Catacombs. ALEXANDRIA. 2. Route. 13
(p. 15). The old entrance has been restored, and the exploration of
the interior is facilitated by wooden bridges and electric light. Ad¬
mission 5 pias. (tickets obtainable also at the museum).
A Winding Staircase (PI. A), with a large circular'light-shaft,
descends into the catacomb; adjacent is a Sarcophagus Chamber
(PI. R) of later construction. From the entrance to the upper floor
(B), on each side of which is a semicircular recess, we enter a large
Rotunda (C). In the middle of this, covered by a kind of cupola,
is a shaft leading to'the lower stories. To the right lie two Smaller
Rooms (D, E), with niches and sarcophagi. Above the latter are
loculi or niche-tombs. To the left is the Triclinium I"unebre
(PI. F), a large room with a ceiling borne by four pillars. Three
wide platforms or divans have been hewn out of the rock for the
banquets held in honour of the deceased. — The Staircase (G),
which commands a good view of the chief sepulchral chambers,
divides farther down into two flights, flanking the entrance to the
lower story (H) and leading to the Vestibule (J) of the grave-
chapel proper.
The facade of the vestibule is articulated by two Egyptian col¬
umns, with elaborate flower-capitals, which bear a frieze adorned
with the winged solar disk and with sparrow-hawks; above this is
the flat arch of the pediment. Inside , in deep niches to the right
and left, are the Statues of the deceased and his wife, carved in
white limestone in the Egyptian style. The door in the rear-wall of
the vestibule is surmounted by the winged sun's disk and a Uraeus
frieze. To the right and left, on pedestals, are two large serpents
with the Egyptian double crown, the caduceus of Hermes, and the
thyrsus of Dionysus. Above are shields with heads of Medusa.
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