Power of the Obelisk
In this live episode 50, Fredrik takes us on a journey through the history and usage of obelisks in ancient Egypt. He discusses the early history of obelisks, their association with the pharaohs, and their use as grave markers. Fredrik also talks about the sun temples dedicated to the sun god Ra and their resemblance to pyramid complexes. Additionally, he touches on the benben stone and its significance in ancient Egyptian mythology. Tune in to learn more about the unique architecture of obelisks and their role in ancient Egyptian culture.
In Digging up Ancient Aliens, our host Fredrik uses his background in archaeology to discover what is genuine, fake, and somewhere in between in popular media, such as Ancient Aliens, Ancient Apocalypse, and many other places.
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Hi, hello, and välkommen to Digging Up Ancient Aliens. This is the podcast where we examine strange claims about alternative history and ancient aliens in popular media. Do their claims hold water to an archaeologist, or are there better explanations out there?
We are now on episode 50, and I am Fredrik, your guide into the world of pseudo-archaeology. And we are, for the first time, live! As a celebration, this record is live-streamed. If you are listening in the catalog, don't be sad; you can still get the video version on YouTube. What will we talk about today? I'm glad you asked; I will cover an episode from the latest season of Ancient Aliens titled "The Power of the Obelisks." As the title implies, this will be a full-on episode about Obelisks. I'll take you through its history and usage, and in the end, I'll teach you how to make your own.
For those who are here and watching live, if you have questions, save those for the end of the stream. There, you will have an opportunity to ask them and most likely get an answer.
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Now that we have finished our preparations, let's dig into the episode.
So we are back in Egypt; while the pyramids will make a quick guest appearance, they are not our primary focus. As previously mentioned, we will deal with the Obelisk. A stone pillar that could be described as this.
"The Egyptian Obelisk is one of the most unique pieces of architecture in ancient Egypt. Every Obelisk you look at it is a perfect mathematical equation, geometrically perfect physics wise, perfect. They were always made of granite. And they were four sided and towered upwards and eventually ended in this perfect pyramid."
The Early History of Obelisks
Following the pyramids, the obelisks may be one thing most people associate with ancient Egypt. Let's deal a little bit with the name for obelisks, not that it really is essential here, but a fun little trivia knowledge. The word for Obelisk does not originate from Egypt; no, it's Greek. When the Greeks traveled to Ancient Egypt, they saw these giant monuments; they might have been a bit hungry because they used the word for spit, as one might use in barbeque. The first time the obelisks were referred to as needles was by an Arabic physician and historian named Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī.
The Egyptians called these monuments tekhen (t(kh)n) and are associated with sign O25 in the Gardiners sign list. Interestingly, the word tekhen, with the exact spelling, is used for "beating a drum" or musician.
The origin of the Obelisk is a bit murky, and the earliest record of them being used is way back in the fourth dynasty. The Obelisk had a square base at the start with an isosceles at the top. During this time, the Obelisk seems to have been a mortuary monument.
However, during the fifth dynasty, the Obelisk started to change into something else. It became more like the ones we know from later eras. Now, these were modest affairs, not more than maybe three meters tall. But they were now starting to be used as monoliths. Unfortunately, none of these earliest obelisks have been preserved until our days. From the records we have preserved, they seem to have been connected to the pharao. Meant to create a sort of connection between the king's ka, your spiritual double and essence, and the sun god Ra. Even if they had now started to get a more evolved meaning, the primary function was still as gravemarkers.
Worth mentioning here is that during the fifth dynasty, around six pharaohs seemed to have built sun temples dedicated to the Sun god Ra. The shape of these closely resembles the layout of a pyramid complex, starting with a valley temple from where a causeway will bring you up to the temple courtyard. While most temples of Ancient Egypt were enclosed, the sun temples were not, and the altar was out in the open air with an obelisk-shaped construction in the courtyard. While about six or so of these temples were built, only two have been located. The temple of Niuserre and the temple of Userkaf, with the Nuiserre temple being the best preserved. Preserved might be a bit of a misnomer since both have been destroyed over the centuries. While this version of an Egyptian temple was only built briefly in the fifth dynasty, this design would get a surprising renaissance. The open-air temples with this form would be constructed again 1000 years later for an extremely short amount of time. During his reign, Amenhotep IV, maybe better known as Akhenaten the heretic pharao, would resurrect this design for his temples to Aten.
