The
Catacombs of Kom es-Shouqafa
These tombs were tunneled into the bedrock in the age
of the Antonine emperors (2nd century A.D.)for a single
wealthy family still practicing the ancient religion. As a
privately financed project, it is an engineering feat of
some magnitude. These tombs represent the last existing
major construction for the sake of the old Egyptian
religion. They are alone worth the trip to Alexandria.
Though the funerary motifs are pure ancient Egyptian, the
architects and artists were schooled in the Greco-Roman
style. Applied to the themes of Ancient Egyptian religion,
it has resulted in an amazing integrated art, quite unlike
anything else in the world.
A winding staircase descends several levels deep into
the ground, with little chapels opening from it, furnished
with benches to accommodate visitors or mourners bringing
offerings. There are niches cutout to hold sarcophagi.
Vestibule and Central Tomb Chamber
These are the main chambers. They are lit by a single
electric light bulb that throws the chamber into green, a
perfect staging for that composite art. In the center of
the facade, the familiar solar disk is carved below frieze
of serpents. Left and right are two serpents wearing the
crowns of upper and lower Egypt. These are not the lithe
cobras of Saqqara or Thebes. They seemed to be designed as
modern book comics. In the Tomb Chamber, the dead lies on
a lion-shaped bier attended by Horus, Thoth, Anubis, and
other familiar funerary deities and funerary equipment:
Canopic jars, the priest in his panther skin, and the king
making an offering to the deceased in the form of Osiris.
These figures are rendered in Greco-Roman style. To the
traditional scenes are added bunches of grapes, Medusa
heads, and a variety of Greek and Roman decorative
devices. The overall impression conveyed is not easily
analyzed and yet is unmistakable.