ABSTRACT
A few years ago there were to be seen in Alexandria the two famous granite obelisks called Cleopatra's Needles. They were brought from Heliopolis during the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus, and set up before the Temple of Cresar. Until quite lately one of them remained upright; the other had fallen. They are both made of Aswan granite; one measures 67 feet in height, the other 68t feet; the diameter of each is about 7t feet. The larger obelisk was given by l\ful)ammad 'Ali to the English early in this century, but it was not removed until 1877, when it was transported to England at the expense of Sir Erasmus Wilson, and it now stands on the Thames Embankment. The smaller obelisk was taken to N ew York a few years later. The inscriptions show that both were made during the reign ofThothmes TII.,about B.C. 1600,and that Rameses II., who lived about 250 years later, added lines of inscriptions recording his titles of honour and greatness.
