Tour Guide, Cairo, Egypt
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The Crusaders named this pillar “Pompey” because they mistakenly thought that Pompey’s head was buried on top of it. But Pompey himself has killed in the year 48 BC, and the column was erected later, in the year 292 AD. Originally this column was taken from the magnificent temple of Serapis. It is made of pink granite, the capital is in Corinthian style, and its base is 26.85 meters high; it has a diameter at the bottom of 2.7 meters and the top – 2.3 meters.
Around this column, we find the following.
Scarab – made of pink granite, the second-largest in Egypt. It has no inscription, but from the way of construction, we can assume that it belongs to the New Kingdom and exactly to the 18th dynasty.
Three sphinx statues – the first and the third are made of pink granite; they belong to Ptolemaic times 4 or 6. In the center is another black granite sphinx with the head missing. These sphinxes bear a hieroglyphic inscription with the name Hormoheb – the last king of the 18th dynasty.
There are human statues – the first one is made of pink granite and belongs to Ebsmatik – the founder of the 26th dynasty. It shows the King on his knees. The top of the statue is now missing. On the back and the base of this statue, there is a hieroglyphic inscription with the name Ebsmatik. The second statue is also made of pink granite and represents Ramses II. Sitting on his throne holding the haka – sceptre, and nekhekh – the scourge in another hand. His heads are missing, and on the base of the statue, we find both the names of Ramses – wser ma’at ra step en ra, ra mes su. The statue is made of granite and belongs to Ramsess II, who holds the sanctuary in both hands. The upper part of this statue is also missing. It is known that Cleopatra the 7th brought these 3 statues from Heliopolis to decorate the temple of Serapis.