Heliopolis (ancient Egypt)
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Heliopolis was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious centre. It is now located in Ayn Shams, a northeastern district of Cairo.
Model of a Votive Temple Gateway at Heliopolis, Dynasty XIX
Battle of Heliopolis during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1800
José recibido en Heliópolis, by Francisco Gutiérrez (currently held in the Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla)
Cleopatra's Needles
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Cleopatra's Needles are a separated pair of ancient Egyptian obelisks now in London and New York City. The obelisks were originally made in Heliopolis during the New Kingdom period, inscribed by the 18th dynasty pharaoh Thutmose III and 19th dynasty pharaoh Ramesses II. They were later moved to the Caesareum of Alexandria, which had been conceived by Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII, for whom the obelisks are named. They stood in Alexandria for almost two millennia until they were re-erected in London and New York City in 1878 and 1881 respectively. Together with Pompey's Pillar, they were described in the 1840s in David Roberts' Egypt and Nubia as "[the] most striking monuments of ancient Alexandria".
New York's Central Park, just outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Benoît de Maillet's 1735 Description de l'Egypte, showing Aiguille de Cléopâtre and Pompey's Pillar
Decorative Roman crab, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a bilingual inscription: Greek: L IΗ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΟΣ ΒΑΡΒΑΡΟΣ ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕ ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΟΝΟΥΝΤΟΣ ΠΟΝΤΙΟΥ and Latin: ANNO XVIII CAESARIS BARBARVS PRAEF AEGYPTI POSVIT ARCHITECTANTE PONTIO, which translates as: "In the eighteenth year Of Augustus Cæsar, Barbarus, prefect Of Egypt, caused this obelisk to be placed here, Pontius being the architect"