(1) The unfinished obelisk of Aswân lies in a quarry on the south-east side of the mediæval Arab cemetery, being about twenty minutes walk from the Cataract Hotel. It is approached by a small valley leading up south-eastwards from the track of the old Barrage railway. Up to the time of the visit of King Fuad—then Sultan—in the winter of 1920–21, only about 22 metres of the obelisk were exposed to view, the remainder running down into a vast heap of blocks and chips. The curious trench, made roun

The total cost of the clearance was L. E. 75. A word of explanation is, perhaps, needed on the system of weights and measures used in this volume. It has been the custom of my Department to insist on metric scales in all plans. In the text, however, I enter somewhat deeply into the stresses and strains set up in the granite, and since nearly all the English engineering text-books and tables use the ton-inch units, I have adhered to the English system, reducing the metric linear measures to inche

(3) The obelisk is 41.75 metres long, lying with its point 18.5 degrees north of east, and sloping down towards the butt at an angle of 11 degrees, making the base of the pyramidion 7.05 metres above the level of the butt. When complete, the obelisk would have weighed 1168 tons English. It is curious that, during all the years that this obelisk has been known, those who were interested in the ancient methods of quarrying have not taken the trouble to clear it. Nearly every work in which it is me

(12) The trench surrounding the obelisk, by means of which it was intended to separate it from the surrounding rock, is of most peculiar form, the effect being a series of parallel and equidistant vertical cuts, as if it had been made by a gigantic cheese-scoop. Plate III , no. 1, shews the structure of the sides and bottom of the trench. Its width averages 75 cent., and its depth about two-thirds that necessary to extract an obelisk of square section. Down the division between each concave “cut

(16) At the south-west corner of the obelisk there is a kind of platform, sloping down southwards towards a vertical face of rock. Plate II , no. 2, shews the obelisk with the platform at the right, and plate V , nos. 1 and 2 shews the rock face viewed from below the north side of the obelisk, and from directly opposite it. A detailed drawing of the markings on the quarry-face is given on plate VI . The rock face is crossed by three black lines, lettered a , b , and c , and one red line d . It w

(21) Having examined, as far as possible, the methods by which the obelisk was separated from the surrounding rock, we will consider by what means the obelisk was detached from its bed and got into a position in which it could be handled and transported. It might be remarked that this particular obelisk has not been transported; there is no doubt, however, that the man responsible for the work had quite definite ideas as to how he was going to perform the feat. Although it is the largest obelisk

(28) Before entering into the question of the transport of obelisks, it may be as well to give extracts from ancient writers. They throw very little light on the problem, the Roman and Greek writers only giving what seems to be third-rate hearsay information, while the Ancient Egyptians usually confine themselves to statistics as to the numbers of men employed. King Menthu ḥ otpe IV sent an expedition of 10,000 men to the Wady Hammâmât quarries to bring in a sarcophagus, and records that it took

(35) The only reference the Egyptians have left us actually referring to the erection of a monument is that given in the Papyrus Anastasi I (for publication, see section 28 ). The monument to be erected is in this case a colossus. The text gives (§ XIV): “It is said to thee: Empty the magazine that has been loaded with sand under the monument of thy Lord which has been brought from the Red Mountain. It makes 30 cubits stretched on the ground, and 20 cubits in breadth . . . . . -ed with 100 (??)

(44) During the clearance of the west end of the north trench, a small pot was found, of the form shewn in figure 9, containing a small quantity of a substance which had the appearance of red brick dust. The pot appears to have had a neck, but it is now missing, and a section has been broken out of the side. On the other side of the pot there is a small hole. The shape of the pot is not characteristic, and it may well be of a date later than that of the obelisk. The glaze is of a dark reddish-br

(48) I have endeavoured to confine this bibliography to references which, directly or indirectly, concern the quarrying, transport and erection of obelisks in Egyptian times, omitting certain mediæval accounts such as those of Peter Gyllius, and such stories of marvellous Egyptian engines as are put forward by certain irresponsible writers. I have, however, given a very brief précis of the removals of the Vatican, Paris and the London and New York obelisks, as these have a general interest. A NT

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