A place

Aswan

4 stories from this place.

The Footnote June 27, 2026 · Central Park, New York

The Egyptian Obelisk That Crossed the Atlantic in 1880 in a Custom-Built Steamship and Now Stands in Central Park

The 21-metre granite obelisk known as Cleopatra's Needle was carved at Aswan for Pharaoh Thutmose III around 1450 BCE. The Khedive of Egypt gifted it to New York City in 1877. The 224-ton stone took 112 days to cross the Atlantic in the steamship Dessoug and was erected in Central Park on 22 January 1881. Modern atmospheric pollution has weathered it more in 145 years than the Egyptian desert did in 3,400.

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The Footnote June 24, 2026 · Syene (Aswan), Upper Egypt

The Egyptian Town Where the Sun Stood Directly Overhead at Noon on the Summer Solstice

Eratosthenes's famous measurement of the Earth's circumference depended on a peculiar geographical fact about the southern Egyptian town of Syene. On the summer solstice, the Sun stood exactly at the zenith there — a single annual moment that defined the line we now call the Tropic of Cancer.

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The Footnote June 24, 2026 · Pompey's Pillar, Alexandria

The 27-Metre Granite Column in Alexandria That Has Almost Nothing to Do With Pompey

The 27-metre red granite column that stands on the Alexandrian acropolis where the [Serapeum once was](/articles/serapeum-destruction-391) is the largest free-standing ancient column in the Mediterranean world. The Crusaders gave it the name "Pompey's Pillar" in the 14th century. It was actually erected in 297 AD as a victory monument for the Roman emperor Diocletian, 350 years after Pompey was dead.

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The Footnote June 10, 2026 · Syene (modern Aswan), Egypt

The Librarian Who Measured the Earth With a Shadow

Around 240 BC the chief librarian at Alexandria measured the planet's circumference using two shadows and a piece of arithmetic. He was off by about two percent.

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