WEBVTT - How Do Obelisks Work?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.520
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:11.520
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren vogebam here. When it comes to astonishing

0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:15.319
<v Speaker 1>architectural achievements of ancient Egypt, the first example that comes

0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:19.240
<v Speaker 1>to mind maybe the pyramids. But these historic structures aren't

0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.239
<v Speaker 1>the only majestic geometric feats to originate from this civilization.

0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.520
<v Speaker 1>In fact, their rectangular cousin, the obelisk, can be found

0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:31.320
<v Speaker 1>in countries throughout the world, from Washington, d C. To Paris, France,

0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.720
<v Speaker 1>but the iconic monuments are still shrouded in a fair

0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:39.479
<v Speaker 1>amount of mystery. We spoke by email with historian Pamela

0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:44.120
<v Speaker 1>oh Long. She said obelisks originated in ancient Egypt. They

0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.919
<v Speaker 1>were spectacular monuments, often dedicated to the solar gods of Egypt,

0:00:48.120 --> 0:00:50.919
<v Speaker 1>but also representing the power of the Pharaoh. They were

0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:56.200
<v Speaker 1>monuments to the fusion of earthly and divine power. According

0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.840
<v Speaker 1>to Long, obelisks first appeared in the fifth and six

0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:05.000
<v Speaker 1>dynasties of the Old Kingdom circa four b C, the

0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.559
<v Speaker 1>same era in which the Pyramids of Giza were built.

0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.600
<v Speaker 1>She explained, the important central fact about obelisks is that

0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:14.480
<v Speaker 1>they are monoliths carved out of granite. Most from the

0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:17.520
<v Speaker 1>Aswan Quarry in Lower Egypt. As a single block of

0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.600
<v Speaker 1>stone weighing several hundred tons, the base was a square.

0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.640
<v Speaker 1>It gradually tapered as it rose, and was capped by

0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:29.720
<v Speaker 1>a pyramid shaped structure called a pyramidian. If creating an

0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:33.920
<v Speaker 1>artistically designed architectural masterpiece out of several hundred tons of

0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:39.520
<v Speaker 1>stone sounds impossibly challenging, that's because it nearly was, Along said,

0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.720
<v Speaker 1>Carving out an obelisk from the bedrock of the quarry,

0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.120
<v Speaker 1>dragging it to the transport ship on the Nile River,

0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.880
<v Speaker 1>offloading it, dragging it to where it was to stand,

0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.800
<v Speaker 1>and then raising it was a tremendous feat of high

0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:55.680
<v Speaker 1>technological skill and brute labor. The fact that these original

0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.280
<v Speaker 1>structures were monolithic, meaning that they were carved from one

0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.200
<v Speaker 1>single piece of stone, makes them distinct from more modern versions.

0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.240
<v Speaker 1>Along said, many people don't realize that the ancient Egyptian

0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.560
<v Speaker 1>obelisk was a monolith. This is one thing that makes

0:02:10.600 --> 0:02:15.280
<v Speaker 1>them beautiful and remarkable. There are obelisk shaped masonry structures,

0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:18.120
<v Speaker 1>such as the Washington Monument in Washington, d c. But

0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:21.680
<v Speaker 1>of course they differ from the ancient Egyptian monolithic structures.

0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.320
<v Speaker 1>According to experts, obelisks were often associated with the ancient

0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.200
<v Speaker 1>Egyptian sun god Raw, but their meaning may go even deeper.

0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:33.359
<v Speaker 1>But we also spoke via email with Vicky al Mansa

0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:37.520
<v Speaker 1>Vila Toro, a PhD Candidate in Egyptology at Brown University.

0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.119
<v Speaker 1>She said, the obelisk is a solar symbol of regeneration

0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:44.880
<v Speaker 1>and creation, and it symbolizes the ben Ben Stone. What

0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.520
<v Speaker 1>is the ben Ben Stone? According to the ancient Egyptian

0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:51.120
<v Speaker 1>myths of creation or cosmogenys, in the beginning, there was

0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:55.639
<v Speaker 1>a primordial ocean of nothingness called new Among these cosmogonies,

0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.000
<v Speaker 1>the Heliopolitan account describes how the first thing to ever

0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.160
<v Speaker 1>arise from these was a mound of earth, the so

0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:06.600
<v Speaker 1>called primordial Hill. This mound is clearly inspired by the

0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:08.919
<v Speaker 1>fertile hills that emerged from the waters of the Nile

0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.080
<v Speaker 1>every year after the annual flood began to recede and

0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:15.960
<v Speaker 1>the crop growing season approached. The ben Ben is actually

0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:22.079
<v Speaker 1>the icon the magical representation of the primordial hill. According

0:03:22.080 --> 0:03:24.240
<v Speaker 1>to a months of Villa Toro, the ben Ben was

0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:28.320
<v Speaker 1>likely an actual mound shaped monument that residents of Heliopolis

0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.079
<v Speaker 1>worshiped she said, the sun temples of the Fifth dynasty

0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:36.080
<v Speaker 1>incorporated amount of earth resembling a small pyramid in their courtyards,

0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:41.280
<v Speaker 1>and likewise, obelisks are topped by a small pyramidian. Thus,

0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:45.320
<v Speaker 1>both the obelisks and the pyramids are regenerative icons and

0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.080
<v Speaker 1>rooted in the symbolism of the primordial hill and the

0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.440
<v Speaker 1>ben Ben stone. The Egyptian myths of the creation are

0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.680
<v Speaker 1>multiple and sometimes contradictory. The myth that incorporates the primordial

0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:58.760
<v Speaker 1>hill and thus the ben Ben is the Heliopolitan myth.

