Cleopatra's Needle in New York Associates Cleopatra With Julius Caesar

Summary: Cleopatra's Needle in London associates Cleopatra with Julius Caesar as one of two obelisks at the Caesareum, her memorial to her first son's father.

Cleopatra's Needle, which was created in the mid-15th century BCE from pink granite sourced from Aswan quarries in Upper Egypt (Southern Egypt) and later relocated to Alexandria in the first century BCE to adorn Cleopatra's Caesareum, has been sited on Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, Manhattan's Upper East Side, since Saturday, Jan. 22, 1881; Sunday, July 8, 2012, 20:07, image of Cleopatra's Needle, Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, Manhattan's Upper East Side, New York City: Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Cleopatra's Needle in London associates Cleopatra with Julius Caesar as one of a pair of obelisks installed at the Caesareum, the last Ptolemaic queen's memorial in Alexandria to her first son's father.

Cleopatra VII Philopator (Ancient Greek: Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ, Kleopatra Philopator; ca. 69-Aug. 10 or 12, 30 BCE) envisaged the Caesareum as a memorial in her hometown of Alexandria to Roman general and statesman Gaius Julius Caesar (July 12 or 13, 100-March 15, 44 BCE). The father of her first child and oldest son, Ptolemy XV Caesar Philopator Philometor (Ancient Greek: Πτολεμαῖος Καῖσαρ Φιλοπάτωρ Φιλομήτωρ, Ptolemaios Kaisar Philopator Philometor, "Ptolemy Caesar, Beloved of his Father, Beloved of his Mother"; 47-30 BCE), known as Caesarion (Ancient Greek: Καισαρίων, Kaisarion, "Little Caesar"), was assassinated in Rome on the Ides of March, March 15, 44 BCE. She incorporated into her plans for the memorial's elegant architecture two obelisks flanking the portal to the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis (Ancient Egyptian: Jwnw, Iunu, "the Pillars"; Coptic: ⲱⲛ, On; Greek: Ἡλιούπολις, Hēlioúpοlis, "City of the Sun"), ancient Egypt's cult center for the mid-day sun deity Ra. Her memorial project called for transporting the massive obelisks from the holy city, located on the east bank of the Nile River, at the start of the southeastern Nile Delta, northward to Alexandria, sited as a seaport on the southeastern Mediterranean seacoast, at the western edge of the Nile Delta.

The two obelisks that featured in Cleopatra 's Caesareum had originated in the mid-15th century BCE during the reign (1479-1425 BCE) of Thutmosis III as sixth pharaoh in Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty (Dynasty XVIII, 18th Dynasty, Dynasty 18;1550/1549-1292 BCE), according to editor, writer and artist Martina D'Alton (Dec. 22, 1946-July 23, 2014) in "The New York Obelisk or How Cleopatra's Needle Came to New York and What Happened When It Got Here," published in the Spring 1993 issue of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The warrior king had ordered the inscribed pink granite monoliths, sourced from quarries at Aswan (Arabic: أسوان, Aswan; Coptic: Ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛ Souan) in Upper Egypt (Southern Egypt), to celebrate his third jubilee.

Questions remain as to whether Cleopatra arranged for the transport of the obelisks from Heliopolis to Alexandria. Or, was the relocation ordered by Cleopatra's nemesis, Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; Sep. 23, 63 BCE-Aug. 19, 14 CE), also known as Octavian, who replaced the Ptolemaic Egyptian Kingdom with the Roman Empire and whose projects included completing the Caesareum?

A Greek and Latin inscription on the mutilated claw of a bronze support crab that was retrieved in 1877 from the base of the standing member of the pair of obelisks by John Dixon (Jan. 2, 1835-Dec. 28, 1891), civil engineer in charge of transporting the other, felled obelisk, translated as the pair's arrival date during Augustus's reign, according to American classical philologist, archaeologist and epigrapher Augustus C. (Chapman) Merriam (May 30, 1843-January 1895) in "The Caesareum and the Worship of Augustus at Alexandria," published in the 1883 issue of the Transactions of the American Philological Association. Merriam placed 13-12 BCE as the date of the installation of the obelisks in Alexandria.

