|
Cleopatra's Needle
This Egyptian obelisk stands near East Drive at East
82nd Street. Due to its height, there is no way to miss it, day
or night (when it is lit up). When a race finishes at East 90th
Street, you know that you have about a half-mile left to go when
you reach the Needle. When a race finishes at East 97th Street,
you know that you have slightly more than one mile to go. Usually,
the Needle comes as a relieving sight as you will see it just after
you come over the crest of Cat Hill.
Victoria Embankment, London |
According
to the history books, "Cleopatra's Needles" is
the name given to two Egyptian obelisks from Alexandria (Egypt).
Today, one of the Cleopatra's Needles is in New York and the
other one is in London. The obelisks are made of the rosered
granite of Syene and are almost 70' in height. They were
originally erected by the Egyptian king Thothmes III in front
of the great temple of Heliopolis around 1500 B.C.
The London obelisk was
a gift from the Viceroy of Egypt to the British people in
1819 in recognition of Nelson's victory over the French fleet
at the Battle of the Nile in 1798 but it took until 1879 before
the monument was erected at its present location on the Victoria
Embankment right by the Thames River.
The New York City obelisk was
presented as a gift to America in 1881 by the Rhedive of Egypt
in the hope of stimulating economic investment in his country,
and it took four months to move the obelisk from the Hudson
River dock to its present location inside Central Park.
The name Cleopatra's Needle is in fact a romantic invention
simply because that queen is well-known to us via the likes
of William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Taylor,
as the obelisks are not connected to her at all.
|
|
