FranzJoseph
July 14th, 2006, 04:41 AM
Bizzare little thing. I've known about this obelisk all my life and even ate lunch near it once, not aware that it was originally made by the conqueror pharaoh, Thutmose III, in the 15th century BC.
It's twin sits on the Thames in England. (Called "Cleopatra's Needle".) My guess is the old boy would be proud his name got around so much, in his lifetime he got around a lot too. Interesting piece of history in a very odd place.
http://ancient-egypt.co.uk/metropolitan/images/Metropolitan%20NY%20Nov-2005%200006%202.jpg
http://ancient-egypt.co.uk/metropolitan/pages/obolisk.htm
Obelisk in Central Park, adjacent to the Metropolitan Museum.
The obelisk was one of a pair commissioned for Thutmose III and was originally located in Heliopolis but re-located to Alexandria in antiquity.
The second obelisk was moved to London and is known as Cleopatra's
needle - it is located on the Thames side of the Victoria Embankment.
America had been offered the obelisk in 1869 but had not made plans to move it from Alexandria. After it's pair was erected in London it wad re-located and erected in 1881 in Central Park, not far from the museum.
The carving of the hieroglyphics had been sharp when it was moved to New York but the northern climate has significantly eroded the carving.
At the above link there are translations of what is written on the obelisk, but they are not considered reliable. Rameses the Great had them re-cut a couple centuries after the original pharaoh had it raised.
Can whites even go in Central Park anymore? Been years since I was there, and it was getting pretty bad then.
It's twin sits on the Thames in England. (Called "Cleopatra's Needle".) My guess is the old boy would be proud his name got around so much, in his lifetime he got around a lot too. Interesting piece of history in a very odd place.
http://ancient-egypt.co.uk/metropolitan/images/Metropolitan%20NY%20Nov-2005%200006%202.jpg
http://ancient-egypt.co.uk/metropolitan/pages/obolisk.htm
Obelisk in Central Park, adjacent to the Metropolitan Museum.
The obelisk was one of a pair commissioned for Thutmose III and was originally located in Heliopolis but re-located to Alexandria in antiquity.
The second obelisk was moved to London and is known as Cleopatra's
needle - it is located on the Thames side of the Victoria Embankment.
America had been offered the obelisk in 1869 but had not made plans to move it from Alexandria. After it's pair was erected in London it wad re-located and erected in 1881 in Central Park, not far from the museum.
The carving of the hieroglyphics had been sharp when it was moved to New York but the northern climate has significantly eroded the carving.
At the above link there are translations of what is written on the obelisk, but they are not considered reliable. Rameses the Great had them re-cut a couple centuries after the original pharaoh had it raised.
Can whites even go in Central Park anymore? Been years since I was there, and it was getting pretty bad then.