The benben stone
Let's talk a bit about the top of the Obelisk. The pyramid shape is not solely for aesthetic reasons but is thought to represent the Benben. A common symbol in the Egyptian mythology. If we listen to the Ancient Alien people, they explain the meaning of the symbol like this.
"The pyramid shaped stone on top of each Obelisk called the Benben Stone, was a design rooted in Egyptian mythology. The Benben was a vehicle which autumn, the god of all creation, used to travel back and forth between the heavens and earth. We think of the Benben as a craft because it is believed to have come from the stars."
If you are into Egyptian mythology or history, this account might leave you a little bit confused. The benben stone is, in Egyptian mythology, the first piece of land that rose from the primordial waters and became the place from where Aten, in most cases, created the world. However, Egyptian religion was not formalized or standardized as Christianity, Islam, or other religions today. The creation stories would differ depending on your city because they wanted to promote their patron diets. So, while the mound was associated with Atum/Ra in Heliopolis, the Sun city, this would not be the case in Memphis. Other gods were more important there, so if we were able to ask the local Memphians, they would claim the mound was first inhabited by Tatenen.
The idea that the benben would be an otherworldly object is prevalent in pseudo-scientific circles. As far as I've been able to track it down, it seems to originate from the Ancient Alien proponent Robert Bauval. To Bauval's credit, he does not suggest in his text that the benben was a spaceship; Robert suggests it was a meteorite. Within the Temple of Ra in Heliopolis, there's supposed to have been a benben stone that was the original primordial mound. It's, of course, been lost to history, but Bauval suggests that this would then have been a meteorite. While it's plausible that a meteorite might have set up as a place of worship is plausible, there's not enough evidence that it was so. As we also covered a mere moment ago, each city would want to claim the primordial mound as their own. But I don't argue that meteoric iron was unimportant in Ancient Egypt. As I discuss in episode 43, "Aliens and Heavy Metall-urgy," meteoric iron was used in Egyptian ironwork.
But it does not make much sense that the benben would be from space if we look at the mythological records. The creation story of Ancient Egypt draws its inspiration from the overflowing of the Nile, as we see with the elements of primordial water and the mound rising up from it. So, to sum up, the benben is not an Ancient Egyptian description of a spaceship but a modern reimagination of the mythology.
The use of Obelisks
Welcome back to our exploration of Obelisks. So, where in the world do you find the most Obelisks? If you said Rome, I definitely want you on my bar trivia team because it is correct. While in Rome, you can go around and find 13 Obelisks; the Romans sure did like to use them as decorations in the Hippodrome. We will get to how you can move these monoliths a bit later. I want to shift a little bit back and look at the meaning of the obelisks we can still see today. We discussed the early purpose and use of the Obelisk as a mortuary object. However, did this practice stay the same if we look at those we still have preserved now scattered around the globe? If we listen to the Ancient Alien crowd, the meaning of the Obelisks are as follows.
"Most hieroglyphs that are on the obelisks are always the king asking the gods to be there for him on his journey through the afterlife so they can arrive to the afterlife and live for immortality. And the top was always dedicated to the sun."
If we repeat the previous question about where to find the most Obelisks, change it slightly to where we found the most Obelisks in Egypt? Where would that be? In this case, the answer would be the city Iunu ( 𓉺𓏌𓊖 - jwnw), maybe better known by its Hellenistic name, Heliopolis. The obelisks we see today are the Middle Kingdom and, to some extent, the New Kingdom phenomenon. The oldest Obelisk in this new form is from Sesostris I, who reigned from 1908 to 1875 BCE. It's one of the few that stands in its original location, in this case, Heliopolis. So you can still see it today there while, interestingly, nothing is really left of the temple. But as you can guess from the location, the Obelisks in the New Kingdom were not mortuary commemoration but more for bragging. The Egyptian temples were already giant propaganda billboards, and with the obelisks, you got some more room to brag.