An alternative assessment suggested missing details confirming Cleopatra's placement of the transport order, according to U.S. naval officer Henry H. (Honychurch) Gorringe (Aug. 11, 1841-July 7, 1885) in Egyptian Obelisks (Cleopatra's Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks, Chapter II The Archaeology of the New York Obelisk -- Historical, page 73), published in 1882. "Revolutions and invasions during the latter part of her reign probably delayed their re-erection," hypothesized Gorringe.

A pair of mid-15th century BCE obelisks was moved from the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis northward in the first century BCE to Alexandria for installation at Cleopatra's Caesareum; one of the pair was toppled by earthquake in the 14th century CE; the toppled obelisk was positioned in London in 1878 while the standing obelisk (shown here) was installed in New York City's Central Park in 1881; 1870 albumen silver print from glass negative attributed to English photographer Francis Frith (Oct. 7, 1822-Feb. 25, 1898); The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art: Public Domain, via Met Museum

At some point after the granite pair's installation one of them fell to the ground. The toppling has been credited to an earthquake in the 14th century. The tremorous culprit could have been the earthquake of 1301, according to Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (July 27, 1857-Nov. 23, 1934), Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, in Cleopatra's Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks (Chapter VI The Obelisk of Thothmes III at Constantinople, pages 166-167), published in 1926. The 1301 earthquake has been dated alternatively to 1302 or 1304, according to Gorringe (page 108).

Another candidate could have been the Eastern Mediterranean earthquake of Aug. 8, 1303, according to Egyptian seismologist Ahmed Badawy in "Historical Seismicity of Egypt" (pages 122, 127), published in the March 1999 issue of Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica. The August 1303 earthquake has been blamed for shattering the Lighthouse of Alexandria, also called the Pharos of Alexandria (Ancient Greek: ὁ Φάρος τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας, ho Pharos tes Alexandreias), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Credit for the first suggested removal of the standing obelisk to the United States goes to Isma'il Pasha (Arabic: إسماعيل باشا Ismā‘īl Bāshā; Jan. 12, 1830-March 2, 1895), Khedive (Ottoman Turkish: خدیو, hıdiv; Arabic: خديوي, khudaywi) of Egypt from Jan. 19, 1863 to June 26, 1879. He made the suggestion to American journalist William Henry Hurlbert (July 3, 1827-Se/ 4, 1895) during the opening of the Suez Canal on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1869, according to Gorringe (Chapter I Removal of the Alexandrian Obelisk, 'Cleopatra's Needle,' to New York, page 2).

Approximately six years later, in 1875, Isma'il Pasha gave permission for Scottish writer and British Army commander Sir James Edward Alexander (Oct. 16, 1803-April 2, 1885) to advance his plan for relocating the fallen obelisk to London (Gorringe, page 98). Civil engineer John Dixon (Jan. 2, 1835-Dec. 28, 1891) was encharged with the logistics of the Alexandria to London voyage. The standing obelisk's Alexandria to London journey began Friday, Sep. 21, 1877. The obelisk's installation at the Victoria Embankment, between the Golden Jubilee Bridges and the Waterloo Bridge, on the north bank of the River Thames, in central Greater London's City of Westminster, began Thursday, Sep. 12, 1878, and was completed the next day, Friday, Sep. 13 (Gorringe, pages 2, 104-106).

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Gorringe, on leave from the U.S. Navy, assumed the responsibility of overseeing the standing obelisk's Alexandria to New York journey. On Wednesday, Aug. 6, 1879, Gorringe accepted the offer to finance the project made Monday, Aug. 4, 1879, by American businessman and philanthropist William "Billy" Henry Vanderbilt (May 8, 1821-Dec. 8, 1885), oldest son of American railroad and shipping magnate Cornelius "the Commodore" Vanderbilt (May 27, 1794-Jan. 4, 1877) (Gorringe, page 5).

