DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0418
402
Within the Pharos, which is a large square tower enclosed by
a strong wall, on which are a few batteries of no great strength,
>ph
Th
)th(
the
we found a granite si
but few of them inscribed with hieroglyphical sculptures. In
the rocks to the Westward of the Pharos are several excavations,
which appear to have been tombs, but not of great antiquity.
They face a small bay, defended by a rocky island, where is
shelter for boats in bad weather.
To the West of the old town ou come upon the spot of ground
which has been called Necropolis, from the catacombs which
are here found ; these have been the sepulchres of the Pagan
inhabitants of Alexandria: they extend nearly a mile in length :
the surface of the ground is rendered very irregular by the ex-
cavations. I was shown the plan of one of the most remarkable,
in which are a great variety of apartments, hewn out of the rock,
with much regularity. I visited several; but the access to them
is difficult, from the rubbish which is daily accumulating. The en-
trance to one of the apartments which I examined, is ornamented
with a Doric entablature, with the suitable triglyphs, dentils, &c,
in the truest Grecian taste and proportions; and another door
has similar ornaments, traced out in red paint as if projected,
but left unfinished.
Four miles from the town is the bed of an antient canal, which
communicated between the lake and the port, by means of which
the boats possessed a free navigation from hence quite to the
upper part of the Rosetta or Jiolbitinc branch of the Nile. This
has been long closed, but might easily be reopened.
My first visit to Alexandria, in the autumn of 1801, had been
occasioned by a request made to me, by the commander-in-chief
of our army, to accompany to the French head (punters the
British officer under whose direction the monuments of Egyptian
antiquity resigned to us by the articles of the capitulation were
afterwards
Within the Pharos, which is a large square tower enclosed by
a strong wall, on which are a few batteries of no great strength,
>ph
Th
)th(
the
we found a granite si
but few of them inscribed with hieroglyphical sculptures. In
the rocks to the Westward of the Pharos are several excavations,
which appear to have been tombs, but not of great antiquity.
They face a small bay, defended by a rocky island, where is
shelter for boats in bad weather.
To the West of the old town ou come upon the spot of ground
which has been called Necropolis, from the catacombs which
are here found ; these have been the sepulchres of the Pagan
inhabitants of Alexandria: they extend nearly a mile in length :
the surface of the ground is rendered very irregular by the ex-
cavations. I was shown the plan of one of the most remarkable,
in which are a great variety of apartments, hewn out of the rock,
with much regularity. I visited several; but the access to them
is difficult, from the rubbish which is daily accumulating. The en-
trance to one of the apartments which I examined, is ornamented
with a Doric entablature, with the suitable triglyphs, dentils, &c,
in the truest Grecian taste and proportions; and another door
has similar ornaments, traced out in red paint as if projected,
but left unfinished.
Four miles from the town is the bed of an antient canal, which
communicated between the lake and the port, by means of which
the boats possessed a free navigation from hence quite to the
upper part of the Rosetta or Jiolbitinc branch of the Nile. This
has been long closed, but might easily be reopened.
My first visit to Alexandria, in the autumn of 1801, had been
occasioned by a request made to me, by the commander-in-chief
of our army, to accompany to the French head (punters the
British officer under whose direction the monuments of Egyptian
antiquity resigned to us by the articles of the capitulation were
afterwards