Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - The True Story of Cleopatra's Needles (Sleep Story)

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Starting point is 00:00:46 please go to sleepcove.com slash support. That's sleepcove.com slash support. If you can't support the show right now, please subscribe with a bell to get alerts on all new free content thank you have you ever gazed in wonder at the great pyramid have you marvelled at the golden face of Tudankhamun

Starting point is 00:01:16 or admired the delicate features of Queen Nefertiti if you have you'll probably like the History of Egypt podcast every week we explore tales of this ancient culture The history of Egypt is available wherever you get your podcasting fix. Come, let me introduce you to the world of ancient Egypt. In London, on the banks of the Thames, near the houses of Parliament, there is an Egyptian obelisk flanked by two enormous sphinxes. In Central Park in New York, there is another,

Starting point is 00:02:01 and both are covered in magnificent, hieroglyphics. Did you know these are real and are called Cleopatra's needles? They were transported from Egypt in the 1800s, with some saying the needles were the most incredible white elephant gifts of all 3,500 years ago, measuring 21 metres tall, which is 70 feet, and weighing 180 tonnes, the equivalent of 300 elephants. The Egyptians gifted them to the UK and the USA. However, the condition of the gift was that the Brits and the Americans had to come and get them. Before we begin, I would have thanked everyone who has been leaving me messages on Apple podcast reviews,

Starting point is 00:03:03 leaving a review is so good as it helps promote the podcast to more people, Tyn says, since having ex-mer my whole life and always struggling to sleep due to itching, this podcast is a lifesaver. I haven't slept this well in years. Thank you. Pye Patty says, Christopher's soothing voice has been such a help.

Starting point is 00:03:29 From daily struggles to emptying my head at night, all menopor symptoms keeping. me awake, or waking up in the middle of the night, Sleen Cove and Christopher are always there for me. Much for your nice reviews. I read every review which comes through, so if you would want your review read out on the show, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. So let's begin. The History of the Needles. Decorated in magnificent Egyptian hieroglyphs, the obelisks were sacred objects built for the sun god Ra, with the shape of an obelisk symbolising a single ray of the sun. Obelisks were placed in pairs at the entrances of temples, so the first night and last night of the day,

Starting point is 00:04:32 touched their peaks. The obelisks that became known as Cleopatra's needles were made around 1450 BC in Heliopolis, which is now part of Cairo. The obelis are made from a single piece of granite carved out of granite from the quarries of Aswan, a major source of stone for Egyptian antiquities. Both are at a height of 21.6 metres and are inscribed with hieroglyphics which tell of the Pharaoh's military victories and with dedications to the gods. The two obelisks were commissioned by Pharaoh Thumbus III for the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis. They have hieroglyphs commemorating Thutmos III and the victories of Rameses II adorning the sides. Their needles stayed in place for about 1,500 years until they were toppled and buried during an invasion by Persians in 525 BC.

Starting point is 00:06:03 For more than 500 years, they remained buried in sand until 12 BC, when Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus discovered and transported them to Alexandria. They were erected in front of the Caesararium, a temple conceived by Cleopatra the 7th and dedicated to Julius Caesar. This may explain how they individually came to be known as Cleopatra's needles. The Romans created bronze crabs as supports for the damage of the elisks. In Roman mythology, crabs are associated with Apollo, the sun god, thus continuing the solar connection. Sometimes later, perhaps as the result of an earthquake, one toppled and was partially buried. This saved it from erosion and preserved many of the hieroglyphs. This was the obelisk that went to London.

