Cleopatra's Needle, London

A dumb history essay written for the advancement of human learning, for, while the extent of human knowledge is already great, most of us are just trying to catch up...

Not many people are aware that London has its own ancient Egyptian obelisk. Fewer people still are aware of its extraordinary history and the difficult journey it undertook to reach its present location, at the Victoria Embankment. It was brought to my attention only recently by way of an excellent book called From Hell by Alan Moore and was mentioned alongside various other examples of pagan symbols associated with Sun worship found around London which together map out a grand conspiracy theory. For those interested I shall give a brief account of the nature of the obelisk along with its history, in the hope that you may be inspired to visit it yourself and to ponder its many layers of meaning.

The obelisk was carved out of red granite from the quarries of Syenite in around 1450BC, during the reign of the Thotmes III, one of the most influential pharaohs of all time. It stands about 21 metres tall, is 8ft wide at the base and tapers up to a width of 5ft, where it contracts into a 7ft tall pyramid. The hieroglyphics down the centre of each side were carved in Thotmes' time and are prayers to his father, who he equates with the God Horus. The ones on the edges are less eroded because they were carved several hundred years later by Ramesis II to celebrate his military victories. From Syenite it was floated down the Nile in a huge raft for 700 miles to Heliopolis, a sacred city filled with temples dedicated to worship of the sun. Moses went to uni there, as did Pythagoras, Plato and many of the great ancient minds; all learning a few things from the Egyptians before going off and doing their own thing, and its quite probable that they all would have saw the obelisk, while it stood here for fourteen centuries next to its twin (Now in New York) outside the great temple of the sun.

In the year 23BC, seven years after the death of Cleopatra, the Obelisks were moved to Alexandria. Here sources differ. Some say the wagon carrying it collapsed and that the obelisk fell into a ditch, where it lay buried in sand for two thousand years. Others claim that the pair were erected in front of the Caesarium, or Palace of the Caesars in Alexandria, and that our London obelisk toppled over only four hundred years ago. Either way the obelisk lay buried for sometime thus preserving its faces to an extent. Weighing in at over 220 tons, no-one in Egypt, or indeed the world at that time, could be bothered to lift it out of the sand.

Eventually in the 19th century, forces conspired to remove the prostrate monument. The land it lay on fell into the hands of a Greek merchant who perceived it as a nuisance and, after being dissuaded by English scholars from breaking it up for raw building material, decided that he wanted it off his property forthwith. As with the New York twin and the Luxor Obelisk in Paris, Egypt had seemed very keen to part with the antique for the sake of establishing good relations with the new world powers. It was presented to King George IV as a gift in 1820 but was not accepted. Despite the historical value, there still lay the question of transport and parliament had concluded that the expenditure would not be worthwhile. So it took another 55 years for a private funder to cough up the considerable sum at that time of £10,000 towards its delivery.

A 100ft long cylinder named the Cleopatra was designed to contain the obelisk and to float on the water, while a steamship called the Olga was employed to tug it from Alexander to England. The journey went well until when passing by the Bay of Biscay a fierce storm arose. The Cleopatra began to sink at one end and appeared to be floundering, while dragging down the Olga with it. A rescue boat was sent to rescue the crew of the Cleopatra, but it capsized and all six of its crew were lost. After steering the ship alongside the cylinder and rescuing its crew, the connection between the boats were severed and the Olga returned to England with tales of woe and dismay, believing the cargo to have sunk to bottom of the ocean.

But all was not lost for the Cleopatra did indeed float on the water and was tossed about on the waves for a few days until a ship chanced across it and tugged it back to Spain. The rest of its journey to England was a successful one and it was erected on the Victoria Embankment between two sphinxes on 12th September 1878 where it stands to this day. It was originally meant to have been placed outside the Houses of Parliament but the proposal was rejected. A time capsule was placed inside the base containing items which included: A set of 12 photographs of the best looking English women of the day, a box of hairpins, a box of cigars, several tobacco pipes, a set of imperial weights, a baby's bottle, some children's toys, a shilling razor, a hydraulic jack and some samples of the cable used in erection, a 3' bronze model of the monument, a complete set of British coins, a rupee, a portrait of Queen Victoria, a written history of the strange tale of the transport of the monument, a translation of the inscriptions, copies of the bible in several languages, a copy of Whitaker's Almanack, a Bradshaw Railway Guide, a map of London and copies of 10 daily newspapers. The presence of these curious objects within the base of the monument is most bizarre.

This is the legitimate history of the obelisk now misleadingly known as Cleopatra's Needle. But what of its symbolism and its social significance? Such forms are widely accepted to represent the phallus; a thing which itself carried different associations to the ancient Egyptians. It is seen as a monument to the Sun God, Ra, or Atum and a blessing of fertility. A more modern interpretation could be as a symbol of male dominance at a time when the idea of a patriarchal society was still a relatively new thing. Perhaps the architects sought to gain a subtle influence over the masses with symbols like this. It is interesting that until recently we have seen no breast shaped buildings, although the triumphal arch was said to originally be a female symbol through which ancient tribes would carry giant wooden phalluses upon celebrating an act of military triumph. Its also interesting to imagine such an uncompromisingly pagan symbol placed right outside the seat of our nations' government and right next to Westminster Abbey, the Royal Church. Needless to say there is plenty of material here for conspiracy theorists. 

Personally I find it interesting that an object with such a long and peculiar history now rests quietly overlooking the Thames and could well be mistaken by the passer-by for an imitation, since it doesn't look that old. Also that it possesses some sort of magical power or even that it speaks of a secret order in high society are notions which I find most titillating.