; the loved of the God of
Heliopolis from his birth; Ever-living; The golden Horus; the
Good God; Ra Kheper Ka to the first celebration of the
panegyry. He (has) made (this obelisk) the eternal generator."]

The Greeks never made obelisks outside of Egypt. The Macedonian kings,
or Ptolemies, who reigned in that country, from Alexander to Augustus,
erected, terminated, or enlarged many monuments, but always according
to Egyptian rules. Egyptian artists executed obelisks for their Greek
princes, but they did not depart, any more than in the other
monuments, from their ancient customs. The Egyptian style and
proportions are always to be recognized, and the inscriptions are also
traced in hieroglyphics. The obelisk found at Philae was erected in
honor of Ptolemy Evergetes II. and of Cleopatra, his sister, or
Cleopatra, his wife, and placed on a base bearing a Greek inscription
relating the reason and occasion of this monument. It was removed from
Philae by Belzoni, and has been now erected at Kingston Hall, Dorset,
by Mr. Bankes. It is very far from equaling the Pharaonic obelisks in
dimensions, it being only twenty-two feet high.

After the Romans had made Egypt a Roman province they carried away
some of its obelisks. Augustus was the first who conceived the idea of
transporting these immense blocks to Rome; he was imitated by
Caligula, Constantine, and others. They were generally erected in some
circus. Thirteen remain at the present day at Rome, some of which are
of the time of the Roman domination in Egypt. The Romans had obelisks
made in honor of their princes, but the material and the workmanship
of the inscriptions cause them to be easily distinguished from the
more ancient obelisks. The Barberini obelisk, on the Monte Pincio, is
of this number; it bears the names of Adrian, of Sabina, his wife, and
of Antinous, his favorite. The obelisk of the Piazza Navona, from the
style of its hieroglyphics, is supposed to be a Roman work of the time
of Domitian. The name of Santus Rufus can be read on the Albani
obelisk, now at Munich, and as there are two Roman prefects of Egypt
known of that name, it was, therefore, one of those magistrates who
had executed in that country these monuments in honor of the reigning
emperors, and then had them sent to Rome. The Romans also attempted to
make obelisks at Rome; such is the obelisk of the Trinita de' Monti,
which formerly stood in the Circus of Sallust. It is a bad copy