Abishemu obelisk | |
---|---|
Material | Limestone |
Size | 1.45 meters (1.25 meters above the plinth) |
Writing | Egyptian hieroglyphs |
Created | c. 1800 BC |
Discovered | c. 1950 |
Discovered by | Maurice Dunand |
Present location | National Museum of Beirut |
Identification | DGA 17917 |
The Abishemu obelisk or the Abichemou obelisk is a 1.25 meter limestone obelisk dedicated to the Phoenician king Abishemu I of Byblos. The obelisk is decorated with two lines of inscriptions in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was created c. 1800 BCE, and was unearthed in the 1950s by Maurice Dunand in the Temple of the Obelisks. It is the world's third-oldest obelisk, and by far the oldest obelisk found outside Egypt.
Although only approximately a dozen words long, the obelisk contains:
The obelisk is the only example of a complete obelisk with a true pyramidion found in the Temple of the Obelisks; most of the others were rough steles.[4] It consists of a square plinth at the bottom, a tapering shaft and with a pyramidion at the top.[4]