On the Obelisk, Sensostris writes the regular stuff, how he is the sun of Horus and all the other gods, the king of upper and lower Egypt, etc. But we actually learn when he erected the Obelisk. Toward the end of the text, it's written, "The first occasion of the Jubilee, he made it to live forever." So Jubilee, in this case, refers to the heb-fest. The rejuvenation ritual was performed by tradition around the 30th year of the Pharaos reign. So we know the Obelisk was erected in 1878 BCE. I have the full-text translation from Sensostris I Obelisk in Heliopolis on the webpage if you want to read more.
Sensostris apparently didn't get the memo of what's supposed to be on an Obelisk. But he could just be an outlier; Sensotris put up another monument that's more like a giant stele, an Obelisk with a rounded top. It's quite an unconventional monument, so let's look at what some other Obelisks say. So, let's look at another example from Thutmose III and what's known today as the Lateran Obelisk.
The Lateran obelisk was first placed in Karnak, but in 357 CE, it was moved to Rome, where it would decorate the spina in Circus Maximus. Today, you will find it on the square outside the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. If we start reading on the top at the pyramidion or Benben stone, we can read the following passage on the west side.
Pyramidion: THOTHMES III received by AmeN-Ra.
"Amen, Tum."
"The good god, Ra-MEN-KHEPER, giver of life like the Sun, immortal"
Thothmes III kneeling to Amen-Ra seated on a throne.
"The King Ra-MEN-KHEPER, Son of the Sun, Thothmes (III), like the Sun, immortal, gives wine."
/…/
The HAR-EM-AKHU, the living Sun, the strong Bull, crowned by Truth, Ra-MEN-KHEPER, who adores the splendor of Amen in Thebes, Amen welcomes him in his heart dilates at the memorials of his Son, increasing his kingdom as he wishes, he gives stability and cycles to his Lord, making millions of festivals of thirty years, the Son of the Sun, THOTHMES (III), uniting existence (giver of life).
Again, not really asking the gods for eternal life. It does not improve if we read what's written on the different sides. Most of it is just Thutmose bragging about various things he has achieved. One thing I find a little heartwarming here is the message that was carved at a later stage by Thutmose IV.
"Now His Majesty completed the very great sole obelisk from what his ancestor the King of Upper and Lower Egypt Men-kheperre (Thutmose III) brought after His Majesty found this obelisk having lain for a total of 35 years on its side in the possession of the craftsmen on the south side of Karnak."
So, it seems the project had been halted for one reason. This also gives us some insight into how the Egyptians constructed the Obelisks. We will return to this in a little bit. For now, let's turn our attention toward another Obelisk to see if we can find this elusive idea about the Ancient Alien claim about these monuments. So let's look at Ramses II, or Ramses the Great, one of the more famous pharaohs who ended up reigning until he was 90. It's said he had about 100 children, and a less flattering nickname for him among Egyptologists is "the great chisler." Ramses had a bit of a habit of chiseling out other pharaoh names and replacing the cartouche with his own. But on the Luxor Obelisk now found in Paris, we can read, for example, that.
"The Kingly Horus, Strong Bull, Son of Tum, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Lord of Diadems, who protects and chastises the nations. Son of the Sun. Ramsessou Meriamen, king, warlike, who has acted with his own hands, in the face of the whole earth, the Lord of the Two lands."
So it continues on the obelisks from the Middle Kingdom and the New Kingdom. They changed from mortuary markers, that might not have had any inscriptions, to large propaganda poles. While the goal, in a sense, was to achieve immortality, this was not the primary objective of the texts. The main purpose seems to have been propaganda when reading the texts, with some religion weaved into it. But they seemed to complement the temple walls that were also heavy on propaganda. It might be good to remember that faith and propaganda can be mixed together.
Creating an Obelisk
I'm sure many of you are here mainly because you wonder how the Ancient Egyptians created these monoliths. I won't keep you waiting any longer for that. When alternative historians and alien conspiracy believers talk about the construction of Egyptian monuments, we often hear some claim that sounds like this.
"This is not the work of primitive people who have copper chisels."
