Obelisk

a kind of stone monument peculiar to Egypt. It consisted of a single piece of red granite from the quarry of Syene in upper Egypt. Egyptian obelisks vary from a few feet to sixty-six feet in height. They are usually square in section and taper upward gradually, terminating in a pyramidal cap. They were chiseled from the solid rock. Three faces, that is to say, the top and two sides, were polished as the block lay in position in the quarry. Holes were then drilled and plugs of wood were driven in. These pieces of wood, upon being moistened repeatedly, swelled and acted like wedges, splitting off the stone its entire length without breaking it. The fourth side was then finished. The obelisk was conveyed down the Nile on a raft during the period of high water or else it was conveyed on a rude log cart dragged by men. Upon reaching their destination, the obelisks were inscribed with the facts of Egyptian history or the exploits of the Pharaohs. The letters of the inscriptions are in columns, reading from top to bottom instead of crosswise. Many of these obelisks were erected at Thebes. The largest were set up at Heliopolis. The list includes about forty. A number were transported to Rome; one stands on the embankment in London. A similar, indeed a companion, monolith, known as Cleopatra's Needle, was conveyed from Alexandria, Egypt, to Central Park, New York, and set up in 1880. The Washington Monument at Washington, D. C., and the Bunker Hill Monument have the obelisk form. They are composed, however, of regular courses of masonry. See Central Park