Pompey's Pillar

Coordinates: 31°10′57″N 29°53′47.1″E / 31.18250°N 29.896417°E / 31.18250; 29.896417
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Pompey's Pillar (column)
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Pompey's Pillar
Roman triumphal column
Diameterc. 2.7-2.8 m (column shaft)
Heightc. 33.85 m (total original with 7 m statue)

26.85 m (present total)
20.75 m (monolithic granite column shaft)

6 m (granite socle)
History
BuilderPublius praefectus aegypti on behalf of emperor Diocletian
Materialgranite, lost statue in porphyry
FoundedAD 298-303; 1721 years ago (303) (dedicated)
Pompey's Pillar in 1911

Pompey's Pillar (

Roman triumphal column in Alexandria, Egypt. Set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian between 298–302 AD, the giant Corinthian column originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour.[1] It stands at the eastern side of the temenos of the Serapeum of Alexandria, beside the ruins of the temple of Serapis
itself.

It is the only ancient monument still standing in Alexandria in its original location today.[2]

Name

The local name is

Arabic: عمود السواري, romanized: 'Amud El-Sawari, where the word 'Amud means "column". The name Sawari has been translated in many ways by scholars, including Severus (i.e. Emperor Septimius Severus).[3]

The name of Pompey in relation to the pillar was used by many European writers in early modern times. The name is considered to stem from a historical misreading of the

inscription on the base;[4] the name ΠΟΥΠΛΙΟΣ (Πού̣π̣[λιος], Pouplios) was confused with ΠΟΜΠΗΙΟΣ (Ancient Greek: Πομπήιος, romanized: Pompeios).[4]

Construction

1809 publication in the Description de l'Égypte: "Vue profils et détails de la grande colonne appelée communément Colonne de Pompée"

In 297 Diocletian,

romanized: polioúchon Alexandreias, lit. 'city-guardian-god ACC of Alexandria').[5][6] In the fourth century AD this designation also applied to Serapis, the male counterpart of Isis in the pantheon instituted by the Hellenistic rulers of Egypt, the Ptolemies.[7][8] The sanctuary complex dedicated to Serapis in which the column was originally erected, the Serapeum, was built under King Ptolemy III Euergetes in the third century BC and rebuilt under Roman rule, likely in the late 2nd to early 3rd century CE, being completed under Emperor Caracalla.[9] In the later fourth century AD it was considered by Ammianus Marcellinus a marvel rivalled only by Rome's sanctuary to Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill, the Capitolium.[10]

The monument stands some 26.85 m (88.1 ft) high, including its base and

largest monolithic columns ever erected. The monolithic column shaft is 20.46 m (67.1 ft) in height with a diameter of 2.71 m (8 ft 11 in) at its base, and the socle itself is over 6 m (20 ft) tall.[4][11] Both are of lapis syenites, a pink granite cut from the ancient quarries at Syene (modern Aswan), while the column capital of pseudo-Corinthian type is of grey granite.[4] Charles Piazzi Smyth refers to researchers of the 18th and 19th century discussing their statements of it being cast in place from manufactured stone as its transportation couldn't be explained.[15] The weight of the column shaft is estimated to be 285 tonnes (314 short tons).[11]

The surviving and readable four lines

Latin: Pompeius).[4]

The porphyry statue of Diocletian in armour is known from large fragments that existed at the column's foot in the eighteenth century AD. From the size of a 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) fragment representing the thighs of the honorand, the original height of the loricate statue has been calculated at approximately 7 m (23 ft).[1] While some fragments of the statue were known to be in European collections in the nineteenth century, their whereabouts were unknown by the 1930s and are presumed lost.[1][12]

It is possible that the large column supporting Diocletian's statue was accompanied by another column, or three smaller columns bearing statues of Diocletian's co-emperors, the Augustus Maximian and the two Caesares Constantius and Galerius. If so, the group of column-statues would have commemorated the college of emperors of the Tetrarchy instituted in Diocletian's reign.[14]

Ascents

Commander John Shortland, R.N. atop the pillar with telescope (1803)

Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta visited Alexandria in 1326 AD. He describes the pillar and recounts the tale of an archer who shot an arrow tied to a string over the column. This enabled him to pull a rope tied to the string over the pillar and secure it on the other side in order to climb to the top of the pillar.[18]

