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Constantine removed an obelisk from Egypt for the ornament of his new city, and he brought down another from Heliopolis to Alexandria; but he died before the second left the country, and it was afterwards taken by his son to Rome. These obelisks were covered with hieroglyphics, as usual, and we have a translation said to be made from the latter by Hermapion, an Egyptian priest.
I approach this mighty temple. A goose and globe, encircled in an oval, at once inform me that it was constructed by a 'Son of the Sun, or a 'Phrah, or 'Pharaoh. It is remarkable that the Greeks never once mention this memorable title, simply because they have always translated it by their celebrated personification, 'Sol, or 'Apollo. In the obelisk of Hermapion, given by Ammianus Marcellinus, we should therefore read, in the third column, instead of 'the powerful Apollo, 'the powerful Phrah, the all-splendid Son of the Sun. Proceeding with the inscription, I also discover that the temple was constructed by Rameses the Second, a monarch of whom we have more to hear, and who also raised some of the most wonderful monuments of Thebes.
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