Starting point is 00:07:20 The needles then remained on a beach for nearly 2,000 years. Firstly, let's talk about how one needle ended up in London. For well over a hundred years, Cleopatra's needles have been one of London's landmarks on the embankment, but the story of how it was transported to London is fascinating. In 1890, to commemorate Horatio Nelson's great victory over Napoleon, in 1798 at the Battle of the Nile, their Sultan of Egypt presented the obelisk as a gift, but the British had to come and collect it. At the same time, a much smaller obelisk had been shipped to Britain by Giovanni Belzoni,

Starting point is 00:08:16 and it was anticipated Cleopatra's needle would soon follow. However, the cost and the practicalities behind the transportation, of the obelisk prevented its move to Britain. For Britain sending it overland was too dangerous, and it would need to go through countries that were not friendly to Britain at the time. The question of the obelisk came up again in 1851, prompted by patriotic interest in the Great Exhibition,

Starting point is 00:08:52 with demands for its recovery, as souvenir hunters were now hacking pieces of it. Again the cost reared its ugly head, with the government unwilling to put up the money. Pones about costly needlework abounded in the newspapers. The needle was so heavy that putting it on a ship would cause it to capsize. So the obelics remained in Egypt. for 60 years, until a Scottish traveller and soldier in the British army called James Alexander heard of the story and became interested in the challenge that Cleopatra's needle posed to the

Starting point is 00:09:43 mighty maritime empire of Britain, and he convinced a wealthy and philanthropic businessman William Arrasmus Wilson to fund a project worth £10,000 to move the 224-ton granite obelisk 3,000 miles to London in a seemingly impossible task.

Starting point is 00:10:11 John Dixon, a talented and energetic civil engineer from Durham who had made his name building the first railway in China was the engineer who had to devise the Needles Transport. Dixon's solution was to make a prefabricated iron vessel in London, take it to pieces in Alexandria and assemble it around the obelisk. This iron tube would be like the whole of a ship with the obelisk nestling inside and it would be then towed back to London. To get the obelisk to the ship,

Starting point is 00:10:59 they jacked it upon beams running across its bottom as the obelisk lay on the ground on its side, were then built around the ship at intervals of ten feet. Then finally they built wooden beams and metal rings as they constructed the men. metal body. The end and filled with 30 tonnes of ballast. The obelisk was now in this metal tube, and ingeniously, cabins, a mast, walkways and a rudder. The weight was nearly 300 tons. A steam tugboat called the Olga was then contracted to sail back to Britain. The ship was named to the and was groomed by a Captain Alexandria, where she met the Olga, and on the 29th, in Gibraltar for six days. The events took a turn for the worse.

Starting point is 00:12:42 14th of October, the Cleopatra in the Bay of Biscay encountered a chaos at its mast, and Captain Carter believed they were in danger of sinking. It sank with the loss of six crewmen when he passed to Cleopatra by means of a rope and the crew rescued the Alpetra to look for the missing boat's crew

Starting point is 00:13:26 without success but Cleopatra had gone believed was found a few days later by the Fitz Morris bowed for Valencia and it was towed into ferral The problem of the salvage arose, and it was quite a novel problem, for an obelisk had never been featured before in a salvage claim. Meanwhile, as negotiations were ongoing, a decision had yet to be made for where the obelisk was to be cited in London, when it did eventually arise.

Starting point is 00:14:12 Finally, the salvaged terms were agreed And after refitting on the 15th of January 1878, The paddle ship Angola towed Cleopatra out of feral And on to Britain with Captain Carter back on board After an uneventful voyage, She sailed up to the Thames to the East India dock on the 21st of January. On the 30th of May 1878,

Starting point is 00:14:49 she was moved to her final destination on the embankment in July. 3,328 years after the obelisk was built, it was removed from the vessel and was brought ashore into the heart of London. Her epic voyage behind her and the sole purpose of her existence now achieved,

Starting point is 00:15:14 Cleopatra was unceremoniously broken up for scrap on the banks of the river. A decision was finally made for its final resting place, and the obelisk was raised into its current position on the 12th of September 1878. At its base, a time capsule of articles were laid, including a bronze model of the obelisk, written accounts as how it was transported, a portrait of Queen Victoria, Bibles, Bradshaw's Railway Guide, cigars, toys, maps, and rather curiously photographic likenesses of a dozen beautiful English women. On the outside were placed two plaques, one to William Elrasm, and the other to the men who lost their lives in the bay.

