Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (13.2001(2002))

ALEXANDRIA

EGYPT

tumble, painted plaster fragments and
occasionally ashes. The nature of this layer,
when considered together with the
evidence provided by numerous elongated
vertical cracks in the walls, leaves no doubt
that the destruction of the building had
been cataclysmic. Evidence of this
catastrophe is also to be observed in the
countless bulges caused by thermal
expansion of limestone subjected to high
temperatures.

Taken as a whole, the available evidence
indicates that the building must have been
destroyed in the late 3rd century AD.
Whether this had been a natural
catastrophe, perhaps an earthquake, or
whether it was linked to the destruction
inflicted on large sections of the town
following Palmyrean occupation in AD
270 or the siege laid to the town by
Roman imperial forces in the reign of
Diocletian (AD 297), will have to remain


Pig. 6. Sector M. Limestone capital originating from the Early Roman house
(Photo W. Jerke)

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