Piazza della Minerva obelisk in Rome A tentative translation

The brother of Your Amateur Researcher (YAR) recently reported seeing an obelisk in Urbino, in Le Marche in central Italy, and sent this photograph:

Curiosities about this evidently Egyptian obelisk are its bevelled edges, and the collar near the bottom. Some or the hieroglyphs have effectively gone. The obelisk appears to be in three or four sections. At the uppermost join the hieroglyph does not match well with the column immediately below it. There is also a concern over the direction of the writing. Any animate entities portrayed (e.g. snakes, birds) always face where the writing begins. So if they face left, the writing is left to right. It can be readily seen that  the writing at the top of the column, and below the collar, reads right to left (into the faces); and for the main central portion the reading is in the other direction, the animals facing the other way. This leads to the conclusion that the obelisk was incorrectly reassembled when it was re-erected. Repair work done at that time presumably including the bevelling, the fitting of the collar, and possibly some of the glyphs may have been re-cut.

The internet provided some information about this obelisk:

It was one of a pair from Sais, a town in the western delta of Egypt and one that was most prominent during the 24th and 26th dynasties. The other member of the pair is in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome.

This Urbino obelisk, by pharaoh Apries, also known as Haaibra (and Wahibra), fifth king of the 26th Dynasty, c.589-570 BC, was erected c.580 BC. In 90 BC it was taken to Rome, sometime after which it fell and broke into three. In 1737 it was moved to Urbino following a gift by a cardinal, at about which time it is likely that restoration took place in the process of its being re-erected there.

When YAR attempted to make some sense of the hieroglyphs the numerous problems he soon encountered led him to turn to its pair in Rome for clarification. This particular obelisk, along with all the others in Rome, he had photographed in 2011. 

One can only wonder how the pharaohs and engineers of Ancient Egypt might have reacted had they been able to foresee how some of their monuments, triumphs of ingenuity, art and engineering, embellished with exquisitely executed texts and full of symbolic meaning, were to be treated by later victorious foreign powers who were ignorant of what they were dealing with. The obelisks were carted off to be re-erected overseas. They were allowed to fall and break. Sometimes they lay shattered for centuries. Then they were re-erected from the pieces, sometimes placed on undignified plinths. Frequently the pyramidion, the pyramid-shaped block at the top, the key component of the obelisk, often cut from a special stone, and covered with gold or electrum to reflect the rays of the sun, would be capped with decorative baubles as if with a hat. Here is the obelisk in the Piazza della Minerva, as an example:

Today after the handiwork of the philistines, the elephant at least enables the faces of the obelisk to be readily identified, in relation to the elephant’s face, or rear, or right or left sides. Equally helpful in identifying the obelisk’s faces in photos are the building backdrops.

Rome Minerva obelisk: elephant face: 

backdrop red, shutters

The inscription may read:

Golden Horus Wahib King of Upper and Lower Egypt Two Ladies Nebkhepesh <Haa-ib-re> beloved of Atum, great god, foremost of Sais, give life like Re for ever

Here then is ‘Ele face’ of the Minerva obelisk in detail:

Ele face: top

There seems to be a gap below the glyphs. This is because the rectangular serekh with trailing tassels has mostly been lost. Compare this with the top of Ele left, in the relevant section below.

Ele face: centre

In this photo the <waterpots-4> near the bottom are unclear; but from elsewhere on the obelisk it is evident that this is what is intended.

Ele face: bottom

Halfway down are <reeds>. Apparently missing (‘faded’) on the right is <hoe>. Together these make mery [love agent, or] ‘beloved’.

Analysing the obelisk

As stated above, and derived from the analysis to follow, this face of the obelisk would appear to mean:

Golden Horus Wahib King of Upper and Lower Egypt Two Ladies Nebkhepesh <Haa-ib-re> beloved of Atum, great god, foremost of Sais, give life like Re for ever.

Repeatedly on the four faces various names of the pharaoh Wahibra recur. 

Pharoahs came to have five names, and obelisks such as this would often pick out several of them. Here is a summary, with this pharaoh indicated in the pink columns on the right:

	name	feature	respelt	meaning
1	Horus	in a serekh, with a falcon above	wAHe ib	place heart
2	Nebety	introduced by the ‘two ladies’: vulture and cobra, each on its basin	neb KHepesh	lord [of] strength
3	Golden Horus	introduced by the <necklace> glyph for ‘gold’	sewadj tAwi	make xxx land two
4	Throne	in a cartouche, introduced by <sedge bun bee bun>: ‘king of the south and north’	Haa ib ra	joy heart of Re
5	Birth	in a cartouche, introduced by <duck sun>: ‘Son of Re’	Wahe ib ra	place heart [of] Re

The names of this pharaoh are often rendered as:
Wahib / Nebkhepesh / Sewadjtawy / Haaibra / Wahibra.

