Tuesday, September 12, 2006
This Day in Late 19th Century History
On this day in 1878, the Aswan red granite obelisk known as "Cleopatra's Needle" was erected in London, having been brought there by Erasmus Wilson from Alexandria where it had been since approximately 12 BC. It was originally commissioned by the Pharaoh Thothmes III and erected in Heliopolis in approximately 1450 BC. Having survived in a hot dry climate for nearly 3350 years without much damage, it promptly began to erode at an alarming rate and today is a somewhat sad addition to the Thames Embankment near the Golden Jubilee Bridges. There are other Egyptian obelisks with the same name in the Place de la Concorde in Paris and Central Park in New York.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 5:54 AM 
