about 21 feet high, and stands on a plinth, or pedestal, about 10 feet high; it was taken to Alexandria by Belzoni and thence to London, and it now stands in the park of the Bankes family at Kingston Hall in Dorsetshire, where it was "inaugurated" by F.M. the Duke of Wellington about 1840. On each side of the obelisk is a hieroglyphic inscription recording the names and titles of Ptolemy IX Euergetes II, and those of Cleopatra his wife and Cleopatra his sister. On the pedestal are three Greek inscriptions containing (1) a complaint to Ptolemy IX to the effect that they (the priests) are unable to provide the necessary offerings to the gods, because they have to provide food for the throng of officials who visit the Island of Philae and force them to supply them with whatever they need; (2) a copy of the letter that Numenius sent to the priests telling them that the king had sent a letter to Lochus, the strategos of the Thebaïd, on the subject of their complaint, and giving them the king's permission to set up a stele; (3) a copy of Ptolemy's letter to Lochus, ordering him to prevent the priests from being annoyed by anyone in respect of the matters about which they had complained to him A special interest attaches to this obelisk, for it was from it that Mr. Bankes and Dr. Young identified the name of Cleopatra before 1818.2

The obelisk was also used as a funerary memorial stone in some cases, and took the place of the ordinary sepulchral stele. A good example of this is the little stone obelisk of Åra,, which tells us that the deceased was the Kher heb, &, of Heliopolis; he

was a priest of Rā, and it is fitting that his memorial-stone should take the form of the famous "Sun-stone" of Heliopolis (B.M. 495). The upper part of the stone obelisk, B.M. 1512, is of interest, for it seems to have been dedicated to the Four Winds-Qebui, Shehbui, Henkhisenui and Hutchaiui; on the sides are the well-known symbols

1 Copies of the Greek and Egyptian texts inscribed on this obelisk, with English translations of the same, will be found in my work on the ROSETTA STONE, The Decrees of Memphis and Canopus, London, 1904, Vol. I, p. 135 ff. I visited the monument in Oct. 1914, with Mr. Basil Levett, and examined all the inscriptions that were within reach. The obelisk is handsomely mounted, but it stands in the park and is wholly unprotected from the abundant rains that fall in the winter and from frost. The side that faces the prevailing wind showed many signs of weathering, and the hieroglyphic inscriptions which are cut on the faces of the obelisk in perpendicular lines were much fainter than they were when Belzoni made his copy of them for Mr. Bankes. This copy was printed in a thin quarto volume, and from it I made the transcript that is printed in my Rosetta Stone. The late Lord Carnarvon, who had seen and examined the obelisk, was most anxious that it should be removed to some place under cover where it would be sheltered from rain and frost. I understood him to say that he had opened negotiations with its possessor, with the view of acquiring it by purchase or otherwise, but his death on April 5th, 1923, prevented him from achieving his wish.

2 A scale model of the Bankes Obelisk is exhibited in the Sixth Egyptian Room of the British Museum (55204). It was given by Mrs. Mangles in 1878.

of the winds which were common in the Graeco-Roman Period. The obelisk as a sepulchral stele was also known in the Peninsula of Sinai, a fact which is proved by the obelisk with a rounded top (like the Obelisk of Ebgig in the Fayyûm) that was set up in Wâdi Maghârah as a memorial of Sebek-her-heb,, who died in the 44th year of the reign of Amenemḥat III (B.M. 179, 180).1

The custom of erecting obelisks seems to have passed from Egypt to Axum in Ethiopia, but it is probable that in that country the native idea associated with the obelisk was different from that which was paramount in the Delta when the form of the worship of Rā that prevailed at Heliopolis was established there. The common word for obelisk in Ethiopic is hawelet, hot, and the plural dont: hawelât = дßeλíσкoι in Job xli, 21 (in the LXX). In Jer. 1, 13 (LXX) σтúλous 'Hλíov Tróλews is rendered by 0: U24: OL: "pillars of the city of the Sun." The oldest obelisks at Axum are merely roughly hewn stones which seem to be connected with the primitive sun-worship of Ethiopia and Arabia, but the more modern are elaborately carved to represent forts or strong buildings of some kind, and some of them are 60 feet in height. A few years ago about forty obelisks were still standing, and about as many more had been overthrown and were lying where they had fallen. The great number of the obelisks at Axum suggests that they were sepulchral in character, and though some of them may have been set up in religious buildings, which are in ruins, many of them must be sepulchral or commemorative in character.2

The method employed by the ancient Egyptians in raising their great obelisks has formed the subject of many theories and speculations. Some have imagined that the Egyptians possessed powerful mechanical appliances which they used for the transport and raising of them, but it seems quite clear that such cannot have been the case. The evidence of the monuments does not support this view, and we are justified in assuming that both the tools used and the method employed were of the most primitive character. Both Sir John Aird and Sir Benjamin Baker thought that the method employed was this: The foundation for the obelisk and the pedestal on which it was to stand were first prepared, and then a huge mound of sand was heaped up on one side, the sand being kept from overflowing on to them by a low wall of mud bricks. The huge shaft of granite out of which the obelisk was to be cut was then dragged up on the mound of sand and laid in a horizontal position. The sand from the side of the mound near the pedestal was removed, and the

1 A considerable amount of information about obelisks will be found in Zoega, De Origine et Usu Obeliscorum, Rome, 1797, fol.

