Alexandria: A History and a GuideForster, E. M. (Edward Morgan)
History
Alexandria: A History and a Guide
Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan)
Alexandria (Egypt) -- Guidebooks; Alexandria (Egypt) -- History
The Chief remains are:—
(i). _Temple of Osiris._ The eastern, and main, entrance adjoins the
coast-guard station. At first sight it looks no more than a hole in
a ruined wall, but it can easily be reconstructed. Each side of the
entrance were Gate-towers (Pylons) like those of Edfu or Kom Ombo in
Upper Egypt. Their bases project from the main wall, and up the face
of each are two grooves for flag staffs, from whose tops crimson
streamers floated. Staircases, reached from the inside, ascend each
tower, and there are also two square rooms in the base of each.
The enclosure—about 100 yards square—is in a terrible mess. The
actual temple has disappeared. There must have been a colonnaded
court with an altar in the middle, and beyond it the temple facade:
on north and south of temple would have been other courts. The
arrangements were Egyptian, but some of the workman were Greek;
mason marks with Greek letters (e.g. Alpha Kappa Rho) have been
found on the stone in the boundary wall.
The north boundary wall of the enclosure is very fine; it projects
over the slope of the hill and rests on substructures: in it is a
gate for the descent to the sea. Note the projections in the
masonry. In the north west corner are some architectural fragments,
piled up by the Arabs. (ii). _Lighthouse._ The ruined tower on the
hill to the east of the temple was once mistaken for a tomb, since
it stands in the ancient cemetery. It is really the Ptolemaic
lighthouse of Taposiris, first of a chain that stretched from the
Pharos at Alexandria all down the North African coast to Cyrene. It
has, like the Pharos, three stages: a square basement, an octagonal
central stage and a cylindrical top. On the north, where the outer
wall of the octagon has fallen, one can see the marks of the
staircase by which the wood was carried to the top—a simpler version
of the double spiral that ascended the huge Alexandrian building.
There can be no doubt that the Taposiris lighthouse was modelled on
its gigantic contemporary—scale about ⅒th—and it is thus of great
importance to archaeologists and historians. (_see_ throughout p.
133).
There are tombs close to the lighthouse, and tombs and houses all
along the slope to the south of the temple.
(iii). _Causeway._ South of the town, in the bed of the lake, are
traces of the embankment that connected with the desert. It was
doubtless pierced with arches like the Heptastadion at Alexandria,
to allow boats to go through.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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