Featured: How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

Random Image


Barsalloch

Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

Sacred Stones in Indian Civilization: with Special Reference to Megaliths

Who's Online

There are currently, 335 guests and 1 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Serapeum at Alexandria - Ancient Temple in Egypt in Lower Egypt (North)

Submitted by AlexHunger on Monday, 28 December 2009  Page Views: 19946

Roman, Greek and ClassicalSite Name: Serapeum at Alexandria Alternative Name: Temple of Serapis
Country: Egypt Region: Lower Egypt (North) Type: Ancient Temple
Nearest Town: Alexandria  Nearest Village: Alexandria
Latitude: 31.182140N  Longitude: 29.895330E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

Internal Links:
External Links:

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger : Former Greco-Egyptian temple dedicated to the God Serapis, a Fusion between Zeus and Amun, destroyed in Antiquity. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Temple in Alexandria. The syncretic cult of Serapis was started by Ptolemy I in about 330 BCE, by merging that of Osiris, the Apis Bull, Zeus Asclepius and Dionysus. The earlier temple was then replaced by a larger one during the reign of Ptolemy III (246 to 222 BCE).

The current site is an archeological garden, also containing Pompey's Column, as the temple was destroyed by christians during a revolt in 391 CE which Diocletion subdued. A large Apis Bull statue has been taken to the Alexandria Greco-Roman Museum.


Note: Giant monolith from a submerged Alexandrian temple resurfaces, see comment
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger : Former Greco-Egyptian temple dedicated to the God Serapis, a Fusion between Zeus and Amun, destroyed in Antiquity. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger (Vote or comment on this photo)

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger (Vote or comment on this photo)

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger (Vote or comment on this photo)

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger : Former Greco-Egyptian temple dedicated to the God Serapis, a Fusion between Zeus and Amun, destroyed in Antiquity. Here a shot of the undergroung galleries and a copy of the Apis Bull, of which the original was taken to the Museum. The underground galleries wehere also used as libraries and for storage.

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger : Former Greco-Egyptian temple dedicated to the God Serapis, a Fusion between Zeus and Amun, destroyed in Antiquity.

Serapeum at Alexandria
Serapeum at Alexandria submitted by AlexHunger

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the area

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 83m E 87° Pompey's Column* Sculptured Stone
 458m SSW 210° Kom El-Shugafa Rock Cut Tombs* Rock Cut Tomb
 23.8km NE 55° Canopus* Ancient Village or Settlement
 36.2km NE 43° Heracleion* Ancient Village or Settlement
 44.8km SW 234° Temple of Osiris at Abusir* Ancient Temple
 75.5km ESE 114° Naucratis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 79.8km ESE 122° Imau Temple of Sekhmet Ancient Temple
 80.8km E 89° Buto Ancient Village or Settlement
 86.4km ESE 106° Sais* Ancient Temple
 168.6km ESE 113° Bubastis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 170.6km SE 138° Djedefre's Pyramid Pyramid / Mastaba
 171.7km SE 125° Leontopolis Ancient Village or Settlement
 178.4km SE 138° Giza Plateau* Pyramid / Mastaba
 178.6km SE 138° Senegemid Mastabas* Chambered Cairn
 178.6km SE 138° Seschemnofer III. Mastaba* Pyramid / Mastaba
 178.6km SE 138° Giza Mastaba Cemetery* Pyramid / Mastaba
 178.7km SE 138° Khufu's Pyramid* Pyramid / Mastaba
 178.7km SE 131° Heliopolis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 178.8km SE 138° Khafre's Pyramid* Pyramid / Mastaba
 178.9km SE 138° Menkaure's Pyramid* Pyramid / Mastaba
 179.3km SE 138° Great Sphinx* Ancient Temple
 179.4km SE 138° Giza Valley Temple* Ancient Temple
 179.4km SE 134° El Zadalek Island Obelisk* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 179.6km SE 138° Heit el-Ghurab* Ancient Village or Settlement
 179.9km SE 134° Museum of Egyptian Antiquities* Museum
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Les Peintures du Rocher du Château

Bluestonehenge >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Free book with orders of £10 or over in our shop

Free book with orders of £10 or over in our shop

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Serapeum at Alexandria" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
* Culture * Heritage Threshold to Cleopatra's mausoleum discovered off Ale by Andy B on Monday, 28 December 2009
(User Info | Send a Message)
They were one of the world's most famous couples, who lived lives of power and glory – but who spent their last hours in despair and confusion. Now, more than 2,000 years since Antony and Cleopatra walked the earth, historians believe they may finally have solved the riddle of their last hours together.

