Pompey's Pillar

Pompey's Pillar is One of the most famous monuments in Alexandria. the Pompey's Pillar, built on the Bab Sidra hill between the current Muslim burial area, known as the Column Tombs, and the Kom al-Shokafa plateau, is made of red granite stone.

The column was erected in honor of Emperor Diocletian in the third century AD and is the last surviving remnant of the Serapeum Temple erected by Posthumus.

The column is considered the highest monument in the world. The exact date of construction of this column has not been determined, but it dates back to the Roman era, and it is said that this column was dedicated to Christianity after its victory in Alexandria

History of Pompey's Pillar

Since the Crusades, the Pillar of Sawari has been known as Pompeii, a mistake because Europeans thought that the head of the Roman king Pompey, who fled to Egypt to escape Julius Caesar and was killed by the Egyptians, was placed in a funerary urn atop the crown of the column, which was also known as Theodosian in the Byzantine era.

As for the name of the column, it dates back to the Arab era; it is believed that it came as a result of its towering height, which resembles the masts of ships, so the Arabs called it the column of the masts.

Pompey's Pillar Facts

1- The column was built on two slopes, one reaching to the north and the other to the south, and these roads are part of the area of the Temple of Serapeum.
2- It is considered the highest monument in the world.
3- It was called this name in the Arabic era, as it is believed that its name came as a result of the height of this towering column among 400 other columns, which is similar to the masts of ships, so the Arabs called it the column of the masts, which was later changed to the masts.
4- The Pillar of the Masts has been mistakenly known since the Crusades as the Pompey Pillar, and this error is due to the fact that some Europeans thought that the head of the Roman commander Pompey, who fled to Egypt to escape Julius Caesar and was killed in it, was placed in a precious funeral urn and placed on top of the column's crown.

5- The body of the column is a single piece with a diameter at the base of 2.70 meters, and at the crown 2.30 meters, and the total height of the column including the base is about 26.85 meters, and on the western side of the column are two bases that can be reached by an underground ladder, and there are two similar sphinxes made of pink granite dating back to the era of Ptolemy VI, on one of them an inscription of King Hor Mahab of the Eighteenth Dynasty.