We often hear this claim that copper chisels can't be used to dress granite stone. This statement is never followed up by any sort of evidence or test. An interesting tidbit is that when people have tried to see if it's possible to use copper tools, the answer is that copper works. For example, one experimental stone mason named Mickael Restoin shows that getting a smooth granite surface with nothing more than a copper chisel and a grindstone to eliminate the tool marks is possible. Restoin has even developed a chisel technique so it doesn't get dull as fast and lasts longer.
This also fits in quite well with the Ancient Egyptian's depictions of stone workers. For example, in the mastaba of Kaemrehu, we can see a relief of workers creating a Ka statue using copper chisels. In the picture, it even looks as if their tools have wood handles; combined with the archaeological find of copper chisels, it's pretty clear that this was one method they incorporated into their stone masonry. One method does not mean the only method. An experimental archaeologist, Denys Stocks, has made a good case for stone tools used in Egyptian stonework.
One issue with copper tools is that they are soft, and there are still questions about whether they can get those sharp edges on granite stones we see in hieroglyph carvings. Stocks have suggested that they might have used stone chisels to get these charming edges. By utilizing these stone chisels, the idea is that you can get these sharp edges we often see in Egyptian stonework. Something that's turned out to be true. When trying the stone chisels, mainly made out of flint, the result was an exact match. These experiments have also been replicated in Andean archaeology by Protzen and Nazzir, who tried tools out of flint, obsidian, and other stones to replicate the stonework at Pumapunku. This is an excellent example of how we, with ingenuity, can discover alternative methods that would fit within the era's technology. With all this in mind, let's discard the idea that the Ancient Egyptians were primitive and that these things were impossible with copper chisels.
With a few misconceptions regarding Egyptian stonework out of our way, let's move on to how we create an Obelisk. Do you remember the first quote where we heard that Obelisks are always made of granite? Let me address this, or maybe dress this, claim. While most Obelisks are granite, some are also created from sandstone and other rocks. It's just a little disclaimer. I could not stop myself from pointing this out. For now, let's shift back to the granite Obelisk. Almost all were quarried at Aswan, a location in the south of Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Ancient Egyptians did not leave a detailed written record behind regarding how they created these monuments. But we can piece things together thanks to the unfinished Obelisk still in the Aswan Quary, the scarce sources, and the archaeological record. There's also new research giving us additional information on how they could have quarried these giant stones.
First, a foreman would find a good spot that did not show signs of cracking. They likely excavated down a little to ensure no hidden flaws. But with the Obelisk marked out, the workers could get to work starting to pound out the pillar from the bedrock. No copper chisels were used in this part of the process; instead, they used a dolorite ball that they dropped or threw. Slowly chipping away flakes of minerals and stone from the rock. A repetitive and slow task that would most likely have taken a toll on the worker's health. Fine dust and other particles would have filled the trench they worked in, getting drawn into the workers' lungs. We know that these dolorite balls were used due to the number of them we found in the quarries.
While the pounding with dolerite balls is a viable explanation, recent research indicates that the Ancient Egyptians had more tools available. In a 2014 paper, Tom Heldal and Per Storemyr suggest that the Egyptians utilized fire in the quarries. Using fire to mine or excavate stone and minerals has been used throughout history. Egyptologists have reported fire signs in the quarries since the early 1900s. Reginald Engelbach, for example, mentions that in the 1920s, burnt granite could be picked up almost everywhere. By applying heat, you weaken the strength of the granite. The drawback is that you must be careful and pay attention to the stone's porosity, structure, and keep track of micro-cracks. When the controlled fire has burned out, you can start to pound the granite with your dolorite balls, with a bit lighter work ahead of you. On the unfinished Obelisk in Aswan, we can see the marks of these dolorite pounders that have created long individual grooves. These appear from the pounding with the dolorite pounders.
Looking at the different quarries around Egypt, Storemyr and Heldal have been able to differentiate three methods for quarrying. As we just discussed, fire and pounding create parallel flakes with spalling and, of course, using preexisting cracks to their advantage when quarrying. However, these methods require workers with more skills, but on the other hand, it allow for a smaller workforce. So, earlier ideas that this was slave labor might not be accurate with this new information. More research is required in this area to better understand Egyptian quarry methods.
