Alone in the Catacombs of Egypt’s Kom El Shoqafa E G

Alone in the Catacombs of Egypt’s Kom El Shoqafa E G

I’ve just arrived at another of Alexandria’s ancient Treasures a necropolis known as the catacombs of KL shafa or literally mound of shards this place was unknown for centuries until in the year 1900 it is said that a donkey accidentally fell into an access shaft the surface area of the site is really

Being used as a sort of attic you see such things as the statues of headless Lions a Sund dial a fountain numerous columns and they all were sourced from places of course other than this spot a refuge pile of pillars and Temple fragments this is Egypt whose cup runneth over with such

Things as you can hear in the background one of the very frequent calls to prayer that you hear here in Alexandria whether it’s morning afternoon or evening and I’m about to show you the main attraction of this archaeological site tombs underground and when I say underground I mean deeply underground

Just take a look at This That is a long way down and uh that’s where I’m headed this is what is so unusual about this place it appears at first that there’s really nothing to see but then you get to where I am now down a spiraling staircase into this multif flored

Tomb and it is really kind of awesome you see that you’re not walking into a single hole that there’s a connection and that you’re now in a series of very impressive underground passageways I’ve walked down a number of flights and I’m not yet at the bottom it’s just a spectacular place

What makes it even more so is the fact that I have it to myself walking down still yet a deeper passageway with a giant rock in front of me and these wooden stairs splitting on each side of the rock to a tomb in the near distance that I’ll swing around and show

You that’s the tomb room with thick walls snake motifs on either side of the walls and three giant sarcophagus a guy the motifs are a blend of Greek Roman and Egyptian Styles which makes sense considering the period archaeologists believe that the tombs here were originally intended for the

Descendants of an entire wealthy family but it’s unclear why other tombs were added later in the side rooms I’m entering one of those side rooms now and you can see that there are just row after row of double stacked open Crips there are more CPS in this one side room there’s one

That’s similar inside to the other side of the main entrance then as I continue to turn in kind of a labyrinthine area here where the the walls the tombs get closer together all I’m seeing are more tombs what you see here is a repetitive story side rooms filled with empty

Crips most of these Crips are completely opened their contents completely removed and a few others have uh vestiges of the stones that were at the front of the crypt most have assigned numbers which are obviously numbers that have been placed there during the archaeological research it’s absolutely silent down

Here I wouldn’t call it spooky or weird I would just say it’s place of great Fascination and curiosity because you just wonder who the individuals were who were the center of attention here and who all the others were one of the especially interesting things about these catacombs is that they contain a separate

Hallway containing the bones of horses they were said to be the horses of Roman Emperor carala hence the name of the chamber being the hallway of carala well that long last one I’m leaving I’m wearing voices voice of the guy with a Dr room so I guess it I hit it just right

Alone I’m just about out of the chamber you see the natural light starts to perade this space if you just walked in the grounds here and saw what’s at the top you might expect an ancient building housing tombs but there’s none of that here there’s just p over

Space that used to be a graveyard from times in Memorial that is sort of sandwiched between a midrise residential apartment area and the port of Alexandria the last place in Alexandria you would expect if you came looking for this Place

I set out for the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa thinking this would be a nice way to fill the better part of an afternoon in Alexandria checking out an Egyptian Greco-Roman underground burial chamber dating from about 200 CE.

I hadn’t counted on a couple things: First, that the site would be so impressive (it’s considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages). And second, that I would have the cavernous catacombs to myself for the better part of an hour before finally encountering a group of four people as I was about to leave.

If you like your antiquities sites lightly-visited and are coming to Alexandria, you’ll likely enjoy this place as much as I did, as the video uploaded to my YouTube channel shows.

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