The Obelisk-Crab in the Metropolitan Museum

The Greek and Roman Inscriptions
on the Obelisk-Crab in the
Metropolitan Museum,
New York

This slim volume about the Greek and Roman inscriptions on the claw of the obelisk-crab in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (written by A. C. Merriam) was published in 1883 and reprinted in the beginning of the 21st century. It is a fascinating case story about how to handle ancient evidence.

Augustus Chapman Merriam (1843-1895) was a classical scholar from the US. On the title page of this essay he is described as Adjunct Professor of Greek in Columbia College.

An obituary, by Clarence H. Young, appears in the American Journal of Archaeology, vol. 10, # 2, April-June 1895, pp. 227-229.

What is an obelisk-crab and how did a Roman crab from Egypt end up in a museum in New York? Here are the answers:

Two ancient Egyptian obelisks are known as Cleopatra’s Needles, even though the famous queen did not have anything to do with them. They were commissioned and erected in Heliopolis by Thutmose III ca. 1450 BC. Following the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC they were moved to Alexandria and placed in front of a temple known as the Caesareum. When the Romans re-erected the obelisks, they decided to support them with sea crabs cast in bronze (one crab with two claws for each corner).

Around AD 1500 one of the two obelisks fell down, while the other remained standing. In 1877 the prostrate obelisk was dug up and transported to England. It was erected on the embankment of the River Thames in the following year.

When the first obelisk was removed from Alexandria, the foundation of the other was cleared, and this is when the crabs were discovered. Only two crabs and one claw remained, the rest had disappeared. There was no trace of the four crabs which had supported the London Obelisk. Two inscriptions were carved on the claw: in Greek on the outside, in Latin on the inside. At the time of discovery the crab was almost two thousand years old, and the letters were not easy to read. The first reading of the Latin text gave the following result:

ANNO VIII CAESARIS

BARBARUS PRAEF
AEGYPTI POSUIT
ARCHITECTANTE PONTIO

In English:

 

“In year 8 of Caesar the governor Barbarus erected [this obelisk] in Egypt. The architect was Pontius.”

The Greek text seemed to give the same information (see more below).

Octavian (later known as Augustus) conquered Egypt in August 30 BC and his rule of this province was counted from that time. Therefore year 8 is the end of 23 or the beginning of 22 BC. The governor (praefectus) was identified as Publius Rubrius Barbarus.

The other Alexandrian obelisk was taken down in 1879, transported to the US in 1880 and erected in New York Central Park in 1881. The project was supervised by Henry H. Gorringe, a former Lieutenant-Commander of the US Navy, who handed the two crabs and the claw over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially known the the Met). For the New York Obelisk four new crabs with eight claws were cast at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in order to re-create the ancient Roman setting.

The crabs are huge: one modern replica weighs ca. 900 pounds. You can find some great pictures of them on the internet. The website Scouting New York has a detailed report about The Oldest Outdoor Man-Made Object in New York.

The first reading of the inscriptions was used by James King in Cleopatra’s Needle (1883, 1886, 1893) and by Henry H. Gorringe in Egyptian obelisks (1882).

Several scholars defended the first reading, including the famous German scholar Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903). In order to do this, Mommsen had to “bend” the evidence: he had to follow the Greek author Dio, who wrote two hundred years after these events, and he had to reject the Greek author Strabo, who was a contemporary witness. Not exactly Mommsen’s finest hour.

In 1883, when Merriam came to the Met to study the original evidence, he quickly realised that the first reading was wrong, because the date (year 8) and the name of the governor (Barbarus) did not match each other:

** The first governor Cornelius Gallus served 30-26 BC

** The second governor Petronius probably served 26-20 BC

** The third governor Aelius Gallus probably served 20-18 BC

The date 23-22 BC does not fit any of them (page 17).

But a governor called Publius Rubrius Barbarus is known from a Greek inscription in the temple for Augustus on the island of Philae, which is dated to year 18, i.e. 13 or 12 BC (quoted on page 19).

Merriam went back to the Met and asked the staff to clean up the claw, and step by step everything fell into place:

During the second reading of the Latin version the date became clear: ANNO XVIII. Not 8, but 18: the same year as the inscription from Philae!

The first reading of the Greek version began with the letters L H, where the Roman letter L stands for “year” and the Greek letter H for the number 8. During the second reading of the Greek version the date became clear: L IH, where the letters IH stand for the number 18. The same year as in the Latin version!

Amazingly, the first reading of both versions gave year 8 or 23-22 BC, which does not fit the evidence at all, while the second reading of both gave year 18, or 13-12 BC, which fits the evidence perfectly.

The correct versions appear in C. E. Moldenke, The New York Obelisk: Cleopatra's Needle (1891) and in E. A. Wallis Budge, Cleopatra’s Needles and Other Egyptian Obelisks (1926).

Merriam’s diligence and patience had paid off. The mystery was solved. And now, he says, we can understand the emperor’s line of thought: moving two (relatively small) obelisks from Heliopolis to Alexandria in 13 or 12 BC was just a trial run. The real deal was implemented ca. two years later (in 10 BC) when two (large) obelisks were moved from Egypt to Rome (page 48).

Several scholars studied the ancient inscriptions on the Roman claw; and several scholars got it wrong. Merriam got it right. That is why his essay about the obelisk-crab in the Met is still important and valuable.

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Augustus Chapman Meriam,

The Greek and Latin Inscriptions on the Obelisk-Crab

in the Metropolitan Museum, New York,

Harper and Brothers, New York, 1883,

Kessinger Legacy Reprints, 2010, 49 pages

 

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The claw of the obelisk-crab which Henry H. Gorringe presented to the Met in 1881.
The Greek inscription is carved on the outside of the claw (seen in this picture).
The Latin inscription is on the other side of the claw.  

The Greek inscription carved on the outside of the claw covers
an area of ca. 8 x 4 inches (four lines).

The Greek inscription written with regular Greek letters (four lines).

The Latin inscription carved on the inside of the claw covers
an area of ca. 6 x 3 inches (four lines).



The Latin inscription as it appears in Merriam's essay.
(above) The first reading (four lines)
(below) The second reading (two lines)

The Greek inscription as it appears in Merriam's essay.
(above) The first reading (four lines)
(below) The second reading (only one line)

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