The Hierolex database enables this front face of the obelisk to be analysed as follows:

Egyptian	respelt	English	EngJSM	source	glyph names	glyphs
"bik nbw <<w3ḥ ib>> nswt bỉty nbty nb ḫpš <ḥ¬¬ibr¬>"	bik nebu <<wAHe ib>> nesut biti nebeti neb KHepesh <Haa ib ra> =	"Golden Horus Wahib King of Upper and Lower Egypt Two Ladies Nebkhepesh <Haa-ib-re>"	Golden Horus <<place heart>>  king [of the] south [and] north Two Ladies Lord [of] Strength <joy heart [of] Re>  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele face:2.1]	<hawk: necklace << rope: sunrise heart >> sedge bun bee bun vulture&cobra basin ox: thigh < sun rope armx2 heart >>
"tm ntr ¬3 ḫnt ¬nḫt s3t mry di ¬nḫ mi r¬ dt"	tem netjer ayA KHenet anmeKHet KHaset [?] meri di aneKH mi ra djet =	"beloved of Atum, great god, foremost of Sais, give life like Re for ever"	Atum god big front Sais love agent give life like Re ever  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele face:2.2]	<sledge flag pointy-v waterpots-4 bun loops bun town hoe reeds teepee ankh sun mace-2 cobra-J bun strip>

Rome Minerva obelisk: elephant right: 

trunk, backdrop cream church, circular windows, ‘pillars’

The inscription, allowing for uncertainties indicated below, might mean:

Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father <Wahibre> beloved of Neith foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever

It is to be hoped that a real scholar might see this and offer appropriate corrections.

Here is ‘Elephant right’ in detail:

Ele Right: top

The Golden Horus name, introduced by the <necklace> is shown at the top.

The first of the puzzles on the obelisk appears on this face: the glyph two-thirds down, two below the duck. Is it <ox: thigh>, or possibly <spoon> or something else?

And how is the sequence below <duck> to be analysed? 

<water ox: thigh bun viper> neKHepeshet.ef

<water>  <ox: thigh bun viper> en KHepeshet.ef of / strength what is / him-of

<water>  <ox: thigh> <bun viper> en KHepesh it of / strong / father

Only this unlikely last, featuring the irregular it ‘father’, makes sense with the following word <hoe stroke viper>: mer.ef: love him, or ‘his beloved (father).

Ele Right: centre

This portion of this face continues the challenges.

The ‘faded’ cartouche near the top is probably as shown in the coloured analysis below: <sun rope: sunrise heart> wAHe ib ra.

The next group, reading from the right, is <water bun bonbon>, or the goddess Neith.

But what is the complicated rectangular group below? It defied YAR. No link could be found to Neith, nor to the glyph <waterpots-4> KHenet (‘front’) below it.

The final challenge was at the bottom: <bun strip ankh bun hills>. <hills> usually denotes a physical place, and the glyphs actually read tA anekhet. A search for ‘Ta-Ankhet’ on the internet brought several sketchy answers referring to ‘lords of Ta-Ankhet in Sais’. So it was probably a physical location; it occurs again elsewhere on this obelisk.

Ele Right: bottom

The bottom half of this section is a standard formula on all four faces of the obelisk and so enables the ‘faded’ glyph to the left of <sun> to be taken to be <mace-2> mi, ‘like’.

The analysis

Egyptian	respelt	English	EngJSM	source	glyph names	glyphs
"bik nbw sw3d-t3wy s3 r¬ n ḫpšt.f mr.f <w3ḥ-ib-r¬>"	bik nebu sewAdj tAwi sA ra en KHepeshet.ef mer.ef <wAhe ib ra> =	"Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father <Wahibre>"	Golden Horus make prosper lands two son [of] Re of <Waheibre>  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele R:1.1]	<hawk: necklace cloth drop stripx2 duck sun water ox: thigh bun viper hoe stroke viper < sun rope: sunrise heart >>
"nỉt ḫnt t3 ¬nḫt mry di ¬nḫ mi r¬ dt"	nit KHenet tA aneKHet meri di aneKH mi ra djet =	"beloved of Neith foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever"	Neith front Ta-Ankhet love agent give life like Re ever  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele R:1.2]	<water bun bonbon-v xxx waterpots-4 bun strip ankh bun hills hoe reeds teepee ankh sun mace-2 cobra-J bun strip>

Rome Minerva obelisk: elephant rear: 

backdrop peach, filigree top, window supports’

In the absence of a general shot in YAR’s collection, the above photograph from the internet, by a photographer unknown, is offered here. It shows filigree work along the top of the building as an identifying marker, and a cornice below the upper windows. 

The barely discernible hieroglyphs in it possibly read something like:

Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father Neith [pharaoh name] beloved of xxx give life like Re for ever

In detail:

Ele rear: top

Note the filigree work on the top of the building behind, confirming that this is the face wanted here.

The sign two below the <duck> is the <ox: thigh> or <spoon> possibility mentioned above, though neither of these glyphs seems really likely for this rendering.

The very bottom of the picture shows more glyph ‘fading’.

Ele rear: centre

In the ‘fading’ shown here, there is the suggestion of a cartouche towards the top. The central portion is probably the goddess Neith’s name <water bun bonbon>, encountered earlier and repeated here.

