Abgig Obelisk: A Twelfth-Dynasty Royal Monument in Egypt
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- Bronze Age
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- Bronze Age
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- Egyptian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Monument
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History
The Abgig obelisk is an ancient Egyptian red-granite monument in Egypt, erected in the twentieth century BC by Senusret I during the Twelfth Dynasty of the Middle Kingdom. Also known as the Begig obelisk and the Faiyum obelisk, it originally stood approximately 3 km southwest of present-day Faiyum. Senusret I was the second king of the Twelfth Dynasty, a period of centralized royal rule, and the monument placed his royal presence in a provincial region.
Construction under Senusret I
The obelisk formed part of a royal and religious monument, although its original setting remains uncertain. It stood in an otherwise isolated location, and scholars have suggested that it may once have belonged to a larger religious complex that was later lost. Its imagery has been interpreted as emphasizing the authority of Senusret I and his dynasty rather than using specifically local Faiyumic religious epithets, meaning expressions connected with the Faiyum region and its traditions.
The king appears under his throne name, Kheper-ka-ra, in several inscriptions. The eastern face associates him with Montu, the ancient Egyptian war deity especially connected with Thebes. The western face presents him as beloved of Ptah south of his wall, the form of Ptah associated with Memphis. These religious associations connected the monument with major centers of Egyptian kingship and worship.
Descriptions, collapse, and restoration
Johann Vansleb mentioned the obelisk in 1672. Richard Pococke described it in the mid-eighteenth century as a badly decayed red-granite monument, suggesting that it was still standing during the seventeenth century. By the visit of the French engineer Philippe Joseph Marie Caristie near the beginning of the nineteenth century, it had fallen and broken into two pieces. Edward Lane, John Wilkinson, and Karl Lepsius later described the damaged monument.
In 1925, Mohamed E. Chaaban excavated around the fallen stone and found its base. He also searched for a figure that may once have stood on the top of the obelisk. Egyptian authorities restored the monument in 1972 and moved it to Medinet el-Fayyum, near the entrance to modern Faiyum. Long exposure and neglect had severely damaged the carved registers and inscriptions, making Lepsius’s detailed drawings important for the study of the monument.
Interpretations of the lost inscription
The fourteen-column inscription below the principal carved registers had disappeared by the modern period. Its surviving fragments have led to different interpretations. It may have recorded a speech by Senusret I to his court about the construction of new monuments, although the fragmentary evidence makes the original content impossible to determine with confidence. The text has also been understood as a royal literary narrative concerning a single important deed.
Remains
Monumental form and setting
The Abgig obelisk is made of red granite and tapers upward from a square base. It probably originally reached 12.9 m in height, while the base measured 3.6 by 3.6 m and consisted of four limestone slabs. The upper end is rounded rather than sharply pointed. A recess in the center of the crest may have held a sculpted figure, possibly a metal falcon, but this identification remains uncertain.
The monument was toppled and divided into two pieces before the beginning of the nineteenth century. Restoration brought its surviving parts to Medinet el-Fayyum, where the damaged stone preserves portions of its carved faces and royal texts. The inscriptions and reliefs are heavily eroded, and only a small amount of the original decorative and written material survives.
Relief registers and royal inscriptions
North face
The north, or obverse, face is organized into five horizontal registers. A register is a horizontal zone used to arrange figures and scenes in relief or painting. Each register contains two back-to-back representations of Senusret I, with each figure facing a different pair of Egyptian gods. Several of the royal figures identify the king by the name Kheper-ka-ra. Fourteen columns of hieroglyphs once stood below the fifth register, but the text had already eroded severely by the nineteenth century and survives only in fragments copied at that time.
Eastern face
The eastern face carries an incomplete inscription naming the king as Horus Ankh-mesut, Two Ladies Ankh-mesut, and King of Upper and Lower Egypt Kheper-ka-ra. It describes him as beloved of Montu, lord of Thebes. A hieroglyphic inscription uses the formal pictorial writing system of ancient Egypt, and the surviving text preserves the monument’s connection with royal titulary and the Theban deity.
Western face
The western face bears a similar incomplete inscription. It identifies Kheper-ka-ra as beloved of Ptah south of his wall, linking the king to Ptah, the creator deity and principal god of Memphis. The surviving wording belongs to the monument’s wider presentation of Senusret I through royal names and relationships with major Egyptian gods.
South face
The south, or reverse, face contains a register with two back-to-back images of the king. The left-hand figure is considerably eroded, while the right-hand figure remains largely preserved. This figure is identified as the good god Senusret, wears the white crown that represented Upper Egypt, and offers vases to Atum and another unidentified god. Atum was a creator deity associated with Heliopolis.
