelisks exceeding 30 feet in length must have been well over fifty.

The origin and religious significance of the obelisk are somewhat obscure. In the royal sanctuaries of the fifth d3niasty kings on the margin of the western desert at Abusir, not far from the Pyramids of Gizeh, the obelisk took the place of the holy of holies of the later temples. Recent excavations have shown that these obelisks were very different from those now familiar to visitors, as the length of the base was fully one-third that of the shaft, which was of masonry and merely served the

Fig. 2.— obelisk OF SENUSRET I AT MATARIA, NEAR CAIRO. (Pages 17, 30 and iii.)

18]

OBELISKS AND QUARRIES 19

purpose of elevating the sacred pyramid or henhenif), as the Egyptians called it — the real emblem of the sun. The obelisks of Upper Egypt, on the other hand, had no very definite connection with sun-worship, their only function being an additional decoration to the pylons, though it is known that they were greatly venerated and offerings were made to them. They were erected in pairs, and when Tuthmosis III (p. 109) put up a single one at Kamak, he says that it was the first time that this had been done. Until we know how early obelisks were placed before the pylons of Upper Egypt, it is rather difficult to say whether they were de- veloped from the fifth dynasty sun-obelisks or independently, particularly when one realises that, if a high, thin stone monument is desired, the obelisk is the only practical form which is pleasing to the eye and convenient for inscrib- ing. In any case, the subject is really outside the scope of this book, which deals rather with the mechanical side of obelisk-lore. A discussion of the obelisk as a sun-emblem pure and simple is given in Prof. J. H. Breasted's Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (Hodder and Stoughton) on pages 11, 15 and 71. The cLTtistic taste of the ancient Egyptian differed considerably from ours and, to our minds, he was in the habit of decorating objects which do not need any decoration whatever. He had — like the modern Egyptian — a perfect mania for painting and gilding everything. In the tomb of Ramose at Thebes (No. 55) he has

20 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

painted in gaudy colours the most wonderfully detailed reliefs, and we know for certain that he overlaid the huge fir-trees, which formed the pylon fiagstaves, with bands and tips of electrum or copper. Obelisks did not escape this craze, and as far back as our records go they were capped with electrum, copper or gold. The Arab historian 'Abd El-Latif, writing as late as I20I A.D., states that the two Heliopolis (Mataria) obelisks still retained their copper caps, and that around them were other obelisks large and small, too numerous to mention (see page iii). Now only one remains.

The unfinished obelisk of Aswan, though its existence has been known for centuries, was never cleared until the end of the winter of 1922, when my Department granted me L.E. 75 to do so. In this work I was assisted by Mahmud Eff. Mohammad and Mustafa Eff. Hasan of the Antiquities Department, who supervised the workmen.

Before the clearance, all the visitor could see of the obelisk was the top surface of the pyra- midion and about 20 yards of shaft, which sloped down into a vast heap of sand, chips and granite boulders. It has now become one of the most visited sights in Aswan, since nothing of its kind is to be seen elsewhere.

Most persons, having seen the temples and tombs of Egypt, become more or less blase to them. This is largely due to the fact that no- one — least of all the dragomans — brings home to them the enormous difficulties the Egyptians

OBELISKS AND QUARRIES 21

overcame. They dismiss them as beyond their understanding, and many closer students of the monuments than the average visitor have boldly affirmed that the Egyptians knew engines and forces of nature of which we are to-day ignorant. This is quite a wrong idea ; it is, as a matter of fact, far easier to explain every step in the mechanics of a large obelisk to the non-technical reader than those of an iron bridge. Though modern research robs the Egyptians of the magical powers attributed to them, it makes them more admirable in the eyes of the practical man, as it shows that they could do, with the most primitive tools, feats of engineering which we, with some 3,000 years of mechanical progress behind us, are barely able to copy.

