Pompey's Column

On the evening af the 24th, accompanied by a locel guide and some Europeans he had just met, Roberts, riding a donkey, reached the ancient citadel of Rhakotis to see the famous Pompey's Column.

It did not particularl'y impress him, but rather suggested neglect and desolation.

the column, which stands 100 feet tall, Is erected on an older base made of spoil. The shaft, made a single piece of red granite, supports a white marble Corinthian capital.

the attribution of this monument to juIius Caesar‘s great rival  Gnaeus Pompeus is based on legend , althoug it belongs to the right historical period. The column was actually part of the extention  to the serapeum, ordered by Mark Antony to provide new preimises for the famous library, which was destroyed in the fire folIowing Caesor’s siege of Alexandria after numerous trials and tribulations and the permanent ruin of the second library, this surviving elements of the great portico was re-erected in AD 296 in honor of the emperor Diocletion  who had put dmun a rebellion against to power of Rome. On that occasion a statue may have been placed on the capital.

Generally, according to the notes in his journal, Roberts seems to have been more struck by the lacal color than the very modest antiquitus to be seen in Alexandria in particular he was horrified by the sight of the slave market , where lovely Circassians and half-naked black girls were auctioned under the scorching sun. 

 

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