Tour of American Copycat Culture — Stop #3
The World’s Largest Obelisk dedicated to the First President of the United States.
For our next stop, we need to travel back in time. Picture yourself living in America in 1783. George Washington rallied armies of men from 13 colonies to fight the war against the British and won our independence in a triumphant victory. Our Founding Fathers got to work designing the framework of this great democratic nation.
The men propose dedicating a statue to commemorate George Washington’s incredible leadership and heroism. Forty years later, they unveil this…
This ancient symbol is known as an “obelisk”, or “tekhenu,” and is primarily found in Egyptian culture usually associated with the sun god, Ra. The literal meaning of “tekhenu” in Egyptian means, “to pierce the sky.”
The Washington Monument is the largest obelisk in the world and, up until 1885, an Egyptian sun sat above the principal entrance doorway.
In Egyptian culture, obelisks were raised and carefully positioned so that the first and last light of day would touch their peaks. At the peak of the Washington Monument, standing 555 feet in the air, there is a 12-inch capstone made of aluminum. The capstone bears an inscription on the east side of the pyramid that reads “Laus Deo” meaning “praise God.” When the sun rises over Washington D.C., the first spot it touches is the tip of the Washington Monument, and the capstone gleams in the morning light.
Based on these clues, one could speculate the meaning of this monument is the deification of George Washington.
Deification, or Apotheosis, means:
“the glorification of a subject to divine level and most commonly, the treatment of a human like a god.”
If you think that might be true, then you’ll want to see this ⬇
Does this statue look familiar to you? I will give you a hint.
This statue of George Washington, known as Enthroned Washington, is a large marble sculpture by Horatio Greenough commissioned by the United States Congress on July 14, 1832 for the centennial of U.S. President Washington’s birth on February 22, 1732. Greenough modeled the sculpture after the famous Statue of Zeus. It was finished in 1841 and originally stood in the rotunda of the U.S Capitol rotunda, until 1843 when it was moved to the Capitol’s east lawn amid criticism and controversy over the scantily clad nature of the statue.
However, there is still a painting called Apotheosis of Washington located in the Capitol building. Don’t believe me? Stay tuned for our U.S. Capitol building tour.
Regardless of if you believe the Washington Monument deifies President George Washington or not, the monument serves as a silent reminder of ancient wisdom. The Founding Fathers had a deep respect for theology and they believed in the freedom of religion for all Americans. Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
This country was founded on the principle of separation of church and state. Jefferson went on to write:
“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship.”
Now we time travel back to present day, where Americans hold religious prejudices and persecute those who do not believe the same things they do. Thomas Jefferson is probably rolling over in his grave right now (tombstone also an obelisk👀).
Americans have lost sight of where they started, and it may be time to reevaluate their direction.
Now, we head west for our next stop. About 1,450 miles away from Washington D.C., four U.S. presidents’ faces are carved in a stone mountain, but their visages weren’t the first to grace the granite…
Thanks for reading!
