Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa in Alexandria, Egypt | Egyptian Tombs
The history of Egyptian tombs and the facts about the construction of the Catacombs of Kom, the most important tombs of the Roman Kingdom era “Greek-Roman era” in the Ancient Egypt civilization, how much is the entrance ticket, official working hours and more to discover the Ancient Egypt History.
A historical archaeological site located in the city of Alexandria and the most famous Egypt Archaeological Sites, specifically in the Kom El Shoqafa area in the south of the Mina El Basal neighborhood..
Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa Facts
It is also one of the most important cemeteries in the city, and is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World in the Middle Ages..
This cemetery also consists of a series or a large group of tombs and a group of statues to indicate the development of Sculpture in Ancient Egypt and a number of Egyptian Monuments remains and antiquities in that area, the purpose of which is worship as in the Ancient Egyptian religion.
Because of that time period, many of the features of the catacombs at Kom el-Shuqafa actually combined Roman and even Greek and Egyptian cultural elements..
Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, the history of the construction of the most important Pharaonic tombs in Alexandria, Egypt.
Information and details about the catacombs, the Caracalla Hall, tomb visiting hours, ticket prices, and more about the most important archaeological sites of ancient Egyptian civilization..
These tombs were discovered by chance in 1900 AD, when the legs of a donkey fell into the tomb well after a search and exploration process by Egyptologists and Egyptology that lasted for more than 12 years without obtaining any trace of the tombs..
The cemeteries are located in the Karmouz district or Mina al-Basal district on the western border of ancient Alexandria and close to Pompey’s Pillar.
They are considered among the largest Roman cemeteries in Egypt and date back to the second century AD..
The Kom El Shoqafa Tombs are called Catacomb Tombs, as they resemble the designs of Roman tombs in Italy.
You will notice that the architectural design is in the style of tombs carved into the rocks and you reach them through underground catacombs to discover the extent of the development of Architecture in ancient Egypt, as they consist of a well surrounded by a spiral staircase that then leads to 3 levels of the tomb..
The Catacomb tomb consists of 3 levels or 3 floors, but all levels of the tombs are still submerged in water. You will find banquet rooms in the tomb and a set of stairs that were dug around the well..
You will find side openings in the tomb of Catacombs. The well was used to easily place the Mummy of the Pharaohs.
You will also find a passageway containing two cavities and a large rock bench. The cavities were used for the workers to rest as they are in the shape of a shell..
After the corridor, you will see a round hall containing a well surrounded by a small wall containing a group of columns and heads of stone statues.
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities transferred all the statues in the Graeco Roman Museum (Museums in Alexandria).“.
On the left side you will find a corridor leading to a rectangular room containing 4 columns and called the banquet and food room for eating in ancient Egypt “Food in ancient Egypt” after the burial was completed..
Catacombs in the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa:
When you go up to the second floor of the tomb, you will find a staircase leading to a rectangular hall containing two columns, each with a triangular top and the sun disk of the god Ra, the most famous of the ancient Egyptian deities – Ancient Egyptian gods and Goddesses in the belief of the ancient Egyptian civilization, and two falcons on foreigners, a symbol of the God Horus, as in the myths of the pharaohs “Egyptian Mythology” and stories of Ancient Egyptian Literature.
You will find a statue of a man standing with his left foot forward behind the two columns. In the left cavity you will find a statue of an Egyptian woman wearing a long dress as in the Clothing in ancient Egypt.
When we go to the main burial chamber, we find a balcony resting on two columns and containing 3 pharaonic Ancient Egyptian Coffins in addition to drawings and engravings on the wall from the Egyptian and Greek civilizations..
You will find rectangles of stones on each side of the last passage in the Kom El Shoqafa tombs, topped with a round disc symbolizing Medusa, the goddess who protected the tomb, as was believed in Greek civilization.
Her hair is in the form of snakes, and whoever looks directly into her eyes will turn to stone for life..
Each rectangle contains a snake placed on a shrine symbolizing the god Dionysus, the god of the red and the god of the dead, or symbolizing the god Serapis Aganadamon and the God Isis Thermosis, as interpreted by some Egyptologists and archaeologists..