A study of the Aswan Obelisk enables the visitor to look with different eyes on the finished monuments, and to realise, not only the immense labour expended in transporting the giant blocks and the years of tedious extraction of stone in the quarries, but the heartbreaking failures which must sometimes have driven the old engineers to the verge of despair before a perfect monument could be presented by the king to his god. Nowadays, if anything gets out of position, a jack, a winch or a crane is called for, and the trouble is soon put right ; in ancient times a colossus or an obelisk which came down badly on to its pedestal was some- thing in the nature of a tragedy. A perfect monument teaches us httle of their engineering ; an imperfect or unfinished piece of work may

22 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

teach us much. Thus the obelisk of Hatshepsd- wet at Karnak, standing askew on its pedestal, which must have been a perpetual sore point to Sennemut, its engineer, is useful to us, as it enables us at once to rule out the levering-up theories put forward by Gorringe and others who have written on the subject (page 67).

The Aswan Obelisk is a piece of work that failed, not through any fault of the workers, but owing to an unexpected fissure in the rock. It must have been galling beyond words to the Egyptians to abandon it after all the time and trouble they had expended, but to-day we are grateful for their failure, as it teaches us more about their methods than any other monument in Egypt.

The great quarries of Aswan and Silsileh are quite untouched as regards excavation, which is one of the reasons why our knowledge on the extraction of stone is so very unsatisfactory. In spite of this there is quite a considerable literature on the subject, mostly done either by engineers (on a brief visit) with no knowledge of archaeology to enable them to control their assertions, or by archaeologists to whom engineer- ing is a sealed mystery. While the publication of a new grammatical form or historical point wiU evoke a perfect frenzy of contradiction in the little world of Egyptology, the most absurd statements on a mechanical problem will be left unquestioned, and, what is worse, accepted. In most branches of modern archaeology the alleged savant must work in conjunction with

OBELISKS AND QUARRIES 23

the specialist, and the specialist needed for the subject under discussion is the foreman quarry- man. This was brought home to me with great force when I was at work on the obelisk, and I shall never forget the ease nor the contempt with which an old Italian quarryman disproved some of my then most cherished theories. His range of knowledge may have been limited, but it was painfully accurate.

A walk round the quarries between the railway and the Reservoir road at Aswan well repays the trouble. Here we may see gigantic embank- ments, some nearly half a mile in length, on which the great blocks were transported from the high desert down to the Nile ; we can see half- finished sarcophagi (fig. 9, page 42) and statues, abandoned no one knows why, in various stages of completion ; we can see inscriptions, some readable and some not, painted or cut on the boulders by the ancient engineers, and every- where we may see the marks of their wedges, some showing where a block has been removed, others where the wedge has failed to act, or has split the rock in the wrong direction. The site clamours for excavation, which might well reveal chippings from the chisels used in cutting the granite, and thus settle, once and for all, whether they were of highly tempered copper or not ; another abandoned monument might give us conclusive information as to the methods by which they were detached from below, and how it was intended to roll them out from their beds. Excavation might well furnish us with ancient

24 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

levers and rollers — or traces of them — which are hardly known at present, and then only of small size. A big quarry has never been cleared, and we cannot believe that the small area excavated round the obelisk has revealed all the secrets. The explanation of the neglect of the quarries is that they are not likely to afford good museum-pieces.

With an expenditure of L.E. 500 a really comprehensive study of quarrying could be made, which would surely add greatly to our present knowledge.

CHAPTER II DESCRIPTION OF THE ASWAN OBELISK

THE obelisk lies in a quarry on the south- east side of the mediaeval Arab cemetery, being about a quarter of an hour's drive from the Cataract Hotel. The best time for visiting it is either early in the morning or just before sunset, as it is at these times that the guide-lines on the upper surface of the obelisk and the curious structure of the trench surround- ing it are most clearly visible.

The best general view is obtained by passing over the new retaining wall at the butt, and thence up past the vertical face of rock to the hill above it. Even from there, owing to fore- shortening, it is difficult to realise the enormous size of the monument, which is one-third as high again as the largest obelisk in Karnak, and more than triple the weight.

Its complete dimensions are as follows : —

137 feet.

