Obelisks an Obelisk Was a Monument Made of Stone. Each Obelisk Was

Obelisks

An obelisk was a monument made of stone. Each obelisk was placed in a public place. In ancient Egypt, obelisks were often built in pairs. Some were not very high. But some were seventy feet (70 feet!) tall. A few were even taller! They were very heavy and very impressive.

An obelisk has four sides and tapers towards the top to a pyramid shaped point. In ancient Egypt, these huge structures were cut from one huge piece of incredibly heavy stone. The ancient Egyptians were clever. They found a way to stand these huge stones upright after they had been decorated and carved with writing telling of the wonderful life and great achievements of the person each obelisk honored.

The pharaohs ordered these huge monuments built for them so that they would always be remembered. The writings on the obelisks tell us a great deal about the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Most obelisks were commissioned by pharaohs, but anyone could build one if they had the money.

The ancient Egyptians are not the only civilization to build an obelisk. In relatively modern times, around the middle of the 1800's, about the same time in American history as the Gold Rush, the government of the United States began building an obelisk in Washington DC, to honor our first president, George Washington. We call this obelisk the Washington Monument. You can see the Washington Monument today. It's still standing. It was built using 36,000 huge heavy blocks of stone. The Washington Monument is 555 feet tall!

Egyptian Obelisks

Egyptian Obelisks What is an obelisk and what is its purpose? Obelisk Definition: An obelisk is a monumental tapering column carved from a single block of stone (a monolith), with a square (or rectangular) cross-section and capped with a pointed top called a pyramidion. The word Obelisk is derived from the Greek word obeliskos meaning "needle". Obelisks were set in pairs, at the entrances of temples, and to some Old Kingdom tombs and closely related to the cult of the Sun God Ra also known as Atum. Obelisks symbolized the stability and the creative force of Atum. Obelisks were believed to act as magical protection to the monuments such as temples and tombs.

Egyptian Obelisk Legends The Ancient Egyptian Obelisk legends are founded in the creation myth, or Cosmogony, to explain how some of the Gods and Goddesses came into being. The Sun God Ra (as Atum) was one of the Ennead, the collective name given to the nine original deities (Gods and Goddesses) of the cosmogony of Heliopolis (the birthplace of the Gods) in the creation myths and legends. The creation legend relates to the Sun God Ra (as Atum) who rose in the beginning from the primeval ocean called Nun to the first, conical-shaped, mound of earth. The first rays of the sun fell on Ra marking the way to heaven by ascending the rays of the sun. The original mound of earth was called the benben which was said to be a conical shape (like an obelisk) and four-sided (like a pyramid). The sacred benben stone was worshipped in the ‘Mansion Of The Phoenix’ the Great Sun Temple at Heliopolis. The legend of the Benben Stone could have led to architectural concept of the obelisk and the pyramid. The pointed pyramid- shaped cap on an obelisk is, in fact, called a Benbenet or a pyramidion. The Pyramid and the obelisk are interesting concepts in respect of the Sun God Ra. The obelisk pointing upwards towards the sun and the pyramid as a material representation of the rays of the sun. It is easy to imagine how an ancient Pharaoh would see the association of the obelisk, pyramid and the sun and how the structure could be a means whereby the dead king could ascend to heaven.

History of Egyptian Obelisks The Ancient Egyptians believed that the obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure of the obelisk. Obelisks therefore marked specific temples as a zone of sun worship. Obelisks were placed in pairs before the temples with one on either side of the portal. On each side of the obelisk a line of carved inscriptions of hieroglyphics containing the titles of the Pharaoh and praising the god. The cap, or pyramidion, was sometimes sheathed with copper or another metal which caught and reflected the rays of the sun.

Egyptian Obelisks There are 26 known ancient Egyptian obelisks which are located in many different countries including the UK, USA, France and Italy.

Rosetta Stone

What is the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone is a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek), using three scripts (hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek).

Why is it in three different scripts?

The Rosetta Stone is written in three scripts because when it was written, there were three scripts being used in Egypt.

The first was hieroglyphic which was the script used for important or religious documents.

The second was demotic which was the common script of Egypt.

The third was Greek which was the language of the rulers of Egypt at that time.

The Rosetta Stone was written in all three scripts so that the priests, government officials and rulers of Egypt could read what it said.

When was the Rosetta Stone made?

The Rosetta Stone was carved in 196 B.C..

When was the Rosetta Stone found?

The Rosetta Stone was found in 1799.

Who found the Rosetta Stone?

The Rosetta Stone was found by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt.

Where was the Rosetta Stone found?

The Rosetta Stone was found in a small village in the Delta called Rosetta (Rashid).

Why is it called the Rosetta Stone?

It is called the Rosetta Stone because it was discovered in a town called Rosetta (Rashid).

What does the Rosetta Stone say?

The Rosetta Stone is a text written by a group of priests in Egypt to honour the Egyptian pharaoh. It lists all of the things that the pharaoh has done that are good for the priests and the people of Egypt.

Who deciphered hieroglyphs? Many people worked on deciphering hieroglyphs over several hundred years. However, the structure of the script was very difficult to work out.

After many years of studying the Rosetta Stone and other examples of ancient Egyptian writing, Jean-François Champollion deciphered hieroglyphs in 1822.

How did Champollion decipher hieroglyphs?

Champollion could read both Greek and coptic.

He was able to figure out what the seven demotic signs in coptic were. By looking at how these signs were used in coptic he was able to work out what they stood for. Then he began tracing these demotic signs back to hieroglyphic signs.

By working out what some hieroglyphs stood for, he could make educated guesses about what the other hieroglyphs stood for.