7 Fascinating Facts About Obelisks (2024)

The first thing you might not know about obelisks is what they are. If you have ever visited the Washington Monument, however, or walked across the Place de la Concorde in Paris, or seen any rendering of ancient Egypt in its glory, you are very familiar with obelisks: vertical stone columns that taper as they rise, topped by a pyramid. Washington’s Monument and the Fascinating History of the Obelisk, by John Steele Gordon, is an absorbing account of the obelisk’s place in human civilization. Here are seven things revealed by Gordon that you might not know about obelisks.

The ancient Egyptians placed pairs of obelisks at the entrances of their temples. According to Gordon, the columns were associated with the Egyptian sun god, and perhaps represented rays of light. They were often topped with gold, or a natural gold-and-silver alloy called electrum, in order to catch the first rays of the morning light. Twenty-eight Egyptian obelisks remain standing, though only six of them are in Egypt. The rest are scattered across the globe, either gifts from the Egyptian government or plunder by foreign invaders.

2. AN OBELISK WAS USED IN THE FIRST CALCULATION OF THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE EARTH.

Around 250 B.C., a Greek philosopher named Eratosthenes used an obelisk to calculate the circumference of the Earth. He knew that at noon on the Summer Solstice, obelisks in the city of Swenet (modern day Aswan) would cast no shadow because the sun would be directly overhead (or zero degrees up). He also knew that at that very same time in Alexandria, obelisks did cast shadows. Measuring that shadow against the tip of the obelisk, he came to the conclusion that the difference in degrees between Alexandria and Swenet:seven degrees, 14 minutes—one-fiftieth the circumference of a circle. He applied the physical distance between the two cities and concluded that the circumference of the Earth was (in modern units) 40,000 kilometers. This isn’t the correct number, though his methods were perfect: at the time it was impossible to know the precise distance between Alexandria and Swenet.

If we applyEratosthenes's formula today, we get a number astonishingly close to the actual circumference of the Earth. In fact, even his inexact figure was more precise than the one used by Christopher Columbus 1700 years later. Had he used Eratosthenes’s estimation, Columbus would have known immediately that he hadn’t reached India.

True obelisks as conceived by the ancient Egyptians are “monolithic,” or made from a single piece of stone. (The literal translation of monolith—a Greek word—is “one stone.” On that note, the word “obelisk” is also Greek, derived from obeliskos, or skewer. An ancient Egyptian would have called an obelisk a tekhen.) The obelisk at the center of Place de la Concorde, for example, is monolithic. It is 3300 years old and once marked the entrance to the Temple of Thebes in Egypt. So difficult is the feat of building a monolithic obelisk that Pharaoh Hatshepsut had inscribed at the base of one of her obelisks the proud declaration: “without seam, without joining together.”

4. THEY WERE REALLY, REALLY HARD TO BUILD.

Nobody knows exactly why obelisks were built, or even how. Granite is really hard—a 6.5 on the Mohs scale (diamond being a 10)—and to shape it, you need something even harder. The metals available at the time were either too soft (gold, copper, bronze) or too difficult to use for tools (iron’s melting point is 1,538 °C; the Egyptians wouldn’t have iron smelting until 600 B.C.).

The Egyptians likely used balls of dolerite to shape the obelisks, which, Gordon notes, would have required “an infinity of human effort.” Hundreds of workers would have each had to pound granite into shape using dolerite balls that weighed up to 12 pounds. This doesn’t even address the issue of how one might move a 100-foot, 400-ton column from the quarry to its destination. While there are many hypotheses, nobody knows precisely how they did it.

Until the 19th century, hieroglyphics were thought to be untranslatable—mystical symbols with no coherent message beneath. Jean-François Champollion, a French Egyptologist and linguist, thought differently, and made it his life’s purpose to figure them out. His first success came from the Rosetta Stone, from which he divined the name “Ptolemy” from the symbols. In 1819, “Ptolemy” was also discovered written on an obelisk which had just been brought back to England—the Philae obelisk. The “p,” “o,” and “l” on the obelisk also featured elsewhere on it, in the perfect spots to spell the name “Cleopatra.” (Not that Cleopatra; the much earlier Queen Cleopatra IX of Ptolemy.) With those clues, and using this obelisk, Champollion managed to crack the mysterious code of hieroglyphics, translating their words and thus unlocking the secrets of ancient Egypt. (Almost 200 years later, the European Space Agency’s mission to land a spacecraft on a comet commemorated these events; the spacecraft is named Rosetta. The lander is named Philae.)

6. THE OLDEST REMAINING OBELISKS ARE AS OLD AS RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY.

The oldest obelisks are almost impossibly old—ancient even by the standards of antiquity. Seaton Schroeder, an engineer who helped bring Cleopatra’s Needle to Central Park, called it a “might monument of hoary antiquity,” and commented eloquently, “From the carvings on its face we read of an age anterior to most events recorded in ancient history; Troy had not fallen, Homer was not born, Solomon’s temple was not built; and Rome arose, conquered the world, and passed into history during the time that this austere chronicle of silent ages has braved the elements.”

First conceived in 1832, the Washington Monument took decades to build. It is, by law, the tallest structure in the District of Columbia, and is twice as tall as any other obelisk in the world. Gordon notes that it stands unique among memorials in Washington. Whereas people visit memorials to Lincoln and Jefferson (among others) to see giant statues of the men they commemorate, the highlight of the Washington Monument is the monument itself. The statue of Washington inside receives little notice. As Gordon writes in Washington’s Monument, “The obelisk, silent as only stone can be, nonetheless seems to say as nothing else can, ‘Here is something significant.’”

