What huge object made of granite did Hatshepsut have bilt during her reign as Pharaoh?

Answer 1

An obelisk. The word obelisk comes from the Greek word obelos, meaning dagger. These monuments were thought to look like a dagger. Obelisks are typical examples of ancient Egyptian art. They have an elegant slender form, a square base and end in a pyramid-shaped point.

In height, as a rule, they are about ten times the diagonal of the base. The point was usually sheathed in a bright precious metal, silver or gold, but of these valuable metals was stolen long ago. Because of the layer of metal the columns reflected the sunlight brilliantly and they could be seen from a great distance.

Obelisks were usually carved out of reddish-coloured granite found at Aswan. Sometimes dark grey basalt was used.

The dimensions varied: the tallest known obelisk remains unfinished in a cave at Aswan (about 40m) and the smallest is less than 2 metres in height. They were not merely decorative but stood in front of the temples and were usually dedicated to the sun god. On many obelisks there are inscriptions in hieroglyphics honouring the gods and to the Pharaoh who ordered their erection.

The huge unfinished obelisk at a cave at Aswan helps to show us how such monuments were made. First of all the Egyptians insisted that the stone to be used should have no defects, such as cracks or blemishes. Next the rock was cleaned and the surface of the rock was scraped until it was smooth and flat. After smoothing, the contours of the obelisk were marked out on the ground and a deep ditch was bashed out of the rock out around them by gangs of slaves hammering away with pounding balls made from dolerite. These were especially hard stones made from dolerite, dark coloured basalt from the desert valleys of Egypt. These stones weighed anything up to 5 kilograms each.

The fourth face of the obelisk was torn from the seam of rock with enormous wooden wedges which were driven into previously prepared holes at regular intervals. The wedges were soaked with water, and as they expanded the rock split.

At this stage hundreds maybe thousands of slaves, depending on the size of the obelisk, worked with ropes and jacks to raise the obelisk from the ditch and to heave it on to planks resting upon a massive sledge. It was a scene of organised chaos as hordes of slaves, swarmed about the great stone. Although there was no throbbing machinery there was noise: of stone grinding on stone, the creaking of straining timber, the shouts of the foremen and the chanting of slaves. Once it rested safely on its sledge, the obelisk was dragged by slaves to the bank of the Nile. Here it was received by more gangs of slaves who then loaded it onto a long barge to be taken to its destination.