Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/836

* OBEDIENCE. 710 OBELISK. Dieir immediate superiors, of whatever grade in tlic Order, as well us to the superior general, and still more to the rules and eunstitutions of the Order. This forms, in all Orders, one of the essential vows. It is, however, expressly confined to lawful things. The name obedienee is some- times given to the written precept or other for- mal instrument by which a superior in a reli- gious Order communicates to one of his subjects any iipecial precept or instruction — as, for ex- an'iple, to undertake a certain ollice, to proceed upon a particular mission, to relinqiiisli a cer- tain appointment, clc. The instruction, or the instrument containing it, is calUnl an obedience, because it is held to bind in virtue of religious obedience. OBELISK (Lat. ohclisciis, from Gk. o3c/.iaKo(, obilisKo-s, spit, pointed pillar, diminutive of ilt- X6s, ohrfos. spit, pointed pillar). A word applied Ir) prismatic momimcnts of stone, terminating in a ])yramidal to]). In Arabic they are called mesellah, 'pack needle.' The ancient Kgj'ptians called them tckhcn, a name of unknown etymol- ogy, and stated that they were dedicated to the sun-god ; they were therefore most numerous in the sacred city Heliopolis, whence most exist- ing olielisks come. As most Egyptian gods were sooner or later identified with the sun, it eventu- ally became appropriate to place obelisks at the entrance of every tcmjilc: even Isis had, in rtolemaie times, two olx-lisks before her temple in Phihe. Ae first meet small private obelisks in the time of the pyramid liuildcrs ; in the Fifth Dy- na-.ty some gigantic monuments, half obelisk, half pyramid, which were also dedicated to the sim-god, seem to be an attempt to develop the obelisk into larger proportions by sacriticing the monolithic I)rinciple. The pairs" of obelisks Hanking the en- trances of temples were always monoliths, usually of granite from Syene (.ssuan). From un- finished specimens in these quarries, we can form an opinion of the way in which they were roughly separated from the" rock, by means of borings and moistened wooden pegs. How these gigantic monuments were, during the inundation, trans- ported by water on rafts or specially constructed boats is depicted in a relief at Deir el-Bahri, reproduced in the Anliin/loiiical A'c/ior/ of the IJi/HI'l Exphmitum I'lind Un- lSnu-9(i: unfortu- nately, in regard to the machinery used for erect- ing them, we know nothing, .fudging from the diMiculties experienced by media'val and even modern engineers in transporting and erecting them, it is difTicult to conceive how the ancient Eg>-ptians, with the simple apparatus at their disposal, could handle these great blocks of a hundred and more feet in length. One of the tallest obelisks— that of Queen Hat-shepsut (Hatasn) at Karnak — is estimated at 07'^ feet in length, its diameter at the base is S'.j feet, its mass is estimateil at 4S7:! cubic feet, and its weight at 367 tons. The insi'riptions state that this" r)belisk, together with its companion, was cut in 7, and finished in 10 months. Inscriptions mention still taller olndisks. .Ml obelisks have four faces, and are broailer at the b.Tse than nt the top: the pyramidion or capon the topis .some- times rounil. The pyramidion was often covered with metal (brass or gold), as were also the hiero<;lyphic inscriptions running down the sides of the ntwlisk. The pyramidion frequently eon- tainicl more elaborate sculptires than the obelisk itself. These sculptures merely represent the King engaged in worshiping and making offer- ings before the gud ; the inscriptions alsd are al- ways of a very simple character, containing notli- ing" more than the titles and praises of the dedi- cating King. The obelisk always stood on a cubical pedestal, slightly broader than the base of the obelisk, and on this pedestal significant ornaments were sometimes sculptured. For ex- ample, on the pedestal of an obelisk in Karnak may be seen the cynocephali worshiping the ris- ing' sun. In later times, the Kunians put decora- tions on the top, like brazen spheres. The earliest olielisk yet standing is that of Heliopolis (modern .Matarielil, erected by User- tesen I. (the second King of the Twelfth Djiias- ty) before the sun-temple: another of the Twelfth Dynasty is the fallen ol)elisk of Begig in the Fayum. In Karnak, of two obelisks of Thoth- 7nes I., one is still standing, "G feet high. Obelisks of Tliothmes III. were specially numer- ous. One was removed in antiquity to Constanti- nople (now in the Atincidan ur Hippodrome) : it is only the upjier part of an obelisk originally much over 100 feet in height. Another is that of Saint John of the Lateran at Rome, now 10(5 to 107 feet high. The two famous 'needles of Cleo- ])atra' were first erected by Tliothmes III. at Heliopolis, and were, in Ptolemaic times, trans- ]iorted to Alexandria. One came thence to Lon- don in 1879 (now on the Thames embankment), the other to New V(irk by the ship Dessotip. at the expense of William il. Vanderbilt. in l.SSO (erected in Central Park. February 22. 1S81). liotli these niouuments were richly reornamcnted by Ramcses II. The Paris obelisk, whose eoni- jmnion still stands at Luxor, dates from the time of Kameses II. It was removed in 1S31 and erected in the Place de la Concorde in 1S33. The Flaminian obelisk is the work of Rameses II., though his father, Seti I., commenced it. It was removed to Rome by Constantius. and in the Pontificate of Oregory XIII. it was found 10 feet under the surface of the earth. The architect Fontana rei=reeted it under Sixtus V. with great difficulty. Of the numerous obelisks brought to Rome." that of the Jlonte Citorio (brought to Rome by Augustus, rediscovered in 174S) dates from the Twellfy-sixth Dynasty, hav- ing been sculptured by Psamnieticlius II. Two obelisks in the Uritish Museum bear inscriptions of Xekht-har-heb of the fourlh century n.c. : others from the reign of Ptolemy I. once stood before the Temple of Phihe. These monu- ments were so po|nilar at Rome that the em- perors had several of them cut: for eani|)le, the Pami)liilian obelisk, erected by Bernin. in 1(1.51, in the Piazza Xavona, was originally erect- ed before the Serajn-um at Rome by Domitian. wluise name it bears; thence it was removed to the circus of Maxentius. The Barberini obelisk originally stood before the mausoleum (or ceno- taph?) of . tinous. the favorite of Hadrian, whose death it commemorates. It was found in the circus of .urelian in 103."?. and erected on the Monte Pincio in 1S22. The Sallustian obelisk and that of lieneventum lielong (o the same period. Tn modern Rome obelisks are al- ways used as ornaments in the centre of public places, sometimes near a fomitain. and often with the aildition of Renaissnme ornaments In .Assyria several monuments hae been found which are called obelisks, although they bear but