Obelisk

An obelisk ( from the Latin Obeliscus, from Greek ὀβελίσκος: diminutive of ὀβελός ( obelos ) - obelisk, [ Brat ] pike, Pl: Obelisk ) is a free-standing, high, upward tapering monolithic stone pillar ( stele ) of a pyramidal tip. Egyptologists usually use the term tehen pillar for Obelisk.

• 2.1 Assyrian obelisk
• 2.2 Aksum Obelisk
• 2.3 obelisk of modern times

Egyptian obelisks

The obelisk set in ancient Egypt as the pyramids, the petrified rays of the sun god, and is the connection between this world and the world of the gods. Obelisks were usually in pairs in front of pyramids or temples.

First obelisks before the temple of the sun god Re at Heliopolis, the old On erected. In the Old Kingdom obelisks were initially unadorned smooth - only the pyramidal tip was coated with gold-plated or electron and so reflected the glare of the sun and thus the power of the sun god resist. Her shadow was round ( back at night through the underworld ) and was observed by the people Gazette and characters for daily Umfahrt of Re on the solar bark from east to west. Its exactly certain up-and- fall and the tease- year expiry made ​​Re a symbol of world order, upholding the law and interpersonal relationships. Re is accompanied by his daughter Maat, the goddess of good order, justice and truth. Re sparked the primordial god Atum from and was considered a father to Pharaoh, who wore therefore the royal title Son of Re. Therefore, the obelisks were so important, as common as symbols of the sun god, the divine world order and the connection re- Pharaoh and were also running bigger and bigger.

The weight of a large obelisk was between 200 and finally 500 tons. An unfinished obelisk in Aswan weighs 1100 tons. In ancient Egypt, the drag and erecting sacred pillar was an important part of the ritual action.

The first unadorned obelisk were later inscriptions, first confined to the moderate middle. The arrangement of the hieroglyphic inscriptions followed fixed rules. The hieroglyphic characters always look to the beginning of the text, which can be set as desired left or right. The characters of the front and back of the pairs before the temples erected obelisks have always looked to the running between the two pillars tehen way to the temple entrance. The characters on the side faces always look to the temple itself Thus, today spent in Rome, Paris or Istanbul Obelisk the original orientation to the temple to be determined. This arrangement of icons is ancient. Like the look of human and animal symbols of hieroglyphics on the sides of two obelisks to the path to the temple or to the temple, so already looking animals like bull, fox and crane, on the sides of the T-shaped pillars of the oldest known temple in Gobekli Tepe, on the road that leads to the center of the plant, or to the center of each system.

With the merger res with the original fertility god Amun of Thebes to the kingdom of God Amun -Re, the importance and distribution of the structural character rose even further. In the New Kingdom the obelisks were eventually labeled entirely with hieroglyphs.

Roman Emperor brought the obelisk than 13 trophies from Egypt to Rome. Some were destroyed in the early Middle Ages for their " pagan " origin or disintegrated.

The largest obelisk was the pharaoh Hatshepsut manufacture and erect. He still stands in the Temple of Amun at Karnak in Luxor and is 32 m high. Its peak was also coated with electron.

Great original Egyptian obelisks stand today except in Luxor ( 4 ) and Rome (13 ) nor one each in Heliopolis, Cairo, Istanbul, Paris ( Obelisk of Luxor ), London ( St. George's Circus), New York ( Central Park ), Wimborne Minster (Kingston Lacy ), Urbino, Florence, Munich, Catania and Caesarea Maritima. Depending on a small located in Luxor and in Durham. The obelisk in London and New York, the so-called " Cleopatra's Needles ," originally stood together in front of a pyramid and are identical. The so-called Obelisk of Luxor in Paris is 23 meters high and weighs 258 tons.

Material

By the end of the New Kingdom obelisks were made ​​of the typical reddish Assuangranit in the granite quarries southeast of Aswan. For this purpose, a monolith was cut into the required size and cut typically still in the quarry in the rough shape. Then the shipping across the Nile to the respective destination could be done.

After the decline of ancient Egypt and the loss of their original religious meaning obelisks were made ​​of other materials, first from other types of natural stone, in modern times, even metal.

Setting up equipment

The problem of erecting a large obelisk with only human power, horses, wood and ropes even still in the Renaissance is illustrated by the bite of the erection of the obelisk in St. Peter's Square in Rome on September 10, 1586 exactly 907 people, 75 horses, 40 capstans and pulleys and levers 5 large headed by Domenico Fontana on behalf of Pope Sixtus V.

The Egyptians had solved the problems of manufacture, transport and erection with simpler techniques, but incredible expense. All obelisks were each struck in one piece from the pink granite rocks of Aswan. First, two trenches, for example, 32 meters in length were driven into the rock with impact tools, as well as two short on the future base and the top. The mold was perfected already in place in order to save weight during transport. Then lateral slots were beaten to the center of the partially exposed block at the bottom of the trenches. What exactly happened to the release of the obelisk from the bedrock, is not to be clarified on the basis of archaeological findings. Perhaps this was done by wooden wedges, which are watered with water so that it swelled. Or you can undercut the obelisk completely walled and gradually the cavity with bricks to prevent sagging. After stripping the block was lifted with levers and lined with wood. He was then raised further and further lined with wood, etc.

