Catacombs of Kom el Shogafa ....
In 331, Alexander the Great, also called "the beloved of Amon, Chosen of Re", traced the first plans to found a city in what then was the ancient Racotis, in the mount of the Nile. Even though this city was erected on Egyptian territory, it was subject to Greek influence.
This city already has since the time of its foundation, and even before, rests of old necropolis, among which the catacombs are included which were excavated in the underground, where numerous Alexandrian citizen, either Greeks or Romans, wished to continue with the ancient customs of the Egyptian burial in their particular manner. This fusion complemented the Egyptian motives with the Roman and Hellenistic motives.
The Necropolis of Anfushi is located in the Island of Pharos, whose origins date back from the III century till the I century b.C. Even though the tombs' style is pompeian, the central themes are Egyptian. The access to these catacombs takes place by descending through a sort of sunken courtyard which directs to individual rooms where the corpses of the deceased rested, not incinerated but inhumated. The most important catacombs are the catacombs of Kom al-Sufaga, which contain tombs dated from the I century b.C. till the II. There was an access to these catacombs through a pit with stairs, after having descended several floors people arrived to the distributor, usually circle-shaped, and before arriving to the funeral chamber we would run into the Triclinium, which the typically Roman dining room destined to funeral meals. After running through several vestibules people would arrive to a main tomb, whose antichamber is decorated with a great portico with each columns of floral capitals on the sides, and on the threshold, a frieze of cobras framing a winged solar disc observe us. This main chamber contains a sarcophagus of stone whose decoration consists in a set of fig leaves and head of the goddess Medusa, Hellenistic elements par excellence. Over the sarcophagus we find an Egyptian scene, where we see the Pharaoh offering a pectoral to the bull Apis, after which Isis is located (I will immediately attach it because it's worth seeing). I now attached the above described image over the portico because it is really beautiful. To confeccionate a family or corporate tomb an array of floors. In the interior of the same underground necropolis of Kom al-Sufaga we also find the so-called Caracalla's room, famous for its precious stones of Egyptian theme, even though the decorative style continues to be Hellenistic.On the ceiling is the omnipresent Medusa, and at the back of the room, Isis and Neftis keep the mummy of Osiris.
Antoni Menéndez
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