It's unknown exactly how long it took to create one Obelisk, but we have one written account giving us an estimate. Hatsetsup wrote on the base of one of her obelisks that she quarried as follows:
"My majesty ordered them to be made in year 15 (of Hatshepsut's rule), the second month of winter, on the first day, until year 16, fourth month, last day (when they were finished). The work has lasted 7 months since the arrangements in the mountain."
So, according to Hatsetsup, it took her 7 months to create the two Obelisks. Hatsetsup didn't hold back either, and these are among the larger pylons, so that one could build these in less than a year is not an estimate out of the question.
Moving an Obelisk
Welcome back! Now that we know how the obelisks were quarried, what's written on them, and their history, I'll now get into how they were moved. Many of these are not small things; they are, in fact, quite large, and it's a fair question to ask how this was achieved. Some explanations are more possible, and there are suggestions such as this.
"We have some references in ancient Egyptian texts that also speak of some of these obelisks being levitated and the way that worked is that a magical white powder had to be strewn across the stones and then water was added and through some quote unquote magical incantations, then those rocks lifted themselves and they could levitate into place."
I'll get into where this claim originates since this story is fascinating. This is also an excellent example of the importance of source criticism. I will start with how we mainstream archaeologists explain how ancient Egyptians moved these giant monuments.
First, you needed to get the quarried obelisks out of its hole. We are not entirely sure how it was done, but it seems to have been possible using ropes and levers. It could also be that they used a similar technology as construction worker Wally Wallington, who raised blocks weighing 9000 kg on his own with only sticks and gravity. But the Obelisk was later dragged down to the water when it was out from the quarry. The workers seem to have prepped the way down with fire and pounders to create a smooth surface where they could more easily drag the stone. They most likely used sleds, as seen in Djehutihote's tomb. Depicted on the wall is how several workmen move a giant statue on a sled, pouring some liquid out in front of it to decrease friction.
We know that the Obelisks were then loaded onto barges and sent down the Nile. Since the Nile flows north, they barely had to use sails; the current would be enough to move the pillars up the river. This is also depicted in reliefs in Egypt. The earliest depiction of using boats to move large stone objects is from the 5th dynasty and King Unas Causeway. In that depiction, we see large pillars transported by boat; we also know it's heading north since the sails aren't up. That's an excellent way to see in what direction a ship is traveling in Egyptian art. If the sails are up, they use the southbound winds heading to Upper Egypt. If the sails are down, they go by current toward Lower Egypt.
We have not only King Una's causeway; Hatsetsup details how the boats were constructed and used on a relief at her temple. She wrote how she got sycamore trees from the whole land to build the ships. Then, it details how soldiers and sailors were conscripted and how everyone celebrated as the giant Obelisks arrived at Karnak. Something that seems to be forgotten in discussions about this relief is that the Obelisks sit on top sleds while on the boats. This is also visible in Unas Causeway.
That stone blocks were moved by boat on the Nile is also corroborated by other officials within Egyptian society. Going all the way back to the 4th dynasty and the construction of the Khufu's pyramid as described in the diary of Merer. There are mentions of the construction of Obelisks in the mortuary biography of Innis, an architect serving Amenhotep I, and Thutmose I. Hatsetsup's favorite official, Senmut, also talks about the construction of the Obelisks. None of these texts, however, mention anything about some supernatural power to move them. Just manpower, cunning, and resources.
In later periods, we also have the Ptolemaic dynasty, who started to move obelisks from Heliopolis and Karnak to Alexandria, where they resided. Then we have the Romans who thought the Obelisks would look super rad in the Hippodrome and then moved them across the Mediterranean to Rome and other places. While the Romans had access to ropes, pulleys, and other technologies, they were not dabbling with modern machinery. At best, it most likely just cut back the manpower you needed to move these giant pylons. We also have accounts of the 1500s in Rome when they moved and erected these monuments after the Obelisks had fallen and been lost for some time. We have depictions of how the Italians moved and lifted these without machinery, with only ropes and pulleys. Again, this is before steam engines and modern machinery. But nobody is claiming that the Romans or later Italians required alien assistance to do this.