2 On the obelisks of Axum see Bent, Sacred City of the Ethiopians, London, 1893; Wylde, Modern Abyssinia, London, 1901; Glaser, Die Abessinier in Arabien, Munich, 1895; and Littman and Krencker, Vorbericht, Berlin, 1906.

end of the granite shaft allowed to descend gradually until it rested on the pedestal, when the shaft was pulled into an upright position by ropes. The shaping and polishing of the obelisk and the cutting of the inscriptions were carried out after the shaft in the rough was standing in position. Both these eminent engineering authorities were convinced that the Egyptians knew not the "jack," and the "crab" and the winch, and that they could never have made "sheers" long enough and strong enough to support the weight of any large obelisk. And both believed that only by the method outlined above could the obelisks have been set up. On a matter of this kind the practical engineer must be listened to with respect, for no living Egyptologist possesses sufficient technical knowledge to decide whether such a method is or is not possible.

Quite recently the question of the method by which the obelisks were set up in position has been raised by Mr. R. Engelbach, Chief Inspector of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, and in his recently published book1 the theory which he propounds has much in common with that of Sir John Aird and Sir Benjamin Baker. His view is "that the obelisk was not let down over the edge of an embankment, but down a funnel-shaped pit in the end of it, the lowering being done by removing sand, with which the pit had been filled, from galleries leading into the bottom of it, and so allowing the obelisk to settle slowly down. Taking this as the basis of the method, the form of the pit resolves itself into a tapering square-sectioned funnel -rather like a petrol-funnel-fairly wide at the top, but very little larger than the base of the obelisk at the bottom. The obelisk is introduced into the funnel on a curved way leading gradually from the surface of the embankment until it engages smoothly with the hither wall of the funnel. The sand is removed by men with baskets through galleries leading from the bottom of the funnel to convenient places outside the embankment. . . . It is more than probable, therefore, that men would go down with the obelisk and, by digging, correct any tendency of the obelisk to lean sideways and to ensure if necessary, by inserting baulks (struts) between the base of the obelisk and the opposite wall of the funnel-that it did not jam against it. . . . As soon as the obelisk had come down into its notch, men would enter through the gallery leading in from the end of the embankment, and clear every particle of sand from under the base, before it was pulled upright. Any tendency to rock after passing its dead-centre could be avoided by filling the space between the obelisk and the further wall of the funnel with coarse brushwood to act as a sort of cushion." Mr. Engelbach's text is illustrated by a number of excellent photographs of unusual interest.

1 The Problem of the Obelisks, London, 1923, p.

67 ff.

THE TOMB STATUE OR KA FIGURE (?)

THE Egyptians believed that every man possessed a spiritual duplicate of himself which lived within him from the moment of his birth to the moment of his death; to this duplicate they gave the name Ka (plural KAU) and the hieroglyph,, which represents it is a conventional representation of a human breast with two outstretched arms. It was certainly believed to survive the death of the body to which it belonged, and it is assuming little to believe that it existed before the body to which it joined itself was born. When it joined the body it became its mental, moral and spiritual individuality and disposition, its rational guide, its far-seeing protector, and in some respects it acted as its guardian angel. What was supposed to happen to the Ka when the body died is not clear, but it is certain that it went on living, and the Egyptians, from the earliest times, made provision for its maintenance, because it was believed to be the most important of all man's immortal entities.1 It seems as if in the Pre-dynastic and Early Archaïc Periods the Egyptians believed that the KA remained in the dead body, and lived on the offerings which were placed on the graves or in the little chambers above the pits which were dug in the hills under the early dynasties. But the primitive Egyptians came to the conclusion that a figure or statue must be provided for the Ka to dwell in, and that it was necessary to take almost as much care for its preservation as of the body itself. The oldest model of a human body known in the Valley of the Nile is B.M. 50945. It was found at Khizâm in Upper Egypt, together with the mud models of kneeling and standing steatopygous women with pendent breasts, which are exhibited in the Sixth Egyptian Room in the British Museum. It was found under a large earthenware covering, which seemed to have been built up piece by piece over it and the bones of a human body and a pot or two which were close to it.

In the later maṣṭabah tombs of the Old Kingdom at Şakkârah and Gîzah, and the rock-hewn tombs at Aswân and other places, the Ka figure was formed of stone, and was made to represent the deceased as closely as possible. The features were most carefully modelled, the eyes were inlaid, and the colour and shape of the wig, necklace, dagger, tunic, etc., were reproduced with scrupulous accuracy. When small the Ka figure was set in a cavity in a wall of the tomb, and a large one was accommodated with a specially constructed enclosure formed of slabs of stone. In an enclosure of this kind an opening was provided, so that the Ka within the figure could enjoy the sight of the offerings and of his friends who were still living, and the smell of the incense. Examples of such figures are exhibited in the British Museum (Fourth Eg. Room). This

1 See Maspero in Memnon, Vol. VI, p. 129.

wooden figure is 3 feet 8 inches in height, and was found in a cavity in the granite stele in the maṣṭabah of an official of king Khufu, whose name is not known. It was excavated at Sakkârah under Mariette's direction by his foreman of works, called "Rubî," and the workmen, at once recognizing in it a striking likeness to the Shekh al-Balad, or "Shêkh of the Village," then in authority at

Şakkârah, promptly called it "Shekh al-Balad," and by this name it has been known ever since. The two illustrations above give a good idea of the Ka statues of the Vth dynasty at Sakkârah.

When the Egyptians decided that a figure or statue must be made for the tomb, they found it convenient to provide a special table on which the offerings made to it were to be placed. This table was the Ḥetep,, which has been described elsewhere. The necessity