's 1735 ''Description de l'Egypte
, showing Aiguille de Cléopâtre'' and
Pompey's Pillar , with a bilingual inscription: and , 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" The name ''Cleopatra's Needles'' derives from the French name, "Les aiguilles de Cléopâtre", when they stood in Alexandria. The earliest known post-classical reference to the obelisks was by the Cairo-based traveller
Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi in c.1200 CE, who according to
E. A. Wallis Budge described them as "Cleopatra's big needles". Two decades later, another English traveller
Henry Blount wrote "Within on the North towards the Sea are two square obeliskes each of one intire stone, full of Egyptian Hieroglyphicks, the one standing, the other fallen, I thinke either of them thrice as bigge as that at Constantinople, or the other at Rome, & therefore left behind as too heavy for transportation: neere these obeliskes, are the ruines of Cleopatraes Palace high upon the shore, with the private Gate, whereat she received her Marke Antony after their overthrow at Actium". In 1735, the former French consul in Egypt,
Benoît de Maillet, wrote in his ''Description de l'Egypte'': Cleopatra's Needles: After this famous monument, the oldest and most curious in modern Alexandria are these two Needles, or Obelisks, which are attributed to Cleopatra, without anyone knowing too well on what basis. One is now overturned, and almost buried under the sands; the other still remains upright. In 1755,
Frederic Louis Norden wrote in his ''
Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie'' that: Some ancient authors have written that these two Obelisks were found in their time in the Palace of Cleopatra; but they do not tell us who had placed them there. It is believed that these monuments are much older than the City of Alexandria, and that they were brought from some place in Egypt, to decorate this Palace. This conjecture is well founded, as we know that at the time of the foundation of Alexandria, these monuments covered with hieroglyphs were no longer made, the understanding and use of which had already been lost long before. Images from 18th and 19th century Alexandria show two needles, one standing and the other fallen. The London needle was the fallen needle. The location is now the site of a statue of Egyptian statesman
Saad Zaghloul. == London needle ==