Length . .

Base

Pyramidion base

Pyramidion height

Weight (if it had been extracted)

13 feet 9 inches. 8 feet 2 inches.

14 feet 9 inches. ,168 tons.

Photographs of the obehsk from the tip and butt are given in figs. 3 and 4, and a plan of the quarry, with sections, in fig. 7, p. 38. From the latter it will be seen that the impression

25

26 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

gained from the ground, that the obelisk is abnormally thick for its length, is incorrect.

It is fortunate that, in this small quarry, we can see so many different examples of the methods of the old workmen. At B, fig. 22 (shown close in fig. 8), we see examples of the action of ancient wedges and chisels, showing how easily the Egyptians could cut granite. It appears that all this wedging was with the object of removing the rock to let the tip of the obelisk pass when it was rolled out of the quarry. At A and C, fig. 7, p. 38, we can see modern chisel- dressing and what is probably a more recent method of using the wedge, which is by cutting a long channel instead of a series of small slots. Granite, rotted by the action of fire, can be picked up almost anywhere in the quarry; test-shafts, sunk early in the work to study the quahty of the granite, can be seen at C and D in fig. 7, and the first can even now be traced up to the original surface of the quarry. The trench, by means of which it was intended to separate the obelisk from the rock, is another and unique example of the ancient method of quarrying, and is discussed in Chapter IV. The vertical face of rock above the obelisk is nothing but the interior wall of another perimeter-trench, from before which a monument— possibly an obehsk— has been removed (fig. 18, p. 50). On this face we have the records of the work of the various shifts employed (fig. 13, P- 44 and p. 46). Neither this nor the obelisk-trench show how the monuments were to be detached from below,

I'iG. 3.— ASWAN OlJl-Ll.'^K FROM THL EAST. (Page 25.)

26]

Fig. 4.— ASWAN OBELISK FROM THE WEST. {Page 25.)

26]

DESCRIPTION OF ASWAN OBELISK 27

the one since a sufficient depth had not been reached, the other because the bed has been removed ; but so that nothing may be lacking, above the quarry-face there still remains the bed from which a monument of about 23 feet long has been taken. We could wish for a larger monument from which we might study the under-cutting, since what applies to a medium-sized block does not always apply to those of very large size ; but we must be grateful for what we have.

As to the date of the obelisk, there is very little indication of it ; since it was a failure, it was in nobody's interest to record it. It may have been of the time of Queen Hatshepsowet (i.e., about 1500 B.C.), since large obelisks seem to have been the rule in her time. Further, the outline of a smaller obelisk drawn upon the surface of the large one (figs. 6 and 7), which can be well seen just after sunrise, is of almost exactly the same dimensions as that now known as the Lateran obelisk at Rome, the work of Tuthmosis III, her co-regent and successor. These evidences of date should, however, be accepted with a good deal of caution.

The obelisk was abandoned owing to fissures in the granite, as the possibility of erecting a very large obelisk depends entirely on the rock being sound, particularly near the middle (p. 75). Here, although the granite is of extremely good quality, it is by no means flawless, and from the very outset of the work the cracks and fissures seem to have given the ancient engineers a

28 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

great deal of anxiety. Though parting fairly evenly under the action of wedges, the natural fissures in the granite are most erratic ; a small fissure in one level or position may, in a couple of metres, become a gaping crack into which one could insert the blade of a knife ; con- versely, what appears to be a deep fissure may disappear at a lower level. Hence each crack had to be rigorously examined to see its probable effect on the completed obelisk. The methods by which this examination is carried out are described on page 37.

Fig. 7 (p. 38) is a plan, with sections, of the obehsk, and shows all the fissures (lettered a,b, c, &c.), and nearly all the guide-lines (indicated by Greek letters). These show clearly that attempt after attempt was made, by reducing the size of the proposed obelisk, to obtain one in which the granite was free from flaws.