7 Fascinating Facts About Obelisks (2024)

FAQs

7 Fascinating Facts About Obelisks? ›

Ancient Obelisks Were Monolithic. The fact that these original structures were monolithic — meaning they were carved from one single piece of stone — makes them distinct from more modern variations. "Many people don't realize that the ancient Egyptian obelisk was a monolith," Long says.

What is a fun fact about obelisks? ›

Ancient Obelisks Were Monolithic. The fact that these original structures were monolithic — meaning they were carved from one single piece of stone — makes them distinct from more modern variations. "Many people don't realize that the ancient Egyptian obelisk was a monolith," Long says.

What is the secret meaning of obelisk? ›

Ancient Egyptians further believed that the obelisk could guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Its shape, symbolism, and use made it a powerful symbol of the strength of Egyptians' faith and the power of the Sun God Ra. Ra was an ancient deity worshiped as the primary God of the sun, order, and creation.

What does an obelisk stand for? ›

It was one of two obelisks commissioned by Pharaoh Thutmose III for the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis, near modern-day Cairo. Scholars believe that obelisks represented eternity and immortality, and their long, tapering form functioned to connect the heavens and the earth.

What is the oldest obelisk in the world? ›

The earliest surviving obelisk dates from the reign of Sesostris I (1918–1875 bce) and stands at Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo, where once stood a temple to Re. One of a pair of obelisks erected at Karnak by Thutmose I (c.

What is the most famous obelisk? ›

More well known is the iconic 25 metres (82 ft), 331-metric-ton (365-short-ton) Vatican obelisk at Saint Peter's Square. Brought to Rome by the Emperor Caligula in 37 CE, it has stood at its current site and on the wall of the Circus of Nero, flanking St Peter's Basilica.

Which city has the most obelisks? ›

Rome is the city with the most obelisks in the world. Obelisks of Egyptian manufacture arrived in Rome from the time of Augustus when Egypt was under Roman control.

What god does the obelisk represent? ›

The monolithic obelisk was invented by the kings of the fifth dynasty (2465-2323 BCE) in reverence to the sun god, Re. They often had kingly connotations, representing a connection between the spirit (ka) of the king, and the sun god.

What is the power of the obelisk? ›

The Power of the Obelisks

While mainstream scholars identify them as monuments to the pharaohs, Ancient Astronaut Theorists suggest they may have served a technological purpose–they powered a technology that allowed for communication with the gods who came from the stars.

What does the upside down obelisk mean? ›

Some interpret Broken Obelisk as a universal monument to all humanity. However, the severed, upended form could also suggest that there is nothing to celebrate—perhaps an allusion to the social unrest of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War protests occurring in the United States in the 1960s.

Who invented the obelisk? ›

The first obelisks were built by ancient Egyptians. They were carved from stone and placed in pairs at the entrance of temples as sacred objects that symbolized the sun god, Ra.

What culture is the obelisk from? ›

History of the Obelisk

The Obelisk (Greek for "pointed instrument") was created roughly 3,500 years ago in Egypt. To celebrate Pharaoh Thutmose III's 30th year of reign, stonecutters carved two obelisks out of granite and installed them outside of the Temple of the Sun in the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis.

What does obelisk translate to? ›

Herodotus was among the first writers to describe obelisks, and it's to him that we owe the word; it comes from the Greek obelos, meaning “nail” or “pointed pillar.” History buffs can still spot obelisks, also called “Cleopatra's Needles,” everywhere from Myanmar to Manhattan.

What is the spiritual meaning of the obelisk? ›

The Definition & Symbolism of the Obelisk

The ancient Egyptians called them Tekhenu which means "To Pierce The Sky". The obelisks held great meaning and were considered a symbol for the Benben, which is a primordial mound where Atum stood at the moment of creation, as mentioned in the ancient Egyptian Myth of creation.

What is the biggest obelisk ever built? ›

Located in Piazza di San Giovanni in Laterano, near the basilica of the same name, the Lateran Obelisk is the tallest erected of Egyptian origin in the world. It is made of red granite and comes from the Aswan area. Its height is 32.18 meters and, including the cross and the base, reaches 45.70 meters.

What is the obelisks virus? ›

Obelisks bear some resemblance to viroids—tiny, circular fragments of single-stranded RNA. Like viruses, viroids need a host to replicate, and they can infect and cause disease in eukaryotes, organisms with cells that have nuclei.

How many obelisks are left? ›

Queen Hatshepsut's obelisk in the Great Temple at Karnak is the largest in Egypt. Only about 30 large obelisks from ancient Egypt with hieroglyphic writing still exist. Some of these are reconstructed from fragments and not entirely complete.

What makes an obelisk an obelisk? ›

Obelisks, or tekhenu to ancient Egyptians, first appeared in Old Kingdom Egypt (2649-2150 BCE) in around 2300 BCE. These structures, characterized by a four-sided square base that tapered into an isosceles pyramidion at the top, initially symbolized rebirth, and were used as funerary monuments.

Who created the obelisks? ›

The first obelisks were built by ancient Egyptians. They were carved from stone and placed in pairs at the entrance of temples as sacred objects that symbolized the sun god, Ra.

How many sides does an obelisk have? ›

A bird's eye view of obelisk is square and this structure has gradually tapering four sides and its ends in a pyramidal top. Obelisks originated with the holy stone of sanctuary which served the sun god, Ra, in Heliopolis.

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