This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw.

Tuesday October 27, 2015

Egypt: Day 6, Part 3 – Alexandria’s Antiquities

We arrived to the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. Knowing that cameras were not allowed we left most of our things on the bus, and after a quick bathroom break we had our bags checked and went through security. This place is known as the “Mound of Shards” for its many broken party shards and for most of the recent history was viewed as a dumping grounds for garbage. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that a donkey disappeared into a hole that the complex was rediscovered and excavated.

At first we explored the above ground open museum area where there are a few tombs, one of which has gorgeous (and fragile) Greek style fresco paintings but in a Egyptian iconography style. It was nice to see a mix of cultures here in the remains of the tombs and sarcophagus. I had fun wandering around the haphazard ruins of columns and statues. Due to not having any photos its hard to remember all of what I saw but the purple porphyry stone thrones, statue heads in a greek style, lion gargoyle gutters, all stood out to me.

It was starting to get hot, so it was time to go down the spiral steps of the catacombs. I had to go slowly here as my legs were absolutely killing me from the activities of the previous days. While the complex is 3 stories underground the bottom level is still flooded (and sometimes even the 2nd level) so we stopped at the main level. At first it doesn’t seem like much. There isn’t a lot of decoration in the top section, just looks like stone carved for some utilitarian purpose. A lot of us knew what lay below, and were too eager to stand still. Mikel had to keep corralling people together as he told us the history of the place, how it was found, what it was used for. He pointed out the slanted spiral floor and how they would have dragged the coffins here.

When it was time to go down to the main tomb we were all excited. While most of the Catacombs are not decorated the main tomb is a wonderful mix of Egyptian and Roman art.

We were lucky, even though it had rained a lot the main tomb wasn’t flooded. Mikel told us more about the iconography we were looking at and after that we had free time to explore. I had smuggled in my phone and turned it on to snap a few photos. Usually I hate people who do this, but there aren’t a whole lot of good photos of this tomb, and usually the reason is to protect fragile paint from being exposed to flash. I made sure not to use my flash.

Some of the others explored the tombs that ring the main tomb, but it was partially flooded and I didn’t trust my legs or balance not to fall in. It should have looked something like this:

After trying to will my memory on all the details of the tomb, I forced myself away to explore the upper area. Mikel had told us that a few of the carved areas would have paintings, but that it would be faint and hard to spot. I walked around with Elizabeth and didn’t see much. I was getting tired and didn’t think I could stand much longer. As I went to exit this area, a design caught my eye. It was like a magic eye. You couldn’t see it just by looking at it quickly, but from the corner of your eye you suddenly could spot it easily. I called the others over and we went back through this area slowly, each pointing out the faint patterns or deities painted into the wall.

After this I headed back up. I knew I’d be going slow up the stairs and didn’t want to bother the others (or feel rushed) so I headed outside. The hot sun shined down on us while we failed to find shade and a place to sit. Once the others returned and finished wandering the upper grounds, we headed back to the van.

Again the streets were crowded, and we watched as the sun gave way to ominous storm clouds. By the time we reached Pompey’s Pillar the sky was pretty dark and people were clearing out due to the bad weather.

There isn’t a lot to see here. The column is flanked by two Sphinxes, none of which really belong together. In fact the name Pompey’s Pillar is a misnomer, it was actually erected by the Roman Emperor Diocletian. As I walked along I saw various broken pillars and other statues, but none of them tell a congruent story so they were easy to ignore.

Instead we cast our eyes beyond the wall, to the colorful apartments.

At this point it started to rain, so we retreated into the other part of this site… two caves in the ground. One was thought to be the smaller “Daughter” library to the Great Library of Alexandria. Although there wasn’t much to see in that cave other than little alcoves in which it was assumed scrolls were kept. The other was a Sarapeion, a temple dedicated to the Sarapis (Apis Bull) and contained a large life-size cult statue.

I had pulled out a clear rain poncho, that a few of the others laughed at me for, but I was happy to have. It was hot and humid in those caves, and I wanted to stand in the cool rain. After we exited the rain slowed and then finally stopped. We were now the only group in the area with only city sounds echoing around us.