'Pompey's Pillar, the sailor's landmark, and modern Alexandria, Egypt', 1905. 'The shaft before us was erected as a landmark for sailors by one of the Roman governors of Egypt, and in AD 392 one of his successors placed a statue of the emperor Diocletian upon it, which has since disappeared. In the Middle Ages it was mistakenly connected with the tomb of Pompey, who was murdered on this coast, and is therefore called Pompey's Pillar, just as the New York obelisk which once stood here on the beach north of us was called Cleopatra's Needle, although Cleopatra never had anything to do with it. This column is the only surviving monument of any size from the days of Alexandria's splendour. It is 89 feet high, while the shaft alone, which is cut in one piece, is 69 feet high. In the base there have been used blocks from older buildings, one of which bears the name of Sethos I, of the 14th century BC.' Stereoscopic card. Detail. From a series called Egypt Through the Stereoscope, text by James H Breasted.
