monument · c. 298 CE

Diocletian's column ("Pompey's Pillar")

Known · ExcavatedExistence: ExcavatedKnown · ExcavatedLocation: ExcavatedKnown · ExcavatedForm: Excavated

A granite column set up in the Serapeum precinct about 298 CE in honour of Diocletian, after his siege of the city. It has nothing to do with Pompey; it is the one great standing monument of the Serapeum.

The evidence: Standing, with its dedicatory inscription on the base.

Within The Serapeum.

Diocletian's column
On the plan of the city, in its own line: solid where the position is known, dashed where it is conjectured.

This place through time

  1. c. 298 CE · Its standing years, as excavated and described.
  2. 297–298 CE · Diocletian's siege; the books on gold-making burned; Zosimos Known: attested

In the show

The show has not yet spoken of Diocletian's column ("Pompey's Pillar").

Sources (2)
  • J. S. McKenzie, S. Gibson and A. T. Reyes, "Reconstructing the Serapeum in Alexandria from the Archaeological Evidence", Journal of Roman Studies 94 (2004) 73–121
  • J. McKenzie, The Architecture of Alexandria and Egypt, c. 300 BC to AD 700 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007)