| Kom es-Shogafa or The Catacombs are found if you continue on Shari' el-Awud as-Sawari past Pompey's Piller to the right on Shari' Bab el-Muluk and then take Shari' el-Nasriya to the Catacombs. Kom es-Shogafa is a rocky plateau situated between the ancient villages of Karmuz and Minia el-Bassal which are now densley populated districts of Alexanderia where the first catacombs were discovered. Mohammad Ali used the area to defend the city and the area was destroyed in about 1850. Then in about 1900 a donkey accident discovered an entirely undiscovered necropolis, an enormous hypogeum which dates to about the 2nd century AD. The catacombs were hune out of solid rock on three superimposed levels. The dead were lowered down the central well of a spiral staircase by ropes. The vestibule has two semicircular niches, each containing a bench surmounted by a shell carved in the vaulted upper half of the niche. This opens onto a rotunda built around a central well covered with a domed kiosk supported by eight pillars. |
|---|
 |  |
| Down A Stairway Cut From Rock Meet Interior Central Well Staircase | Dead Were Lowered Three Floors Down Central Well Into Other Rooms |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Left Interior Vestible Bench Under Shell Niche Near Well | Right Interior Vestible Bench Under Shell Niche By Well |
 |  |
| Enter From Spiral Stairway Seen On The Right | Halls Between The Rooms |
 |  |
| Dining Area For Family Of Dead Triclinium, Family Feasts Honoring Dead | Pads Placed On Stone Benches Tables Placed In Open Areas |
 |  |
| Burial Chambers, Urn Niches | Burial Chambers |
 |  |
| Burial Chambers | Burial Chambers |
 |  |
| Burial Chambers | Burial Chambers |
 |  |
| Air Shaft | Another Room |
 |  |
| Hall Of Caracalla Rememberance To Christians Killed In Alexanderia's Ampitheatre | Stairway To Upper Levels |
 |  |
| Stairway Back Up | Statue In Tomb |
 |  |
| Hall Of Caracalla Staircase To Lower Floor | Lower Floor Vestibule Tomb & Burial Chamber |
 |  |
| Lower Level Decor Blends 2nd Century Egyptian And Roman Religious Belief | Probably Foreigner Buried Here Decor Lacks Pharaonic Understanding! |
 |  |
| Scene Inside Tomb | Scene Inside Tomb |
| Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexanderia
|
| Alexanderia Egypt
|
| Back To Egypt Trip Page |