Places › Museums outside Egypt
Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment, London
Site, Museums outside Egypt · also called Cleopatra's Needle London, London obelisk, Embankment obelisk, Thames obelisk, Obelisk of Thutmose III London
Cleopatra's Needle on the Victoria Embankment was made for Thutmose III at Heliopolis and carries his names down the centre of each face, with columns Ramesses II added on either side. It is the twin of the obelisk in New York.
Signs to look for
- Scarab beetle L1ḫpr The scarab (kheper) is in Menkheperre, the throne name on the central columns and on the sphinxes.
- Falcon G5ḥr The falcon opens the Horus name at the top of each column.
- Adze U21stp The adze (setep) is in Setepenre, 'chosen of Ra', part of Ramesses II's throne name in the side columns.
- Flowering reed M17i The reed leaf opens Amun in Meryamun, 'beloved of Amun', after Ramesses II's birth name.
Names you can find here
The story of Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment, London
The red granite shaft stood at Heliopolis before the Romans moved it to Alexandria under Augustus, where it stood before the Caesareum. Muhammad Ali gave it to Britain in 1819, but it stayed in Alexandria for decades. In 1877 it was sealed in an iron cylinder ship named Cleopatra and towed to England. The cylinder broke loose in a storm in the Bay of Biscay and was recovered. The obelisk was raised on the Embankment on 12 September 1878.
The texts follow the usual plan. Thutmose III's central column gives his Horus name, his two cartouches and his titles. Ramesses II added two columns to each face with his own titles and names, so the outer lines are about two centuries younger than the middle one.
The two bronze sphinxes beside it were cast in 1881 for the monument. Their hieroglyphs name Thutmose III as 'the good god, given life'. Shrapnel from a German air raid on 4 September 1917 scarred the pedestal and the western sphinx, and the marks were left unrepaired.
What to see and read
Thutmose III's central columns
One column on each face, with his Horus name at the top and Menkheperre, his throne name, in a cartouche.
Ramesses II's added columns
The outer columns carry Ramesses II's names, Usermaatre Setepenre and Ramesses Meryamun, in cartouches.
The bronze sphinxes
Victorian sphinxes with Thutmose III's cartouche on their chests. They face in toward the obelisk, probably the reverse of what was meant.
Bomb damage of 1917
Pits and holes on the pedestal and the western sphinx, from a bomb that fell nearby in the First World War.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- Stand on the river side of the pedestal for the face least hidden by trees and traffic.
- Read the sphinxes first: their cartouche is large, sharp and at eye level. The same throne name stands high on the obelisk.
- The live camera boxes the big cartouches well. For worn signs, take a photo and trace over it.
Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Who built Cleopatra's Needle in London?
Thutmose III, around 1450 BC, at Heliopolis. Ramesses II added the outer columns of text about two hundred years later.
What do the hieroglyphs on Cleopatra's Needle say?
They are royal titles and praise. Each column gives a king's Horus name, his cartouches and the gods who love him, much as on the Paris and Rome obelisks.
Is Cleopatra's Needle in London the twin of the New York one?
Yes. The two stood together at Heliopolis and then outside the Caesareum in Alexandria before being given away in the nineteenth century.
Read more about Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment, London
- Egyptian obelisks around the world and the names carved on them Egyptian obelisks around the world: Rome, Paris, London, New York, Istanbul. Whose names are carved on each, and how it left Egypt.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.