Pompey's Pillar

Pompey's Pillar

Introduction: Pompey's Pillar (also known as the Serapeum Column) is the emblem of Alexandria. Driving away from the seaside boulevard—lined with high-rises, bright and neat—and heading southwest into the old city, you follow the rumbling tram as it slowly crawls along the stone-paved road. Soon, you arrive at a high wall; passing through the gate, a massive solitary column looms into view on a desolate plateau—that’s the world-famous Serapeum Column. Walking along the path to the right and ascending the steps to the base, you look up at the column top piercing the sky, seemingly on the verge of toppling, which is quite intimidating. "Serapeum," in Arabic, means "mast." It’s said that when the Arabs captured the city in 641 AD, they saw this column standing in the center of a colonnade of 400 pillars, resembling a ship’s mast, hence the name. The column consists of three parts: the base, the shaft, and the capital, with a total height of 26.85 meters and weighing about 500 tons. The shaft is cylindrical, with an upper diameter of 2.3 meters and a lower diameter of 2.7 meters, stretching 20.75 meters in length, carved from a single piece of red granite. The capital is of ancient Roman Corinthian style, adorned with acanthus leaf motifs. The stone material was quarried from Aswan in Upper Egypt and transported to Alexandria via the Nile River and its tributaries by flat-bottomed boats. The column was erected by piling earth around the base to form a hollow, then pulling the column into place at the center of the hollow before clearing away the earth. During the reign of Roman Emperor Diocletian, a rebellion broke out led by the Alexandria garrison commander Aquilus. Diocletian personally led troops in a brutal eight-month siege to suppress the revolt. At the time, the city was ravaged by famine and plague. Diocletian later dispatched grain to aid the victims and soothe the populace. In 297 AD, the Egyptian prefect Pompey built this column in the central square of the Serapeum Temple as a token of gratitude. On the western side of the base, four lines of inscriptions, still faintly visible today, read: "For the invincible guardian god of Alexandria, the just Emperor Diocletian, Pompey erects this pillar." A few dozen steps west of the column, down some steps, lies a small depression. In 1895, a statue of the god Serapis was discovered in a cave to the north of the depression, now displayed at the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria. The statue, carved from black diorite, depicts a calf-like figure with a sun disc between its horns and forward-flaring ears resembling trumpets, said to be listening to the voices of the people. To the south of the depression lies a broad tunnel leading eastward directly beneath the column. The tunnel walls are lined with carved niches and small holes for oil lamps. Some say it was an annex library of the Serapeum Temple, others claim it was a branch of the ancient Library of Alexandria. In 48 AD, the Library of Alexandria, once housing 700,000 volumes on the waterfront, was destroyed by fire, and some papyrus scrolls were relocated here. Exiting the tunnel to the south, you’ll find several ancient cisterns. Directly south of the column lie two recumbent sphinxes. To the southwest, the ruins of the Serapeum Temple remain. Over the centuries, the Serapeum Column has inspired many legends. One tale mistakenly claims that the Roman general Pompey (106–48 BC), defeated by Caesar and fleeing to Egypt, died at the hands of the Egyptians, with his ashes kept in an urn atop the column—hence why Westerners still call it Pompey’s Pillar. For over a thousand years, as Alexandria underwent dramatic changes and many famed landmarks turned to ruins or vanished, the Serapeum Column alone stood firm, becoming the iconic symbol of the city today. Transportation: Take the yellow tram from Gomhoreya Square westward. Opening Hours: 09:00–16:00 Admission: 6 EGP for adults, 3 EGP for students

Cairo, Egypt