Revealing Rome in Alexandria
By
Jill Kamil
Before the Roman ruins at Kom Al-Dikka could be exposed, mountains of earth had to be removed from what was once a dump heap which had been further raised as an artillery position in Napoleon's time. Beneath the dump, Muslim cemeteries were revealed, themselves spread over Byzantine ruins. And, eight metres beneath the level of modern Alexandria, the Polish mission found monumental red-brick baths dating from the fourth century with an adjoining cistern, and a small theatre with marble tiers of the same period. Both buildings opened to the west into a large open space lined with columns, the agora of late antique Alexandria.
Some 230 metres from the eastern colonnade of the agora lies within the Kom Al-Dikka concession, and these columns have been partly raised. It extends as far as the farther side of Nabi Daniel Street, where a column of the opposite row can be seen. North-south, the agora extended from Hurriya Street to a point somewhere under Midan Gumhuriya.
During the sixth century, the eastern side of the agora underwent reconstruction and a succession of meeting rooms were built within the colonnade. The theatre was also transformed: a dome was constructed over the tiers of steps, thus creating a huge lecture hall in line with the smaller rooms. This discovery was exciting because it was soon clear that the Polish mission had in fact put a finger on the very centre of intellectual life in Alexandria in the sixth century.
It has also proved possible to touch earlier remains, down to the first century BC. Residences of the wealthy inhabitants of the city lined the streets originally laid down by Alexander and his heirs, and while the houses of the earlier Ptolemaic period are hardly accessible, the later ones, with wall paintings and fine mosaic floors have been preserved, and, as in the "Villa of the Birds", restored.
This housing was destroyed at the end of the third century and replaced by public buildings, the baths, the theatre, and the lecture rooms.
The theatre is currently being used as a backdrop for various cultural events, and the bird mosaics can be admired inside a glassed-in shelter.
