The name of Heliopolis, or City of the Sun, was given by the Greeks to
the Egyptian _City of On_. It was situated a little to the north of
Memphis, was one of the largest cities of Egypt during the reign of the
Pharaohs, and so adorned with statues as to be esteemed one of the first
sacred cities in the kingdom. The temple dedicated to Re, was a
magnificent building, having in front an avenue of sphynxes, celebrated
in history, and adorned with several obelisks, raised by Sethosis
Rameses, B.C. 1900. By means of lakes and canals, the town, though built
on an artificial eminence, communicated with the Nile, and during the
flourishing ages of the Egyptian monarchy, the priests and scholars
acquired and taught the elements of learning within the precincts of its
temples. At the time of Strabo who visited this town about A. D. 45,
the apartments were still shown in which, four centuries before, Eudoxus
and Plato had labored to learn the philosophy of Egypt. Here Joseph and
Mary are said to have rested with our Saviour. A miserable village,
called _Metarea_, now stands on the site of this once magnificent city.
Near the village is the _Pillar of On_, a famous obelisk, supposed to be
the oldest monument of the kind existing. Its height is 67½ feet, and
its breadth at the base 6 feet. It is one single shaft of reddish
granite (Sienite), and hieroglyphical characters are rudely sculptured
upon it.