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The Site:Alexandria Serapeum. The Monument:A column raised in 300 A.D. in honour of Emperor Diocletian, who saved the city of Alexandria from a frightful famine.On the western side of the column is engraved, "To the just Emperor, the god of Alexandria, the invincible Diocletian." Nevertheless It was called Pompey’s Pillar by the French under certain mistaken impression regarding Pompey’s head.The Arabs called it "Amoud el-Sawari", Column of the Horsemen, bearing in mind or rather imagination that it might have been a base of the emperor’s statue as a cavalry on his horse. The Material is 22 meters height and 9 meters diameter of polished red granite brought from Upper Egypt across the Nile! You will soon ask HOW? The ancient Nilometer at the site shows that the Nile Canobic Branch had been penetrating this area to its mouth at Canope (known now as Abu Qir) on the Mediterranean Coast. The Crown is Corinthian Greek Style. The top of the pillar’s crown was accessed in a very simple, easy but funny method: They flew a kite; when the thread reached the top, they lowered it till the ground and fastened a thick rope capable to raise people to the top…. Believe it! It isn’t a joke of mine. In a VT meeting here, two of my virtual daughters. VT comate Mrs. Lana, in her fortnight visit to Egypt in March ‘05; and my student –the assistant curator, who graciously guided us to the Serapeum. Cordial greetings for both.* Leave a Comment Address: Alexandria, EgyptDirections: Karmoz, Alexandria popular area
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| | | | new Library of Alexandria: The catastrophe | Tip Rating: | | | | |
There are several stories: 1) In 47 B.C., when Caesar was in Alexandria, some 40,000 volumes which were stored near the arsenal -perhaps with the view to theri shipment to Rome, were accidentally burtnt. 2) The Royal Library The Royal Library was an unfortunate casualty of war. In 48 B.C., Caesar found himself involved in a civil war between Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII. Caesar sided with Cleopatra and was soon besieged by land and sea by the Ptolomaic forces. He realised that his only chance lay in setting fire to the enemy fleet and it was by this drastic measure that he managed to gain the upper hand. But the fire, in the words of Plutarch, spread from the dockyards and destroyed the "Great Library". The Daughter Library As regards the Daughter Library, it continued to function throughout the Roman period under the protection of the Sarapeum. Nevertheless, with the end of paganism and the ascendancy of Christianity in the fourth century, the Sarapeum lost its sanctity. In 391, when the Emperor Theodisius ordained the destruction of all pagan temples, contemporary eyewitnesses assert that the Sarapeum, together with all its contents, suffered complete annihilation. 3) The story that it was finally burnt by Arabs is now discredited; since, when the Arabs conquered Egypt in 642 A.D., the Alexandria Library no longer existed. It is noteworthy that no historians of the conquest, whether Byzantine or Arab, ever mention any accident that could have occurred to the Library. It was not until six centuries later, during the time of the Crusades, when all of a sudden a story emerges, claiming that the Arab general Amr Ibn Al-As, had destroyed the books by using them as fuel for the baths! [Ref. my Professor Dr. Mustafa El-Abbady]. Leave a Comment Address: Shatby / SilselaDirections: Alexandria, Egypt
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on May 15, 2005
on March 18, 2007
