Obelisk

An Illustrated Dictionary of Words Used In Art and Archealogy. · 1883 · p. 27

( ὀβελίσκος, lit. a small spit). Also called a needle. A tall, rectangular, monolithic column, of slightly pyramidal shape, invented by the Egyptians; in nearly every case they are covered from the base to the top, and on all four sides, with hieroglyphic symbols. (Fig. 494.)