0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.560
<v Speaker 1>Heliopolis was the city of worship of the sun god

0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:07.680
<v Speaker 1>Ra and as many manifestations. One significant feature found on

0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.680
<v Speaker 1>many of the original obelisks is their decoration. Along said,

0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:14.840
<v Speaker 1>obelisks were often found ornamented on all four sides with

0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.320
<v Speaker 1>hieroglyphic writing, which for the most part commemorated the pharaoh

0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:23.000
<v Speaker 1>and his or her deeds. Of course, some of Egypt's

0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:27.240
<v Speaker 1>obelisks have been removed from their original context. Along said,

0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.520
<v Speaker 1>It's also true the obelisks are ancient monuments that can

0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.240
<v Speaker 1>be moved, so their meaning has changed as they are

0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:37.000
<v Speaker 1>moved from one location and culture to another. The obelisks

0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.880
<v Speaker 1>in Egypt, Rome, Istanbul, Paris, London, and New York all

0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.679
<v Speaker 1>have meant very different things to the people and culture

0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.200
<v Speaker 1>that possesses them, very different from that of the ancient Egyptians.

0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.800
<v Speaker 1>The oldest man made object in Central Park and the

0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.920
<v Speaker 1>oldest outdoor monument in New York City is the obelisk

0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.360
<v Speaker 1>known as Cleopatra's Needle. It's over three thousand years old,

0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:01.280
<v Speaker 1>stand sixty nine ft high and ways in and an

0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.400
<v Speaker 1>amazing two d and twenty tons. It was erected in

0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.480
<v Speaker 1>Central Park on January twenty second of eighteen eighty one,

0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:09.760
<v Speaker 1>after having been sold to the United States by the

0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:15.000
<v Speaker 1>Egyptian government. One particularly famous relocation was that of the

0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.200
<v Speaker 1>Vatican Obelisk at the center of Rome St. Peter's Square.

0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.360
<v Speaker 1>Along said it's famous because of the renown it acquired,

0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.839
<v Speaker 1>and not when it was brought by the ancient Romans

0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.640
<v Speaker 1>from Egypt to Rome after the Roman conquest of Egypt,

0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.240
<v Speaker 1>but when Pope's sixth is the fifth Antis engineer Domenico

0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:34.400
<v Speaker 1>Fontana moved the obelisk from the side of St. Peter's

0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.440
<v Speaker 1>to the front where it now stands. This occurred in

0:05:37.480 --> 0:05:40.239
<v Speaker 1>a dramatic series of steps, with all of Rome watching

0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.479
<v Speaker 1>in the spring, summer and early fall of fifteen eighty six.

0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.600
<v Speaker 1>The dramatic transport process was fraught with danger and celebrated

0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:51.919
<v Speaker 1>all around Italy. When it was accomplished, Long said, the

0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:56.200
<v Speaker 1>engineer wrote a wonderful book with spectacularly detailed woodcuts, explaining

0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.919
<v Speaker 1>every step of the move, including all the ben and

0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:03.680
<v Speaker 1>machinery that where used. This account was published in We

0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.559
<v Speaker 1>can marvel at it today both because of Fontana's lucid

0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:12.120
<v Speaker 1>explanations and the illuminating illustrations. While obelisks are rich in

0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:16.080
<v Speaker 1>meaning and historical significance, their main attraction may really be

0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:20.920
<v Speaker 1>their inspiring esthetics. Long said. If you are ever in egypt,

0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:25.279
<v Speaker 1>istanbul Rome, Paris, London, or New York, stop to really

0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:29.040
<v Speaker 1>look at the obelisks. They are immensely heavy, but also fragile.

0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.160
<v Speaker 1>They're the oldest or among the oldest human made structures

0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.520
<v Speaker 1>that exist in whichever city you find them. They display

0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:40.120
<v Speaker 1>a subtle geometry. Block out the traffic, noise and other distractions,

0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.279
<v Speaker 1>and spend some time looking at the obelisk walking around

0:06:43.279 --> 0:06:47.040
<v Speaker 1>it if you can observing the hieroglyphs, the pyramidian pointing

0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:51.360
<v Speaker 1>to the sun, immensely heavy monuments that are also transportable.

0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.960
<v Speaker 1>They connect us to an ancient past, but can be

0:06:54.000 --> 0:07:01.800
<v Speaker 1>deeply moving in the present as well. Today's episode was

0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.039
<v Speaker 1>written by Michelle Konstantinovski and produced by Tyler Clay. For

0:07:05.160 --> 0:07:07.320
<v Speaker 1>more on this and loss of other curious topics, visit

0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:09.920
<v Speaker 1>how stuff works dot com. Brainstuff is production of I

0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:12.720
<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the

0:07:12.760 --> 0:07:15.400
<v Speaker 1>i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:16.400
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.