Starting point is 00:16:15 It has since become a popular tourist attraction. It is located on the banks of the Thames near the embankment and is surrounded by a beautiful park that is a great place for a stroll or a picnic. The needle is a reminder of their long and complex history between the UK and each other. and it is a popular destination for those looking to learn more about this fascinating relationship. The obelisk has become a prominent future of London since its arrival, and it is said to have inspired the design of the iconic London Underground logo. It is also the oldest man-made object in London,

Starting point is 00:17:09 and has become a symbol of the city in its long history. The obelisk has also been the site of many public events throughout the years, from royal weddings to state funerals. It has been a source of inspiration for artists, writers and musicians, and it remains one of the most iconic monuments in London. The New York, known as Cleopatra's Needs, was formally dedicated on the 22nd of February 1881 after a long trip involving ships and cannonballs. At over 3,500 years old, it is the oldest man-made object in Central Park, the oldest outdoor monument in New York,

Starting point is 00:18:06 and it has a story that includes ancient Egypt's temple of the sun, Cecil B. DeMille, the complete works of of Shakespeare and a journey for the ages. The removal of the Obolisk and its transportation to New York took over a year and was a significant feat of logistics, diplomacy and engineering. There are a couple of different reports on why the USA received this as a gift. In the 1870s after the Egyptians gifted the obelisk to England, the second obelis was gifted to the United States by the Kiev dive, Ismail Pasha, in commemoration of the opening of the Suez Canal. Another source suggests that the needle was given by the ruler of Egypt,

Starting point is 00:19:06 the Kiev dive to the United States for remaining. friendly and neutral, as the European powers France and Britain manoeuvred to secure political control of the Egyptian government. This was an era of gifting between countries. Around the same time, France was discussing sending over the Statue of Liberty. The transportation took a long time to organise and the obelisk. beat the Statue of Liberty by three years. So there are two major monuments in New York that we associate with gifts from other countries. 1877, Mr. Henry G. Stebbins, Commissioner of the Department of Public Parks of the City of New York, undertook to secure the funding to transport the obelisk to New York.

Starting point is 00:20:10 However, when Railroad magnate William H. Vanderbilt was asked to head the subscription, he offered to finance the project with a donation of more than $100,000 US dollars, equivalent to $2.5 million today. The formidable task of removing the obelisk from Alexandria to New York was given to Henry Honeychurch, Chorange, a lieutenant commander on leave from the US Navy. The 200 tonne granite obelisk was first shifted from vertical to horizontal, nearly crushing to the ground in the process. In August 1879, the movement process was suspended for two months because of local protests and legal challenges.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Once those were resolved, the obelisk was transported seven miles to Alexandria and then put into the hold of the steamship SS Desug, which set sail the 12th of June 1880. The De Soque was heavily modified with a large hole cut into the starboard side of the bow. The obelisk was loaded through the ship's hull by rolling it on the ship's hull. cannonballs. While the Statue of Liberty was delivered in around 350 pieces, with its arm first displayed in Madison Square Park in 1876, the obelisk had to be sent home, along with its 50-ton pedestal. Even with a broken propeller, the ship was able to make the journey to the United states. The obelisk and its 50-ton pedestal arrived at a quarantine station in New York in early July 1880. It took 32 horses hitched in pairs to bring it from the banks of the East River

Starting point is 00:22:26 to Central Park. Railroad ramps and tracks had to be temporarily removed and the ground flattened so that the obelisk could be rolled out of the ship, which side had been cut open once again for this purpose. The obelisk was carried up the East River and transported to a temporary location of Fifth Avenue. During this transportation, it had to go from the Hudson River on these specially built rails, rolling with cannonballs through all of New York's. city, and this very large object had to be guided around the grids and corners of the street system. Not everyone had been a fan. The New York Times printed a few criticisms of the decision to bring the obelisk here. In 1879 they wrote, there is no longer any hope that

