The mighty Macedonian, Alexander the Great, came to Egypt after conquering Greece and selected a small fishing village on the Mediterranean coast to establish his new capital, Alexandria. The city is oriented around Midan Saad Zaghoul, the large square that runs down to the waterfront. Alexandria once had a great library that contained more than 500,000 volumes, and at its peak the city was a great repository of science, philosophy and intellectual thought and learning.

The Graeco-Roman Museum contains relics that date back to the 3rd century BC. There's a magnificent black-granite sculpture of Apis, the sacred bull worshipped by Egyptians, and there are mummies, sarcophaguses, pottery, jewellery and ancient tapestries. The Roman Amphitheatre was only recently rediscovered and it is the only amphitheatre that the Romans built in Egypt. There are 13 white-marble terraces that are arranged around the arena, and they are in excellent condition. Excavation work is still under way, although the dig has shifted a little to the north of the theatre.

Pompei's Pillar is a massive 25-m high pink granite pillar that measures 9m around its girth. When the Christian Crusaders came to Egypt they credited this to Pompei, however the pillar is in fact all that remains of the very grand Serapeum. The pillar was erected in 297 AD in the centre of the Serapeum for Diocletian, and when the Crusaders came around 100 years later they destroyed the Serapeum and Cleopatra's library leaving only the pillar standing. The Catacombs of Kom ash-Shuqqafa are the largest known Roman burial site in Egypt, and they consist of three tiers of burial tombs, chambers and hallways. They were begun in the 2nd century AD and were later expanded to hold more than 300 corpses. There's a banquet hall where the grieving would pay their respects with a funeral feast.

DMC Companies

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• Capitol Services Inc.
• ITTA Tours
• Sakkara Tours
• Wings Group

Summary|Culture|History
Alexandria|Aswan|Cairo
Luxor|Port Said