SS Dessoug, an iron steamer built in 1864 in England for the Egyptian government, departed Saturday, June 12, 1880, with the obelisk in its hold and the obelisk's pedestal in its after-hatchway (Gorringe, pages 22, 28). The Dessoug arrived at the Quarantine Station off Staten Island at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 20, 1880. Then, the obelisk-carrying steamship, "after having been granted pratique, moved up the Hudson and moored off Twenty-third Street during the afternoon" (Gorringe, page 30). Visitation of the Dessoug was allowed from July 20 to Friday, July 30. "On one day seventeen hundred and eleven persons visited the vessel between 7A.M. and 8 P.M.," noted Gorringe (page 30).

The obelisk's installation was scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 22, 1881, at noon on Graywacke Knoll. The rocky hill sits near the eastern edge of Central Park, southwest of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, in Manhattan's Upper East Side. The Met's main building, at 1000 Fifth Avenue, had opened approximately nine and three-quarter months (9 months 23 days) earlier, on Tuesday, March 30, 1880. The obelisk, which had been resting horizontally in Gorringe's turning structure, was turned, upon Gorringe's hand signal, to an approximately forty-five degree angle and was held dramatically in that position while the spectators preserved "a silence that was almost unnatural." When the turning resumed, "there arose a loud cheer which was prolonged until the shaft stood erect. It is something to have witnessed the manipulation of a mass weighing nearly two hundred and twenty tons changing its position majestically, yet as easily and steadily as if it were without weight. . . . Only five minutes elapsed from the first signal to the time the obelisk was vertical" (Gorringe, pages 46-47).

Installation of the mid-15th century BCE obelisk from Heliopolis via Alexandria took place Saturday, Jan. 22, 1881, at noon in New York City's Central Park; five minutes elapsed between the obelisk's paused position at an approximately 45-degree angle to its upright placement on its pedestal; spectators reacted first with an "unnatural" silence and then with a prolonged "loud cheer" (Gorringe, page 47); "Turning the Obelisk," illustration by American marine artist F.S. (Frederick Schiller) Cozzens (Oct. 11, 1846-Aug. 29, 1928), in H.H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks (1882), Plate XXVIIa, opposite page 54: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Cleopatra's Needle, which was created in the mid-15th century BCE from pink granite sourced from Aswan quarries in Upper Egypt (Southern Egypt) and later relocated to Alexandria in the first century BCE to adorn Cleopatra's Caesareum, has been sited on Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, Manhattan's Upper East Side, since Saturday, Jan. 22, 1881; Sunday, July 8, 2012, 20:07, image of Cleopatra's Needle, Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, Manhattan's Upper East Side, New York City: Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net), CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cleopatra's_Needle,_New_York.jpg

A pair of mid-15th century BCE obelisks was moved from the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis northward in the first century BCE to Alexandria for installation at Cleopatra's Caesareum; one of the pair was toppled by earthquake in the 14th century CE; the toppled obelisk was positioned in London in 1878 while the standing obelisk (shown here) was installed in New York City's Central Park in 1881; 1870 albumen silver print from glass negative attributed to English photographer Francis Frith (Oct. 7, 1822-Feb. 25, 1898); The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art: Public Domain, via Met Museum @ https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/285424

Installation of the mid-15th century BCE obelisk from Heliopolis via Alexandria took place Saturday, Jan. 22, 1881, at noon in New York City's Central Park; five minutes elapsed between the obelisk's paused position at an approximately 45-degree angle to its upright placement on its pedestal; spectators reacted first with an "unnatural" silence and then with a prolonged "loud cheer" (Gorringe, page 47); "Turning the Obelisk," illustration by American marine artist F.S. (Frederick Schiller) Cozzens (Oct. 11, 1846-Aug. 29, 1928), in H.H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks (1882), Plate XXVIIa, opposite page 54: Not in copyright, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/n132/mode/1up

For further information:

Badawy, A. (Ahmed). "Historical Seismicity of Egypt." Acta Geodaetica et Geophysica Hungarica, vol. 34, issue 1-2 (March 1999): 119-135.
Available @ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283839188_Historical_seismicity_of_Egypt

Curry, Andrew. "Egypt's Eternal City." Archaeology > Issues. March/April 2019.
Available @ https://www.archaeology.org/issues/331-1903/features/7371-egypt-heliopolis-excavations