Starting point is 00:23:30 we shall escape the Alexandria obelisk, questioning what it was a monument to, as well as the passion for removing Egyptian obelisks and erecting them in foreign countries. They asked, what right do we have to remove the non-marks of antiquity? But New Yorkers went wild for the obelisk. Historians have dubbed it Obelisk mania and said locals flocked to see every little stage fit, from its arrival to its insulation. In Martina de Alton's book on the structure, she wrote, Obelisk fever gripped the city. One entrepreneur set up a candy stand that traveled alongside the Obelisk, and fashionable restaurants offered a new drink, the Obelish, which was

Starting point is 00:24:29 served with a needle-shaped swizzle stick. The final leg of the journey was made by pushing the obelisk with a steam engine across a specially built Dressel Bridge from 5th Avenue to its new home on Grey Wacknell just across the drive from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It took 112 days to move the obelisk from quarantine station to its resting place. When it was arrested, it needed a 24-7 security team to protect it from New Yorkers who arrived with jizzles, hoping to get a piece of the stone for a souvenir. According to the Central Park Conservancy, the site of the obelisk, which is between the then newly opened Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alma Great Lawn, was chosen over Columbus Circle, Grand Army Plaza and Union Square, because placing it in Central Park ensured that it wouldn't be overshadowed by skyscrapers. Not that the city was overrun with true skyscrapers at the time. It likely also had something to do with William H. Vanderbilt, who funded its travels, pushing for that location.

Starting point is 00:25:58 Jesse B. Anthony, Grandmaster of Masons in the state of New York, presided as the cornerstone for the obelisk was laid in place with full Masonic ceremony on the 2nd of October 1880. Over 9,000 masons paraded up 5th Avenue from 40th Street to 82nd Street and it was estimated that over 50,000 spectators lined the parade route. The benediction was presented by R.W. Lewis C. Girstine. The obelisk was righted by a special structure built by Henry Honey Church, George Inge. The official ceremony for erecting the obelisk was held on the 22nd of February. The surface of the stone is heavily weathered, nearly masking the rows of Egyptian hieroglyphs engraved on all sides. Photographs near the time show that the obelisk's hieroglyphs were still very visible.

Starting point is 00:27:16 The stone had stood in the clear dry Egyptian desert air for nearly 3,000 years and had undergone little weathering. In a little more than a century in the climate of New York City, pollution and acid rain had heavily pitted its services. In 2010, Dr Zahi Hawas, an Egyptian archaeologist, sent an open letter to the president of the Central Park Conservancy and the Mayor of New York City, consisting on improved conservation efforts. If they were not able to properly care for the obelisk, he threatened to take the necessary steps to bring this precious artifact home and save it from ruin.

Starting point is 00:28:12 If you visit the obelisk today, you'll see each corner is supported by bronze crabs. These are 900-pound replicas, cast from the originals. The originals, crafted by the Romans, are on display at Mammat. You'll also find plaques that translate the hieroglyphs. These were paid for by Cleopatra director and native New Yorker Cecil B. DeMille. Miller of the CPC said,

Starting point is 00:28:49 DeMille fondly remembered playing there as a boy. He was born in 1881, just months after the Obolusk arrived, and in his epic The Ten Commandments, he even included an obelisk raising scene. While it's a common sight by now, the structure still holds a mystery and intrigue. Before it was erected, time capsules were placed under it. One includes the 1870 census, a Bible, a dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt and a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. The most fascinating thing is a small black box capsule that was put into the ground by William Henry Herbert. He orchestrated the funding and the transportation of the Obedesque.

Starting point is 00:29:50 He died being the only person. who knew the contents of the box? The Central Park Conservancy confirmed this week that there are no plans to ever unearth the capsules given the complex logistics that would be involved, given the weight of the structure.

Starting point is 00:30:13 If you are ever in London or New York, why not visit these tremendous ancient artefacts from Egypt? So that is the story of the story of, of clear patras needles and how they end in these cities, please visit the ancient and good night.

Guided Sleep Meditation & Sleep Hypnosis from Sleep Cove - The True Story of Cleopatra's Needles (Sleep Story)

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