The term "obelisk" comes from the Greek word "Obeliskos", which means a pointed nail. It is a tall, tapering, four sided structure ending at a pointed head. It was called Tenjen in the language of Ancient Egypt, and meant protection and defence. The Obleisk was thought to perforate the clouds and disperse the negative forces.

It is said to represent a petrified ray of the sundisk. Egyptian temples usually had a pair of Obelisks flanking the main gateway at the pylon. Many of these Obelisks still survive, in situ as well as in different places across the world. The earliest temple Obelisk is the red granite Obelisk at the temple of Senusret I, at Al-Matarriyah part of Heliopolis.

Some scholars argue that the shape of the ancient pyramids and obelisks were derived from natural phenomena associated with the sun, and the obelisk did symbolise the Sun God. The God was also believed to have been residing inside the structure. The obelisk had heavily influenced the Roman Emperors and they made many such in Rome. Today there are more Obelisks in Rome than there are in Egypt.

The legend for these Egyptian Obelisks are found in the creation myths, or Cosmogony. It relates to the Sun God Ra, who rose from the primeval ocean Nun, to the conical shaped mound of earth, Benben. The Obelisk represents this mound of earth.

All around the obelisk were hieroglyphic texts marked names of the Pharaohs and worships to the Sun God. The top pf the Obelisks called pyramid ion, were sometimes sheathed with copper or some other metal which caught the reflected rays of the sun.

The Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut at Karnack is one of the most famous Obelisks of all. It is located at the Temple of Amun. It is the tallest in Egypt with a height of 30 meters and weighing around 300 tons, and made of red granite.

Twenty nine Egyptian Obelisks are known to have survived till date, there is also the "unfinished Obelisk" found at a quarry in Aswan. The three famous obelisks recreated at New York, Paris and London are together called Cleopatra's Needle.

By the time of the pre dynastic cults these Obelisks arose as the Great Sacred Stones which were placed in the centre of the temple and worshipped as the Sun God Ra. These monuments symbolise the stability and strength held by the Sun God Ra. The Egyptians believed that the solar rays brought great power to the world, even to the dead lying in graves which would in turn benefit their afterlife.
Apart from Egypt there are obelisks in Assyria, Ethiopia, Rome, Byzantine and Columbia as well.