In my Grandfather’s diary entry on Friday 30 April 1943, when we was on leave in Alexandria, he wrote of visiting Pompey’s Pillar in Alexandria. This photo was possibly taken on this day. The caption to the photo is what he had written on the back of the photo.
Following info taken from Wikipedia –
“Pompey’s Pillar is a Roman triumphal column in Alexandria, Egypt, and the largest of its type constructed outside the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople. The only known free-standing column in Roman Egypt which was not composed of drums, it is one of the largest ancient monoliths and one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected.”
14 Weeks Worth of Socks 
Fantastic. Monolith from Greek Monos single and lythos stone. It is amazing to think that that is only one piece. How on earth did they move it into place?
I find the skill of some of these old stone masons outstanding – they shifted some of these massive columns for simply miles! How they never broke them I do not know! I can’t even order stuff online and have it delivered unscathed.
[…] tell you why. Because the sock mistress posted a photograph Grandpa took when he was in Egypt during […]
Fascinating stories in his diary to say the least. I do need to look into this column out of curiosity and to see at least if it survived the war…
He lived – he married his girlfriend Marg and they had two children – my Dad and aunt – he lived into his 80s
Absolutely wonderful!!!
I was wondering about the column but your reply was the best! 🙂
A bit of a spoiler though 🙂
Yes, the column survived the war. We vacationed in Egypt in 2010. As I recall, only one sphinx remains, and it’s been moved close to the statue–I think due to ground erosion. I’m loving the old photos, though–so much more elegant and ‘together’ than it was in 2010.
Elouise
I see the sphinx next to the pillar was always there. My mistake.
Elouise
🙂
Great to know it survived! 🙂 I don’t know how much impact the war had on that part of Egypt.