Most of the world’s 30-odd surviving obelisks currently stand eroding in the rain in cities like Rome, Istanbul, Paris, and New York, having long ago been pulled down and floated across the sea by Egypt’s successive conquerors. Remarkably, the oldest obelisk of them all has never been moved from its original site. For nearly 4,000 years, the Obelisk of Senusret I has stood guard over what is now Cairo as cities and empires have risen and fallen around it. The Obelisk of Senusret I was erected before 1926 BC to adorn the…
