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Location: Kingston Lacy, Dorset, U.K. Height: 6.7 meters Weight:6 tons Red granite The keys to understanding the hieroglyphic script were the Philae Obelisk as well as the Rosetta Stone. It was discovered in the island of Philae by an English nobleman, William John Bankes in 1815. He, then, took it to his own estate in Kingston Lacy, Wimborn Minster, Dorset in 1821. The lower part of a sister obelisk was also found and taken to Bankes' estate afterward. It was rerrected in 1839 with its base. When the obelisk was discovered in Philae, its base was inscribed with the names of Ptolemy VII and his sister Cleopatra in Greek. The obelisk itself was decorated with names of kings and gods. It is generally assumed that the Rosetta Stone alone was the key to the decipherment of heiroglyphs but the Philae Obelisk also played a role. The Rosetta Stone bears many inscription of Ptolemy in hieroglyphics, demotic script and Greek. From these inscription, it was possible for the French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion to identify the hieroglyphic form of the name, Ptolemy. By using the same method, Bankes pointed out the hieroglyphic form of the name, Cleopatra, which was unknown before. When I visited Kingston Lacy in August 1995 with my wife Keiko and my daughter Yoshiko, the Philae Obelisk was standing on its original base, while the lower half of its sister obelisk was lying on a lawn nearby. Unfortunately, I was not able to find Greek inscription on the base, which may have been erased by the elements. Instead, a copper plaque of a newspaper article which described the reerection was seen on the base.
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