Obelisk of Senusret I: A Middle Kingdom Solar Monument at Heliopolis
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Egypt
- Primary era
- Bronze Age
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Bronze Age
- Civilizations
- Egyptian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Obelisk
On this page8 sections
History
The Obelisk of Senusret I is an ancient Egyptian monument in Cairo, Egypt, erected at Heliopolis during the Middle Kingdom, around the twentieth century BC. Built under Senusret I of the Twelfth Dynasty, it formed part of the Temple of Ra-Atum, the principal solar temple of the ancient city. The monument remains in its original position and is described as the oldest surviving standing obelisk in the world.
Heliopolis and the Middle Kingdom
Heliopolis was one of ancient Egypt’s major religious centers, with an importance that grew during the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Its principal worship centered on Atum, a solar deity who became closely identified with Ra. The obelisk therefore belonged to a temple landscape devoted to royal and solar religion.
Senusret I was a pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty, the dynasty associated with Egypt’s Middle Kingdom. His formal royal names were carved on the monument, including his Horus name, a royal name associated with the falcon god Horus, as well as his coronation name and birth name.
Decline and survival
Heliopolis declined after the Ptolemaic period as royal and religious attention shifted toward Greek cults and Alexandria. By the first century BC, the geographer Strabo found its temples deserted and the town almost uninhabited, although priests still remained. During the medieval expansion of Cairo and Fustat, much of the ancient city was quarried for building material.
Many obelisks were removed from Heliopolis and later transported to cities including Rome, London, and New York. The monument of Senusret I remained where it had been erected. Rising groundwater submerged its pedestal and lower section, prompting a project by the German company Krupp to raise the obelisk during the 1970s.
A fragment attributed to Teti, the first pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty during the Old Kingdom, was discovered at Heliopolis in the 1970s. Its presence at the solar temple challenged the previously established view that temple obelisks began only after the Middle Kingdom. The ancient city now lies beneath and around the modern districts of Matareyya, Ain Shams, and Tel Al-Hisn, while the surviving obelisk marks the position of the former Temple of Ra-Atum.
Remains
The surviving monument stands in an open-air archaeological area at el-Masalla in the Matareyya district. The approximately 70-by-70-metre area contains antiquities recovered from beneath Heliopolis, while the ancient city itself is largely buried or ruined. The Senusret I obelisk is the principal surviving monument of the site.
The Senusret I obelisk
Carved from red granite, the obelisk rises approximately 20.4 metres and weighs about 120 tons. An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, tapering stone monument with a pyramid-shaped summit, commonly erected in ancient Egypt in connection with royal and religious monuments. The Senusret I monument remains upright in its original location, although groundwater affected its pedestal and lower section before the 1970s raising project.
The same inscription appears on all four sides. The hieroglyphic texts include Senusret I’s Horus name, coronation name, and birth name, and remain unusually well preserved after nearly four thousand years. Unlike the Horus names on most New Kingdom obelisks, Senusret I’s Horus name does not include the Pschent, the double crown symbolizing the unified kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Associated archaeological remains
Teti obelisk fragment
The nearby fragment attributed to King Teti preserves only the upper portion of another obelisk. The king’s Horus name appears on one side, while the reverse is considerably damaged. Its lower part is missing, and the surviving piece is estimated to have belonged to an obelisk approximately 3 metres high in total.
Open-air archaeological area
The surrounding archaeological area contains antiquities found underground at Heliopolis. It was once arranged like a park, and the modern surroundings have included waste dumping and development. Together with the standing obelisk and the Teti fragment, these remains occupy part of the ancient solar center whose structures now lie beneath the modern city.
Nearby sites
