North Face of the Pyramidion.

The four columns above to the left refer to the sphinx-king and read:

i. e. This is the gracious god, the lord and maker of everything, the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the lord of the two countries [Egypt], Thothmes III., who gives eternal life.

The inscription below the sphinx is identical with the one on the East pyramidion; namely, qa nekht khâ em Us sa Râ Men-kheper-Râ "This is the powerful and glorious bull [king] in Thebes, the Sun's offspring, Thothmes III".

The three columns above to the right refer to the sun-god Râ seated below, and read:

i. e. This is Rā-Hor-khuti, the lord of the two countries [Egypt], who gives him [the king] all life.

Râ-Ḥor-khuti "Râ-Horus in the horizon" is the title of the morning-sun, to which attention has already been called on page 30. The last sign is very frequently written khu·t, the showing the disk of the sun between two mountains and in the act of rising, and the signifying "a house" or "a place". The whole group means "the house of the rising sun" or "the source of light", which is usually translated by the general term "horizon". The whole title, therefore, stands for the rising or eastern sun (cf. the picture on page 28).

The inscription between the god and the sphinx-king is partially destroyed, leaving, however, enough traces to show that it must have been identical with the one on the West pyramidion: er du·t qebeḥ ȧr·f du ânkh "The king pours out a libation of water in order to receive from him [the god] life".

The Obelisk Proper.

On the obelisk proper the inscriptions of Thothmes III. are contained in the central column of each face. At the top of each column, immediately below the pyramidion, we find the sign , literally pet "heaven", which may either be taken with the next sign Ḥor "Horus" so as to signify "the heavenly Horus", or else it may be regarded to express the wish of the Pharaoh, that heaven would protect his obelisk and proclaim its inscriptions as of heavenly origin.

East Face [central column].

i. e. Behold Pharaoh! He is the heavenly Horus, the powerful and glorious bull [king] in Thebes.^[2] He is the lord of the Vulture and Uræus diadems^[3], and his kingdom is established as firmly as the sun in the heavens. His name is^[4]: "He whom Tum, the lord of Heliopolis, has begotten, and who is the son of his loins, whom Thoth has brought forth"^[5], who was created by them [the gods] in the great temple of Heliopolis in the beauty of their limbs, and who knew beforehand what he would do to establish for himself an eternal kingdom. He is Thothmes III., the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, beloved of the great god Tum and his circle of gods, who gives all life, stability, and strength now and for ever!

South Face [central column].

Almost the entire column on this side is in a very poor condition, the hieroglyphs being hardly discernible. The following, however, may prove to be a correct restoration of the inscription.

i. e. Behold Pharaoh! He is the heavenly Horus, the powerful bull, beloved of Rā. He is Thothmes III., the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, who has made this to be his monument in honor of his father Tum, the lord of Heliopolis, and who has set up for him two^[6] large obelisks, the pyramidion being covered with gold-metal,^[7] on the first day^[8] of the thirty-year festival^[9] ..........^[10] No one has ever done what he did, the Sun's offspring, Thothmes III., the beloved of Rā-Hor-Khuti, who lives forever.

West Face [CENTRAL COLUMN].

The abrasion caused by the sand of the Libyan desert has effaced almost every hieroglyph on this side of the obelisk. All that can be seen is given below.