These monuments were an achievement to move. That's why all pharaohs talk about them in such high esteem. They were meant to display their power and wealth combined with being a monument of the religion. Moving these giant monoliths is an achievement even in our days; both the New York Obelisks and the London Obelisks were transported with some difficulty from Egypt. The one in New York, also known as Cleopatra's needle, took Henry Gorringe to transport from Egypt to the USA about a year. This endeavor was quite the harrowing tale that would be a great movie, to be honest. While it was difficult, Gorringe required far less manpower than the Egyptians and had a smaller budget to work with.
One mystery not entirely solved is how the ancient Egyptians got the Obelisk up on the pedestal. They most likely built a mound where they dragged the monolith up and then just let it slide down the other end of the pedestal. There's one rumor surviving to our day where it's claimed that Ramses II had one of his kids tied to the top of the Obelisk to ensure the workmen did this extra carefully. I'm not entirely sure about that claim, and I also just want to throw out there that Ramses had some 100 children. But with everything else we have discussed, we don't need modern technology or aliens for the Egyptians to do this. We have just not needed to solve this issue for a long time, and they never wrote down how they did it.
Before we close this episode out, I want to discuss where Tsoukalos got the claim about the magic powder. It is not as you might suspect from any records in Ancient Egypt, but a 1999 book by Laurence Gardner titled "Genesis of the Grail Kings." Gardner is the origin of the claim and seems to have created this narrative by misquoting the book "Inscriptions of Sinai Vol 2" and "Researches in Sinai." Laurence claims these books mention a substance he calls "mfkzt" or "mufkuzt." This is supposed to be mono-atomic gold in a white powder form that has next to supernatural properties. As I mentioned, this is just made up, and "mfkzt" has no meaning in the Egyptian language. This does not stop people from claiming this is real, referring to other sources like the German scholar Karl Richard Lepsius, who also never mentioned this in his writing. These claims started when it was hard to double-check this stuff since the books are relatively obscure and old. Today, however, they are digitalized and widely available online. So, if you don't trust me, you can confirm this on your own. Laurence Gardner is more or less doing a spinoff on Sitchen's gold-digging aliens and David Icke's monoatomic gold reptiles.
On that note, I will end episode 50. Next time, I'll have a guest, and we will talk about classical history. So make sure to tune in next time.
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Sources, resources, and further reading suggestions
Brand, P. (1997). The ‘Lost’ Obelisks and Colossi of Seti I. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 34, p.101. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/40000801.
Gardiner, A.H. and Peet, T.E. (1955). The Inscriptions of Sinai Part 2. 1st ed. [online] London: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://archive.org/details/EXCMEM45.
Gorringe, H.H. (1882). Egyptian Obelisks. 1st ed. [online] New York. Available at: Avalible at the Open Archive.
Habachi, L. (1977). The Obelisks of Egypt. Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Harrell, J.A. and Storemyr, P. (2009) Ancient Egyptian quarries—an illustrated overview. In Abu-Jaber, N., Bloxam, E.G., Degryse, P. and Heldal, T. (eds.) QuarryScapes: ancient stone quarry landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean, Geological Survey of Norway Special Publication,12, pp. 7–50
Helck, H.W. (1984). Urkunden der 18. Dynastie Heft 18. [online] Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Available at: https://archive.org/details/Urkunden-heft-18-1956
Heldal, T. and Storemyr, P. (2014). Fire on the Rocks: Heat as an Agent in Ancient Egyptian Hard Stone Quarrying. Springer eBooks, 5, pp.291–295. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09048-1_56
Petrie, W.M.F. and Currelly, C.T. (1906). Researches in Sinai. 1st ed. [online] London: E. P. Button and Company. Available at: https://archive.org/details/researchesinsina00petruoft/
Stocks, D.A. (2010). Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology : Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt. London: Routledge.
Wilkinson, R.H. (2017). The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Zecchi, M. (2008). The Monument of Abgig. Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur, [online] 37, pp.373–386. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27751356