Finally, near the bottom, the <owl> is clear, but the fading directly above especially, and below, make transcription near impossible.

Ele rear: bottom

Directly above <teepee ankh> it is possible to discern <hoe reeds>. For the remainder <rat: eyes sun [or <string>]> are possibilities.

The analysis

Egyptian	respelt	English	EngJSM	source	glyph names	glyphs
"bik nbw sw3d-t3wy s3 r¬ n ḫpš it mr.f <xxx"	bik nebu sewAdj tAwi sA ra nxxx it mer.ef =	"Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father"	Golden Horus make prosper lands two son [of] Re xxx father love him-of x<xx  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele back:4.1]	<hawk: necklace cloth drop stripx2 duck sun water ox: thigh bun viper hoe stroke viper < sun xxx xxx xxx >>
"nỉt xxx mxx mry di ¬nḫ mi r¬  dt"	nit xxx mxx meri di aneKH mi ra djet  =	"Neith [pharaoh name] beloved of xxx give life like Re for ever"	Neith xxx xxx love agent give life like Re ever  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele back:4.2]	<water bun bonbon-v xx xxx owl xxx xxx hoe reeds teepee ankh sun mace-2 cobra-J bun strip>

Rome Minerva obelisk: elephant left: 

trunk, backdrop cream church, circular windows, ‘pillars’

Looming behind this view of the obelisk is what for 1300 years was the largest dome in the world. It crowns the Pantheon, one of the most famous buildings on the planet.
Nevertheless it is the backdrop to the elephant’s left side that is of concern here: a cream coloured building. On the top are small plants.

The inscription appears to read:

Golden Horus <<wAHe ib>>  King of Upper and Lower Egypt  Two Ladies Lord of Strength <Haaibre> beloved of Atum great god foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever

In detail:

Ele left: top

In this photo the hawk—and particularly the serekh—can been plainly seen, unlike in ‘Elephant face’ above.

Ele Left: middle

Interesting here, about one-third down, and below <basin> is the characteristic wavy <ox: thigh>, clearly different in outline from the possible <ox: thigh> glyphs noted above.

Above the ladder-like <sledge> there is more fading, by deduction (given the faint <sun arm> sequence) probably the pharaoh’s cartouche-surrounded throne name Haaibra.

The centre portion of this segment might normally be problematic, but because it contains so many elements seen earlier, the faded signs can be readily deduced. 

<bun strip ankh bun hills> is the place tA aneKHet; and barely discernible below that but unlikely to be anything else is <hoe reeds>, mery, love agent, or ‘beloved’.

The analysis:

Egyptian	respelt	English	EngJSM	source	glyph names	glyphs
"bik nbw  <<w3ḥ ib>> nswt bỉty nbty nb ḫpš ¬"	bik nebu << wAHe ib>> nesut biti nebeti neb KHepesh a =	"Golden Horus <<wAHe ib>>  King of Upper and Lower Egypt  Two Ladies Lord of Strength <Haaibre>"	Golden Horus <<place heart>>  king [of the] south [and] north Two Ladies Lord [of] Strength <Haaibre>  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele L:3.1]	<hawk: necklace << rope: sunrise heart >> sedge bun bee bun vulture&cobra basin ox: thigh < sun rope armx2 heart >>
"tm ntr ¬3 ḫnt t3 ¬nḫ mry dỉ ¬nḫ mi r¬ dt"	meri tem netjer ayA KHenet tA aneKHet di aneKH mi ra djet =	"beloved of Atum great god foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever"	Atum god big front Ta-Ankher love agent  give life like Re ever  :	Rome Minerva obelsik [Ele L:3.2]	<sledge flag pointy-v waterpots-4 bun strip ankh bun hills hoe reeds teepee ankh sun mace-2 cobra-J bun strip>

Summary of the Minerva obelisk text

There are faded portions of text on the obelisk, several uncertain glyphs, and some areas where the syntax is unresolved. However, the text is possibly something like the following:

Face

Golden Horus Wahib King of Upper and Lower Egypt Two Ladies Nebkhepesh <Haa-ib-re>] beloved of Atum, great god, foremost of Sais, give life like Re for ever]

Right

Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father <Wahibre> beloved of Neith foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever

Rear

Golden Horus Sewadj tawy son of Re xxx his beloved father] Neith [pharaoh name] beloved of xxx give life like Re for ever

Left

Golden Horus <<wAHe ib>>  King of Upper and Lower Egypt  Two Ladies Lord of Strength <Haaibre> beloved of Atum great god foremost of Ta-Ankhet give life like Re for ever

Urbino obelisk translation

Did the Minerva obelisk enable a reasonable translation of its Urbino pair to be attempted? Well, not really. There are some glyphs, and sequences, on it that are similar. Some guesses might be made where there are gaps. But the Urbino obelisk appears to have been wrongly reassembled, and restoration might have included reshaping some of the glyphs. Finally the photographs of it are of generally inadequate quality for much more than guessing.

Jeremy Steele

Wednesday 17 December 2014