A team of Greek marine archaeologists who have spent years conducting underwater excavations off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt have unearthed a giant granite threshold to a door that they believe was once the entrance to a magnificent mausoleum that Cleopatra VII, queen of the Egyptians, had built for herself shortly before her death.

They believe the 15-tonne antiquity would have held a seven metre-high door so heavy that it would have prevented the queen from consoling her Roman lover before he died, reputedly in 30BC.

"As soon as I saw it, I thought we are in the presence of a very special piece of a very special door," Harry Tzalas, the historian who heads the Greek mission, said. "There was no way that such a heavy piece, with fittings for double hinges and double doors, could have moved with the waves so there was no doubt in my mind that it belonged to the mausoleum. Like Macedonian tomb doors, when it closed, it closed for good."

Tzalas believes the discovery of the threshold sheds new light on an element of the couple's dying hours which has long eluded historians.

More in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/dec/23/cleopatra-mausoleum-discovery-alexandria
[ Reply to This ]

Giant monolith from a submerged Alexandrian temple resurfaces by Andy B on Monday, 28 December 2009
(User Info | Send a Message)
A piece of history resurfaces. After 14 centuries, a giant monolith from a submerged temple was raised from the seabed in Alexandria last week, Nevine El-Aref watched the dramatic recovery

There was more activity than usual in Alexandria's Eastern Harbour last week as a team working offshore made preparations to ready the dock for the unloading of a giant piece of history. An enormous yellow crane stood ready to lift a pylon, or ceremonial entrance tower, belonging to the Ptolemaic temple of Isis Lochias which has been under the sea for 14 centuries.

Meanwhile, five underwater archaeologists in diving gear were inspecting the planned route on the seabed along which pylon tower would be moved.

The event was watched by 1,000 or so Egyptian and international journalists, TV anchors, photographers and producers as well as curious local people. It was planned that the media observe the event from the deck of a yacht, however, this wasn't possible due to the bad weather that hit Alexandria

The weather also interfered with plans for raising the pylon. After mud and scum which clung to the surface of the pylon, a huge, single block of granite was removed, the monolith was dragged across the seabed for three days from its original position at Shaba to bring it closer to the harbour edge for its final extraction.

At 2pm sharp the crane moved, and onlookers had their first glimpse of this hitherto virtually unseen piece of Ptolemaic architecture. Weighing nine tonnes and at 2.25 metres tall, the pylon looked beautiful as it surfaced, touching the air for the first time since the shoreline collapsed and the sea moved in at some time around the seventh century BC. The piece was a single slab cut from the red-granite quarries of Aswan and was once part of Isis Lochias Temple, which was located alongside Queen Cleopatra's intended mausoleum in the sunken Royal Quarter beneath the waters of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour.

After being raised and safely brought ashore, the pylon tower was transported to the Roman theatre where it will be fully cleaned and restored in preparation for becoming the centerpiece of an underwater museum which will eventually be constructed offshore in the Stanley area of Alexandria. The museum will exhibit more than 200 objects raised from the Mediterranean seabed.

"This is an important part of Alexandria's history and it brings us closer to knowing more about the ancient city," said Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, who was present at the event. He described the pylon tower as unique among Alexandria's antiquities.

The pylon was not discovered until 1998, when it was found along with 400 other artefacts by a Greek archaeological mission working with divers from the Underwater Archaeology Department in Alexandria. At the time they were conducting a comprehensive archaeological survey in the coastal area of Shatbi.

The pylon is the first submerged artefact to be lifted out of the sea since 2002, when the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) prohibited the removal of any submerged objects.

Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA, explained that behind prohibiting the extraction of submerged historical pieces were two reasons. On the one hand, the SCA is conducting an extensive archaeological and cultural project with UNESCO to study all the procedures necessary to build a new underwater museum in Alexandria. On the other hand, extracting further pieces would require more time as would the cleaning of the objects from accumulated salts

When the planned museum is in place, visitors will be able to enjoy an underwater tour walking along special tunnels among the various sunken objects. "If the study shows it's possible, this could become a magical place, both above and underwater," Hawass said.

"If you smell the sea here, it means that you are smelling the history of ancient Alexandria," Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Ibrahim Da

Read the rest of this post...
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.