In early 1803, British naval officer Commander

three cheers. Four days later they climbed the pillar again, erected a staff, fixed a weather vane, ate a beef steak, and again toasted the king.[19] An etymology of the nickname "Pompey" for the Royal Navy's home port of Portsmouth and its football team suggests these sailors became known as "Pompey's boys" after scaling the Pillar, and the moniker spread; other unrelated origins are also possible.[20]

Gallery

  • View of Pompey's Pillar with Alexandria in the background in c.1850
    View of Pompey's Pillar with Alexandria in the background in c.1850
  • Siege de la Colonne de Pompée – Science in the pillory. 1799 cartoon, in which James Gillray lampoons the corps of scientists, artists and architects that travelled to Egypt as part of Napoleon's force
    Siege de la Colonne de Pompée – Science in the pillory. 1799 cartoon, in which James Gillray lampoons the corps of scientists, artists and architects that travelled to Egypt as part of Napoleon's force
  • The Greek inscription
    The Greek inscription
  • 1743 version
    1743 version
  • 1803 version
    1803 version
  • 1822 version
    1822 version

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Other authors give slightly deviating dimensions. According to Thiel, the single-piece column is 20.75 m (68.1 ft) high (28.7 m (94 ft) including base and pedestal), with a diameter of 2.7–2.8 m (8 ft 10 in – 9 ft 2 in).[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Delbrück 2007, pp. 100–101.
  2. ISBN 978-1-108-41842-3. Archived
    from the original on 2023-10-09. Retrieved 2022-11-12. This is the sole ancient monument still standing above water in that city today
  3. ^ White 1801, p. 79-93.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-874: Column used as base for statue of Diocletian, emperor (so-called 'Column of Pompey'). Alexandria (Aegyptus). 297–302". Last Statues of Antiquity. University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  5. ^ Kayser 1994, pp. 52–57, № 15.
  6. ^ a b Dittenberger, Wilhelm, "718", Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (OGIS), archived from the original on 2022-01-02, retrieved 2020-07-06. At Searchable Greek Inscriptions Archived 2022-01-02 at the Wayback Machine of the Packard Humanities Institute.
  7. ISBN 9781258090814
    .
  8. ISBN 978-90-04-07025-7. Archived
    from the original on 2023-10-09. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  9. S2CID 161517200
    .
  10. doi:10.4159/DLCL.amminanus_marcellinus-history.1950
    . His accedunt altis sufflata fastigiis templa, inter quae eminet Serapeum, quod licet minuatur exilitate verborum, atriis tamen columnatis amplissimus, et spirantibus signorum figmentis, et reliqua operum multitudine ita est exornatum, ut post Capitolium, quo se venerabilis Roma in aeternum attollit, nihil orbis terrarum ambitiosius cernat.
    [There are besides in the city temples pompous with lofty roofs, conspicuous among them the Serapeum, which, though feeble words merely belittle it, yet is so adorned with extensive columned halls, with almost breathing statues, and a great number of other works of art, that next to the Capitolium, with which revered Rome elevates herself to eternity, the whole world beholds nothing more magnificent.]
  11. ^ a b c Adam 1977, pp. 50f.
  12. ^ a b Bergmann, Marianne (2012). "LSA-1005: Fragments of colossal porphyry statue of Diocletian in cuirass (lost). From Alexandria. 297–302". Last Statues of Antiquity. University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  13. ^ Thiel 2006, pp. 252f.
  14. ^ a b Thiel 2006, pp. 251–254.
  15. ^ McCarty, Louis P. (1907). The Great Pyramid Jeezeh. San Francisco. p. 319. Retrieved 2023-12-27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ^ a b Vandersleyen 1958, p. 114.
  17. ^ See Leiden Conventions.
  18. ISBN 9780330418799
    . The Pillar of Columns. Another of the marvels of this city is the awe-inspiring marble column outside it, called by them the Pillar of Columns. It is in the midst of a grove of date-palms, but it stands out from amongst its trees, over-topping them in height. It is a single block, skilfully hewn, erected on a plinth of square stones like enormous platforms, and no one knows how it was erected there, nor for certain who erected it.
  19. ^ Naval Chronicle, Vol. 27, p. 111.
  20. ^ Dent, Susie, ed. (2012). Pompey. Chambers Harrap Publishers. Archived from the original on 2022-01-03. Retrieved 2020-03-06. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

Sources

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