For those who wish to examine the history of these attempts in greater detail the following notes may be of service. Very early in the work — almost after the roughing-out was finished — it was found that fissure 0, which cuts off the corner of the obelisk, necessitated reducing its length from the butt end. It was therefore reduced 4 cubits, or 6 feet 10 inches, and a black line (tt) drawn across the top surface of the obelisk and down the sides to mark off the reduction. The depth at which the trench was abandoned at the butt shows how early it was reaUsed that a length of 137 feet was impossible. Almost as soon as this had been done it was

KiG. 5.— ilAMMEK-DKKSSING ON I'VRA-

MIDIOiN OF ASWAN OBELISK.

(Paga 36.)

Fig. 6.— outline OF SCHEME FOR REDUCING SIZE OF ASWAN OBELISK. I {Pages 27 and 29.)

DESCRIPTION OF ASWAN OBELISK 29

found that fissures a, b, and c necessitated shortening the obeUsk from this end also. The lines c K X are the successive proposals for reducing the length of the shaft in order to obtain a flawless piece. Fissure c, however, showed clearly that the pyramidion must be kept quite clear of it, since it widens as it goes deeper. Fissures j, k, I and in would have made the quarry (or south) side of the obelisk liable to split, so in a last attempt to obtain a perfect piece of stone the centre line 77 was shifted to 0, and a very much smaller obelisk set out from it. This, as has been noted before, is almost exactly the size of the Lateran obelisk. Even this scheme did not escape the fissures, since at p there is a large one, running right into the obelisk, which would make it unsound at its most vulnerable point, the centre. I have no doubt that the obelisk was abandoned owing to fissure p.

It may be of interest to the reader to compare the sizes and weights of some of the best -known obelisks. Those marked with an asterisk are scaled off photographs, making slight allowances for foreshortening. (See p. 30.)

It is perhaps no more than a coincidence that the outline for the Aswan " last attempt " has a base of exactly the same size as that of the fragment before Pylon VII at Karnak, namely, 10-3 feet, from which M. G. Legrain, the late Director of Works, deduced a height of 124 feet (37-77 metres). He assumed that the taper would be the same as that of Queen Hatshep- sowet's obelisk at Karnak, which, as a matter

30 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

of fact, is less than all others, thus making the height greater than it would be with the average taper. Last year a fragment of the companion obelisk was found, from which it can be estimated accurately that the base of the pyramidion was 2- 08 metres or 6-8 feet, which is very close to the Aswan outline.

OBELISK.	BASE (feet).	PYRA- MIDION BASE (feet).	PYRA- MIDION HEIGHT (feet).	TOTAL HEIGHT (feet).	TAPER (see foot- note 2).	WEIGHT IN TONS.
Aswan Aswan (later pre ject) . . . Lateran^ Hatshepsowet . Vatican Luxor	-	13-8 10-3 9-8 7-9 8-8 8-2 8-0 7-7 7-8 6-2 7-0	8-2 6-6 6-2* 5-8 5-9 5-1* 5-1 5-3* 5-3* 4-0* 4-6	14-8 17-4 14-8* 9-7 4-4 6-4* 6-4 5-4* 5-4* 6-6* 7-8	137 105 105-6 97 83 82* 74 69-6 68-5 67 64	24-3 237 29-3 42-8 26-9 28-2 26-5 29-0 27-4 27-5 24-2	1,168 507 455 323 331 254
Paris		227 193 187 121 143
New Yorki. . London 1 Mataria^ Tuthmosis I

* After Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks.

' By taper I mean the length of the shaft in which one unit decrease in width is observed.

All over the quarries at Aswan, and especially round the obelisk, may be seen hundreds of balls — some whole and some broken — of a very tough greenish-black stone known as dolerite, which occur naturally in some of the valleys in the eastern desert. It is a curious but incon- testable fact that not only were the faces of monuments dressed by means of these balls — which has been long known — but that they were used for " cutting " out large monuments from

DESCRIPTION OF ASWAN OBELISK 31

the rock. In other words, they are the tools of the quarrymen.

