Tea at Trianon: Cleopatra’s Needle: The Story Behind Three Awe-Inspiring Obelisks

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, June 8, 2020

Cleopatra’s Needle: The Story Behind Three Awe-Inspiring Obelisks

From Ancient Origins:

The obelisks were named in honor of Cleopatra because of her famed beauty and connections to well-known Romans. Plus, the name had a certain glamorous ring to it. The obelisks in New York and London are made of red granite from the quarries of Aswan, with each stone weighing approximately 224 tons. These obelisks were constructed in 1450 BC in the city of Heliopolis for the Pharaoh Thutmose III (1481-1425 BC). They are 68 feet (21m) tall.

The obelisk in Paris, on the other hand, is also known as the Luxor Obelisk and it is made of yellow granite. Constructed about 3,000 years ago, it was originally situated outside the Luxor Temple in Egypt, where its twin still remains. The Paris obelisk is 75 feet (23m) tall and weighs over 250 tons. All three obelisks are inscribed with hieroglyphs glorifying Ramses II. (Read more.)