At block runners were attached, on which he was with the help of hundreds of workers, the large with well over a thousand workers moved away. The main line, for example, from Aswan to 1500 km away Heliopolis, was covered on a large Nilschiff. The obelisk at the site was pulled horizontally or leveraged on a Sandaufschüttung ( lift, reline, etc.) that had above the base of the designated place of half the height of the obelisk. The mean length of the obelisk was above the formation point. The runners sticking slightly to the side of the base of the obelisk. In addition, the workers had built a wall that stretched from the ground to the base of the obelisk and concave ( semicircular) to the foundation of the installation point. In the middle of the obelisk across was a very strong round logs. Now the sand under the lower half was weggegraben slowly. Thus, the lower half of the obelisk lowered from the top and stood out at the pivot point in the level. Because of the wall could not slip off the base. The sand was excavated to the obelisk was completely slid down and stood upright. Then the walls, who were a mere assembly aid, the rest sand and the runners have been removed.

The Romans brought, as Suetonius reported their obelisk prey with extra-reinforced ships to Rome. As they continue to operate the Egyptian quarries and, for example, hundreds of granite columns for the imperial buildings with up to 240 tons of Mons Claudianus in the eastern Egyptian desert to Rome transported, it can be assumed that they would continue to use the Egyptian techniques.

Except Egyptian obelisk

Assyrian obelisk

The Assyrian obelisk was inscriptions and image carriers. In contrast to the Egyptian obelisk, whose straight-edged tip shape refers to pyramids, possessed Assyrian obelisk a stepped crown, the shape refers to a ziggurat. Because of their essentially only one-sided machining, they are often referred to as stelae.

The most famous pieces are the "Black Obelisk " of Shalmaneser III. ( 859-824 BC), the "Broken Obelisk " of Ashur -bel- kala ( 1073-1056 BC) and the "White Obelisk " of King Ashur - nasir - apli I ( 1050 to 1031 v. Chr ) or II ( 883-859 BC ).

On the latter, there are different views in eight registers, including war, tribute and hunting scenes. The " Rassam Obelisk " (named after Hormuzd Rassam ) is a very fragmentary specimen of which the Ashur - nasir - apli II can be ( 883-859 BC) attributed due to its inscription.

Aksum Obelisk

The n at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC steles erected in the Ethiopian town of Aksum are sometimes also referred to as the obelisk.

Obelisk of modern times

Modern obelisks are usually composed of several stones and brick.

In 1775, Carl Friedrich erected an obelisk left home. During this period more obelisk originated in the region of Karlsruhe, Würzburg and also at Wiesbaden.

The obelisk of blue stone, designed by the Capitaine Boucher, was erected in 1807 to commemorate the beginning of land surveying by the Napoleonic geographer Jean Joseph Tranchot on the Lousberg in Aachen. From it further points were determined in the field with the triangulation method, with which one could eventually represent the entire area mapped. With the overthrow of Napoleon on April 2, 1814, the monument was destroyed. On May 15, 1815, the obelisk was re-erected by order of the Prussian Baron Karl von Müffling, who continued the survey work on behalf of the Kingdom of Prussia. As an auxiliary point for the triangulation used, is within sight of the Lousberg obelisk in the Pauline grove near Aachen another blue stone obelisk.

By Fritz Gerth comes a 1909 Duke Adolph dedicated Landesdenkmalamt in Wiesbaden. He placed a four-meter high classical bronze statue in front of a massive stone obelisk of eight meters.

1823 an obelisk was built to a design by Peter Joseph Krahe in honor of the fallen in the wars of liberation Brunswick Dukes Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand and Friedrich Wilhelm on the Braunschweig Lions Wall.

The tallest obelisk, the Washington Monument in Washington, DC with its 169.3 meters above sea level, 1884 was completed. It was in his time ( until the completion of the Eiffel Tower 1889) the tallest building in the world, and thus replaced the Cologne Cathedral.

Obelisk on the Löwenwall in Braunschweig

Erthal Obelisk (1777 ) in the Cathedral Square in Erfurt

Obelisk on the Lousberg in Aachen

Obelisk in the Pauline grove near Aachen

Obelisk at Lake Ruppin in Wustrau -Altfriesack

Obelisk in Eulbacher Park

Obelisk in the English Garden to Eulbach

" Obelisk " by Michael Deiml in Langenhagen, 2000

Obelisk the opening of the railway route from Leipzig to Dresden in Schiller Park in Leipzig

Ornamental obelisk

Since the Renaissance, were small in many places in Europe - placed obelisk as a sovereign character on the pediments and in the corners of churches and palaces, which were characterized in their meaning but also purely visually enhanced - mostly brick.

Talavera de la Reina, of Santa María la Mayor - West gable

Dijon, Eglise St- Michel - obelisk on the central gable

Isola Bella - obelisks as elements of garden design

Trivia

• The cartoon character " Obelix " in the Asterix stapling is named after the obelisk, although often refer to a typographical symbols with matching names. For the anniversary edition " Obelix and his friends " controlled Turf for a story about Obelix ' brother " Obelisk " at.
• The obelisk is also used by the Freemasons as Signum.