At the entrance you will find a large group of statues of cobras with the sun disk on their heads in a single row, and then you go up to the third floor of the tomb, which was designated for the mummy to begin descending to the first floor..
Why were the Kom El Shoqafa catacombs named so?
The ancient Arabs named the tombs of Kom El Shoqafa, as the Greeks had a bad omen about the pottery dishes they ate from in the tomb, so they would break them immediately after each meal and throw them outside the tomb, which created a large pile of shards..
Caracalla Hall:
The Caracalla Hall in the Kom el Shoqafa catacombs was designed in a rectangular shape with an offering table in the middle, a set of stairs and a closed entrance. Horse bones were found next to the table, but they were sometimes interpreted as the bones of people killed by Emperor Caracalla..
The bones were transferred to the Roman Museum and glass molds were added to the Caracalla Hall to preserve some of the bones. The mummy was buried by breaking the back wall of the sarcophagus and then rebuilding the wall again..
How to make and design the Kom El Shoqafa tombs and their statues
Some of the statues were actually made using those Egyptian methods at the time, but at the same time they carried some Roman styles, especially in clothing and hair style..
But while those are other features that actually share a similar style to that.
There is a large circular staircase increasing in the middle, and it also leads to a number of tombs that were actually dug into the rock during the era of the Antonine emperors in (the second century AD).).
It was mostly used at that time to transport those dead bodies..
The great importance of these tombs of Kom El Shoqafa is due to their large size, the abundance of their decorations, and the great complexity of their planning..
Not only that, but it is also considered one of the clearest examples that remain of the overlap of both Pharaonic art and Roman art within the city, and the presence of the most wonderful number of architectural or funerary models..
That area was named at that time due to the abundance of those pottery remains, those broken pieces, that these visitors actually left behind during the visit..
Excavations in that area began approximately in 1892, but the tomb was only found by pure chance on September 28, 1900..
Location and importance of Kom El Shoqafa cemetery
The Kom El Shoqafa tombs, like most of the Roman-era tombs in Alexandria, are located in the Western Cemetery area, with the exception of one tomb located on Tigran Pasha Street, which was found in the east of the city..
The cemetery of (Kom El-Shoqafa) is located in the south of (Mina El-Basal neighborhood), and it is considered one of the most important cemeteries in the city of Alexandria. The name of the area (Kom El-Shoqafa) goes back to the abundance of pottery remains found in the place, along with the crushers..
As it was actually accumulating in this place, the importance of this archaeological cemetery is due to its spaciousness and the abundance of decorations in it..
It is one of the clearest examples that express the mixing of Pharaonic art with Roman art in the city of Alexandria. It is the most wonderful model of funeral architecture in the city of Alexandria..
The story of the discovery of this tomb
The Kom El Shoqafa tombs were actually found by chance, and it is worth noting that these excavations had begun in that area approximately in 1892..
However, it was not found until the year 1900, by chance, and that chance was done by a donkey, as it was mentioned that the donkey had fallen into the main opening of that tomb, which was at a depth of 12 meters, and thus they knew at that time that there were a number of Pharaonic antiquities present in that area, and they were only searching for the reason for the fall of that donkey..
History of that cemetery
The layout of the Kom El Shoqafa tombs, the branching out of the tombs, their wonderful sequence, and the difference in all the decorative elements in them, makes us believe that this tomb was never built all at once..
A number of excavations have already confirmed that the cemetery had been expanded over the following centuries, but the similarity in these architectural and decorative elements makes us not extend the period in which or during which the cemetery was expanded to a very distant time..
Kom El Shoqafa Tombs Opening Hours – Kom El Shoqafa Tombs Visiting Hours
Visiting hours start from 8 am to 5 pm
What is the price of a ticket to visit the Kom El Shoqafa Tombs for Egyptians?
Visiting fees for Kom El Shoqafa Tombs for adults: 20.
The entrance fee for Egyptian students is only 5 pounds..
What is the price of a ticket to visit the Kom El Shoqafa Tombs for foreigners?
The fee to visit the Kom El Shoqafa Tombs for foreigners is 80 Egyptian pounds..
If the student is a foreigner, the entrance fee is only 40 pounds..
Note: Facts and secrets of the history will be added soon…
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