Pompey’s Pillar (Arabic: عمود السواري, romanized: ‘Amud El-Sawari) is the name given to a Roman triumphal coloumn  in Alexandria,Egypt. Set up in honour of the Roman emperor Diocletian between 298–302 AD, the giant Corinthian column originally supported a colossal porphyry statue of the emperor in armour. It stands at the eastern side of the temenos of the Serapeum of Alexandria, beside the ruins of the temple of Serapis itself.

It is the only ancient monument still standing in Alexandria in its original location today

Pompey’s Pillar in Alexandria

is a Roman triumphal column in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. It is the largest of its type. In fact, it constructed outside of the imperial capitals of Rome and Constantinople. Pompey’s Pillar Alexandria is the only which known free-standing column in Roman Egypt. Moreover, it not composed of drums. It indeed is one of the largest ancient monoliths. Moreover, it is also one of the largest monolithic columns which ever erected. The monolithic column shaft measures 20.46 m in height with a diameter of 2.71 m at its base. The weight of the single piece of red Aswan granite estimated at 285 ton. Pompey’s Pillar Alexandria is 26.85 m high including its base and capital . Other authors give slightly deviating dimensions. It dates back to the time of Pompey.

Further details about Pompey’s Pillar Alexandria : Crusaders believed, that ashes of the great Pompey were in a pot at the top of the column. It was in the middle ages the. In fact, it was a mistake. Thus today it called “Pompey’s Pillar”. Around the commemorative Column of Diocletian there are some monuments that can seen. On the backside, there is the remains of a Serapium, or a temple of the God Serapis .

Construction

In 297 Diocletian, Augustus since 284, campaigned in Egypt to suppress the revolt of the usurper Domitius Domitianus. After a long siege, Diocletian captured Alexandria and executed Domitianus’s successor Aurelius in 298. In 302 the emperor returned to the city and inaugurated a state grain supply. The dedication of the column monument and its statue of Diocletian. In the fourth century AD this designation also applied to Serapis, the male counterpart of Isis in the pantheon instituted by the Hellenistic rulers of Egypt, the Ptolemies. The sanctuary complex dedicated to Serapis in which the column was originally erected, the Serapeum, was built under King Ptolemy III in the third century BC and rebuilt under roman rule, likely in the late 2nd to early 3rd century CE, being completed under Emperor Caracalla. In the later fourth century AD it was considered by Ammianus a marvel rivalled only by Rome’s sanctuary to Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill, the Capitolium.