Pompey's Pillar and the Serapeum

What is Pompey's Pillar?

It is one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected outside Rome and Constantinople, a single polished shaft of Aswan granite topped with a Corinthian capital, set up for the emperor Diocletian. A Greek inscription on the western face of the base dedicates it to Diocletian, set up by the prefect of Egypt. The usual explanation is that it celebrated the emperor after he crushed a revolt in Egypt and besieged Alexandria in about 297–298, and some ancient sources say he then relieved the starving city with grain.

Like the obelisks, it was quarried in Aswan, more than 1,000 km to the south, and floated down the Nile on a barge, then hauled up the hill; how the Romans raised it upright is not recorded. Earlier travellers' accounts mention people climbing to the top with ropes and kites, a stunt that is firmly forbidden today; our guide to the Unfinished Obelisk shows how such pieces were cut.

Why is it called Pompey's Pillar?

Because medieval travellers believed it marked the burial place of Pompey the Great, the Roman general murdered in Egypt in 48 BC; the name stuck even though the column is about 350 years younger. Arab writers called it the Pillar of the Columns, recalling the colonnades of the Serapeum that once surrounded it. Crusader-era and later European visitors favoured the romantic Pompey link, and it is still the name every guide and taxi driver uses.

What was the Serapeum?

The Serapeum was the grandest temple in Ptolemaic and Roman Alexandria, dedicated to Serapis, a god created under the early Ptolemies who blended Osiris and the Apis bull with Greek Zeus and Hades. Foundation plaques show the temple was built under Ptolemy III Euergetes in the 3rd century BC, and it was rebuilt on a larger scale in the Roman period. It also housed the "daughter library", a collection that supplemented the main Library in the royal quarter.

In AD 391, after the emperor Theodosius I restricted pagan worship, the Serapeum was stormed and destroyed during clashes between Christians and pagans in the city, an event that marked the end of Alexandria's old religion. Today only foundations, cuttings in the rock and the great column remain. The famous cult statue of Serapis, an enthroned bearded figure with a corn measure on his head, was smashed at the time, but copies of the type survive in museums around the Mediterranean. For the context, read Ptolemaic Egypt and Osiris, the Egyptian half of Serapis.

What else is there to see?

Besides the column, look for the two red granite sphinxes at its foot, the underground galleries and the scattered statues and column fragments around the site.

• The sphinxes: a pair of granite sphinxes of the Ptolemaic period, set up near the column in modern times and among the most photographed pieces in Alexandria.
• The underground galleries: rock-cut passages beneath the hill with niches along the walls. They are often described as storage for the library's scrolls, but they may equally have served the cult, possibly for the burial of sacred animals; the purpose is uncertain.
• The temple foundations: stand on the hill's southern edge to see the outline of the enclosure and get a sense of how the temple dominated the ancient skyline.
• The Nilometer and cisterns: remains of water installations are visible near the edges of the site.

How long do you need, and when should you go?

Thirty to 45 minutes is plenty; the site is small, open to the sky and has little shade. In summer go early, or after the cooler catacombs. Late afternoon light turns the granite a deep red. The galleries are reached by short flights of steps, so the column and sphinxes can be seen by most visitors even if the underground part is difficult.

Getting there and tickets

The site is in Karmouz, about 15 minutes by car from downtown and a 10-minute walk from the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa. The neighbourhood is a busy, everyday part of Alexandria with markets and traffic, a contrast with the Corniche. Buy tickets at the gate; check the current fee and hours on egymonuments.gov.eg. From here, the newly reopened Graeco-Roman Museum and the Roman theatre at Kom el-Dikka are each 10–15 minutes away by car, making a satisfying Roman Alexandria half day. Both appear in the Alexandria day of our Ultimate Egypt tour.