Pompey’s Column Roman, 292 A.D.

The desolate state of this hill of ruins with the huge column of Pompey gives little indication that the famous Sarapeion once stood here. Under the Ptolemies it was the main temple of Alexandria, but it was destroyed so utterly by the Emperor Theodosius in 391 A.D. during his persecution of the heathen that now not even the ground plan can be traced. According to legend the same emperor is said to have erected the column in memory of the victory of Christianity. But it is more likely that Diocletian-judging by the dedication of 292 A.D. on the base-had the column built as the last part of the old Sarapeion. The column bears a Corinthian capital; it was worked in red granite and rises to a height of just under 87 feet (27 metres), with a diameter of nearly 9 feet (2.70 metres) and a circumference of nearly 30 feet (9 metres). In 1832, on the occasion of a visit by a European dignitary, 22 people are said to have gathered on the capital and partaken of a meal seated in a circle. The monument owes the name by which it is still known to the early Middle Ages, when the site was believed to be the tomb of the Roman general Pompey, arch rival of Julius Caesar. Around the column various large objects are on display, including two fine royal sphinxes in red granite dating from the early Ptolemaic time; however they were found in the city.