On the face of the high rock C (in fig. 22, p. 60), nearest the obehsk, are two inscriptions, and traces of others now barely legible. One reads, in the Greek character : —

AM

CABINIANOC CEPAnEIQN OPCOY

" Am . . . Sabinianos (and) Serapeion (sons) of Ursus." These are Greek forms of Latin names, probably those of early visitors to this quarry. Close to this inscription there is another name EPMEINOC, Ermeinos, cut into the face of the rock.

Two large embankments, dating from ancient times, may be seen close to the quarry ; one leads westwards from the quarry above the obelisk, and another of gigantic size leads from the low desert about 200 yards east of the obelisk up to the quarries on the high desert. This can be seen even from the Grenfell Tombs across the river. Neither of these embankments appears to have any connection with the great obelisk.

CHAPTER III SETTING OUT AN OBELISK

IN the following chapters we will endeavour, by deduction from the facts observed, and from ancient records, to ascertain every step in the history of an obelisk from the moment when the ancient engineers arrived at Aswan, from whence all the obelisks come, to the moment when it is standing upright before the pylon in the temple.

Where the evidence is insufficient, as in the case of the details of the huge transport boats, we will merely record the meagre facts which have come down to us, as it would be unwise to credit the Egyptians, in order to explain a difficult point, with appliances or any know- ledge which we are not certain that they possessed.

At Aswan the surface of the granite consists of huge boulders, some quite large enough to provide a door-jamb or even a shrine, but none which could possibly furnish a moderate-sized obelisk. It must have required great experience to judge whether there was likely to be a long, flawless piece at a moderate depth. Whether test-shafts were sunk to examine the quality of the granite in all deep work I do not know, but I think it most probable, though in my superficial survey of the quarries I have not

32

SETTING OUT AN OBELISK 33

found any examples besides the two in the obehsk quarry (fig. 7, at C and D).

The quickest and most economical way of removing the top layers of the stratum is by burning fires against the rock, which causes it to break up very easily, especially if water is poured on it while it is still hot — a method used in India at the present day. There is a good deal of evidence to show that the Egyptians used this method, and it seems that the fires must have been of papyrus reeds, which at that time probably grew abundantly here just as it infests certain parts of the upper reaches of the Nile now. There are indications that these fires were banked with bricks against the surface to be destroyed. Traces of burning are seen at A and B (fig. 18, p. 50), and burnt granite can be picked up almost anywhere. It may be remarked here that the burnt granite must be distinguished from the weathered granite and that decomposed by the ferruginous layers in the stratum, which are likely to be confused with it.

In the actual obelisk quarry, wedge-marks are seen only at one place. The large blocks removed by a series of wedges acting in a channel instead of in slots are almost certainly of a later date than that of the obelisk. The (now) entrance to the trench is also a later piece of work, as the fine chisel-dressing is of the modern type, and I even obtained a block from here which had a hole " jumped " for blasting with gunpowder. Although so few wedge-marks have been found in the work on the obelisk, I believe 3

34 THE PROBLEM OF THE OBELISKS

that they were freely used when necessary ; where a large block could fall away from the parent rock, wedges were probably more quick than burning. They can be seen in thousands all over the quarries. They are usually driven from the top downwards, but some may be seen which have acted horizontally and some even from below. It has been asserted that the wedges themselves were of wood and made to expand by wetting them. Without wishing to deny that the Egyptians knew and used this method, I will merely observe that the taper of the slots seems so great, and the sides of the slots so smooth, that there would be a great tendency for the wedges to jump out after wetting rather than exert their pressure ; another point is that it would be a somewhat difficult matter to wet a horizontal wedge, and still more difficult to do so from below. I am inclined to think that the normal method was to use metal — perhaps iron — wedges, with thin metal plates between the wedge and the stone which are now known as " feathers." The hammers may well have been of stone after the fashion of the Old Kingdom hammer from Gizeh (of black granite), shown in fig. lo, p. 42. The method used nowadays is to make, with a steel chisel, a series of small holes along the line where fracture is required, and by inserting small, fat, steel