Catacombs of Kom El-Shoqafa

Description

The catacombs were discovered in 1900 when a donkey disappeared through the ground. Hewn 35m into solid rock, the triple-level complex is reached via a spiral stairway, past the shaft down which bodies were lowered. From the vestibule with its scalloped niches, you can squeeze through a fissure into a lofty hall riddled with Loculi, or family burial niches. Scholars named it the Hall of Caracalla after the Roman emperor who massacred Alexandria youths at a review in 215 AD. Relatives toasted the dead from stone couches in the Triclinium, where the first archeologists to enter the chamber found wine jars and tableware.

In the Central Tomb downstairs whose vestibule is guarded by reliefs of bearded serpents with Medusa heads shields you will find muscle bound statues of Sobek and Anubis wearing Roan armour, dating from the second century AD when “the old faiths began to merge and melt” (Forster). Water has flooded the Goddess Nemesis Hall (still accessible) and submerged the lowest level, hastening the catacombs’ decay.