Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean (14.2002(2003))

ALEXANDRIA


blocks, but simply filled with rubble and
plastered over.
Of the two parallel lines of auditorium
seats, the eastern one was almost entirely
preserved (close to 7 m in length), the
western one being shorter by 1.20 m,
where a grave of the Lower Necropolis
(M 363) had cut into it. The bench impres-
sion preserved on the wall leaves no doubt,
however, that the structure must have been
originally of the same length.
A small, almost square brick-made basin
(c. 1.25 by 1.20 m, c. 1 m deep) was built
at the end of the eastern row of benches, its
inner surface lined with hydraulic mortar.
The auditorium was accessible from the
portico through large doors placed in the
portico's back wall. In similarity to other
auditoria previously uncovered at the site,
the space immediately behind the door was
separated from the rest by a thin brick-made
curtain wall and served as a vestibule.
A complete stratigraphic profile was
obtained in a probe dug next to the western
wall of auditorium M. Available pottery
evidence suggests that the benches were
introduced most likely in the late 5th-early
6th century AD, i.e., roughly in the same
period when the theatre was substantially
remodeled and turned into a large audito-
rium, too. The exact chronology, however,
has yet to be established.
The results of this season's work have
shed an entirely new light on the character
of the public complex of Late Roman date
previously uncovered within the limits of
the site, notably the Portico and the
Theatre. The number of auditoria hitherto
identified at the Kom el-Dikka site has
reached nine/' It is almost certain now

that a line of similar halls should be
expected all along the portico.
The function of all such halls is
apparently determined by their internal
arrangement and there is little doubt that
they must have been used as lecture halls.
A key issue, however, remains unsolved:
What was the exact nature of the
gatherings held in these halls? Since these
rooms were invariably located within the
urban public space of what seems to have
been a large square surrounded with
porticoes, an agora presumably, they may
have been used for schooling or academic
purposes. The intellectual life of Late
Antique Alexandria is relatively well
documented in various historical sources.S)
There is also little doubt that it survived
well into the 6th century, past the
infamous Justinian edict closing the
Athenian Academy. In short, it is quite
probable that the buildings discovered at
Kom el-Dikka are the only physical
remains of the educational institutions for
which Alexandria was renown in antiquity.
AREA AW
Limited archaeological investigations were
carried out at the extreme northern end of
the Portico within the confines of the site,
next to auditorium no. 2. Several graves of
the Upper Necropolis (AW 100-AW 107)
were explored in a trench measuring
approximately 9 by 10 m. They all
represent structures typical of this phase of
the cemetery and are paralleled by graves
from sector E.
The entire area appeared to have been
seriously disturbed by robbing in medieval
times, when both the Portico stylobate and

7) M. Rodziewicz, “Excavations at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria 1980-81”, ASAE 70 (1984), 236-240; see also the set of
auditoria located close to the southern passage of the Baths, cf. Z. Kiss et ah, Fouilles polonaises a Kom el-Dikka 1986-
1987, Alexandrie VII (Warsaw 2000), 9-33.
8) Ch. Haas, Alexandria in Late Antiquity, Topography and Social Conflict (London 1997).

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