D'Alton, Martina. "The New York Obelisk; or How Cleopatra's Needle Came to New York and What Happened When It Got Here." Adapted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 50, no. 4 (Spring, 1993). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.
Available via MetMuseum @ https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/The_New_York_Obelisk_or_How_Cleopatras_Needle_came_to_New_York_and_what_happened_when_it_got_here

Gorringe, Henry H. "Chapter I Removal of the Alexandrian Obelisk, 'Cleopatra's Needle,' to New York." Pages 1-58. In: Henry H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/1/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf

Gorringe, Henry H. "Chapter II The Archaeology of the New York Obelisk." Pages 59-76. In: Henry H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/59/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf

Gorringe, Henry H. Egyptian Obelisks. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf

Gorringe, Henry H. "Historical." Pages 68-76. Egyptian Obelisks. Chapter II The Archaeology of the New York Obelisk, pages 59-76. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive 2 https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/68/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf

Gorringe, Henry H. "Record of the London Obelisk." Pages 108-109. Egyptian Obelisks. Chapter IV Removal of the Fallen Obelisk of Alexandria to London, pages 96-109. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/108/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cleopatra's Needles: Heliopolis to Alexandria to London and New York." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/08/cleopatras-needles-heliopolis-to.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Cleopatra's Needle in London Associates Cleopatra With Julius Caesar." Earth and Space News. Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2023/08/cleopatras-needle-in-london-associates.html

Mental Floss. "First erected in Ancient Egypt in 1450 B.C.E., Cleopatra’s Needle is the oldest human-made object in New York City’s Central Park. The Khedive of Egypt, who "governed as a viceroy of the Sultan of Turkey between 1879 and 1914," gave the 69-foot-tall granite obelisk to the United States in 1881 to commemorate the construction of the Suez Canal. Generations of tourists have stood beneath the monument since it arrived in its current home, but few of them were aware of the more recent historical artifacts beneath their feet. Before Cleopatra’s Needle was unveiled in New York, a time capsule was buried at the site. It contained a copy of the 1870 U.S. census, a Bible, a dictionary, the complete works of William Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt, and a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. It’s one of two packages at the base of the obelisk. The contents of the second container—put there by William Henry Hurlbert, editor of 'The New York World' and the man who organized the purchase and transport of the monument—remain a mystery. The Central Park Conservancy confirmed to Gothamist that there are no plans to dig up the items, and as long as the structure remains in the park, the time capsules will likely stay put as well. Here are 11 time capsules waiting to be opened: https://trib.al/LVmebH1." Facebook. May 17, 2022.
Available via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine/photos/a.10150287971007365/10159964835232365/
Available via Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine/posts/10159964835232365/

Merriam, Augustus C. "The Caesareum and the Worship of Augustus at Alexandria." Transactions of the American Philological Association (1869-1896), Vol. 14 (1883): 5-35.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/2935824

The Met. "Sunday at the Met: Cleopatra's Needle." YouTube. May 2, 2014.
Available via YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vxs89p46ns&t=37s

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Egyptian Obelisk, 'Cleopatra's Needle,' in Alexandria, Egypt. Attributed to Francis Frith British ca. 1870." The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Art > The Met Collection.
Available via Met Museum @ https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/285424

Roberts, David. "Cleopatra's Needle." The Holy Land: Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. After Lithographs by Louis Haghe From Drawings Made on the Spot by David Roberts. With Historical Descriptions by the Rev. George Croly, L.L.D. Vol. 3. New York: D. Appleton & Co., n.d. [1856?].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/57712168

Schroeder, Seaton, Lieutenant. "Chapter IV Removal of the Fallen Obelisk of Alexandria to London." Pages 96-109. In: Henry H. Gorringe, Egyptian Obelisks. New York: Published by the Author, 1882.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/egyptianobelisks00gorruoft/page/96/mode/1up
Available via Internet Archive @ https://ia902904.us.archive.org/31/items/EgyptianObelisksGorringeHenryHBySamy/Egyptian%20obelisks%20%20Gorringe%2C%20Henry%20H%20By%20Samy.pdf