This tomb is called « The Hall of Caracalla » for the following reason. A great quantity of skulls and bones of horses and men were found here by the late Dr. Botti, who, to explain their presence, connected them with the massacre of the youths of Alexandria by the order of Caracalla. He supposed that the unfortunate young men pursued by the Emperor's soldiers hoped to save themselves by hiding with their horses in the catacombs, but they were stoned to death in their place of refuge.

The hypothesis is not improbable, but one cannot say that it is at all certain.

A large mosaic of geometrical design formerly existed on the summit of the hillock which covers the catacombs. The inclemency of the weather and proposed excavations have caused us to transfer it to the Museum. A beautiful view over the western suburbs of the town, the harbour, and Lake Mareotis can be obtained from this site.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. Les Bas-reliefs de Kôm-el-Chougafa édités par la Société Archéologique d'Alexandrie. Texte par FR. VON BISSING. Dessins par GILLIERON; Die Nekropole von Kôm-esch-Schugâfa, Ausgrabungen und Forschungen herausgegeben von E. SIEGLIN, bearbeitet von TH. SCHREIBER, Leipzig, 1998. Band I Text S. XVI, 417 in Gross-Folio, Band II S. VIII u. 70 Tafeln.

THE NECROPOLIS OF ANFUSHY

This Necropolis is reached by crossing Mohamed-Aly square and following the streets called Franque, Masquid Terbana, and Ras-el-Tin. The two most important tombs of the Anfushy Necropolis are handsome specimens of the Alexandrian tombs of the Ptolemaic period. These two hypogea, which are independent of one another and are hollowed out of the rock, present a remarkable analogy both in plan and decoration We will designate the southern tomb as No. I and the northern as No. II (see adjoined plan drawn up by E. Simond Bey the fig. 246).

No I. We enter a quadrangular atrium by a stairway hollowed out of the rock and turning almost at right angles halfway down its length. Two burial-places, lying respectively south-east and north-east, open out of this atrium, which is common to both. Each of them consists of a long vestibule intended for the funeral ceremonies and a smaller mortuary chapel, entrance to which is gained by mounting two or three steps.

We stop on the landing when we have descended the first half of the stairway. The roof of this stair is vaulted, and the side-walls are coated with a covering of plaster on which is painted a dado resting on a base of greyish-yellow colour in imitation of alabaster slabs; above the dado are rectangles representing a construction in opus isodomum.

On the upper part of the landing-wall two scenes are painted. The first on the left of the stairway is completely effaced On the other the god Horus is seen with a falcon's head, wearing the klaft. He is standing up, his head turned towards the right, and he is trying to draw the deceased towards a place to which he points with his right hand (the west, or the kingdom of the dead).

The deceased, wearing a long robe and a kind of helmet, is looking towards the right at a person who is apparently speaking to him and is offering him, a vase with his left hand. This figure is wearing a robe which covers the chest and body down to the knees, and has a wig on the head bound by a golden circlet with a ribbon at the back and a uraeus on his forehead. It is probably a representation of Osiris. Isis stands behind him, also looking at the deceased. Her long robe leaves

her breasts and one arm exposed. She wears a golden circlet on her head with a diadem. This appears to be the scene of the lustral water.

On descending the second half of the staircase, the vault of which is decorated with lozenge-shaped geometrical designs, a third picture is seen in front of us, placed high on the wall. Only the right half of it still exists. The scene must have been the introduction of the deceased to Osiris, god of the Dead, who is represented sitting on a very ornamented throne to the left. The god wears mummy-swathings, the solar mitre on his head, and holds the flagellum and the divine sceptre in

his hands. The dog Anubis takes part in the reception and looks on at the scene. Horus, carrying a vase in his right hand, advances towards Osiris, and introduces the deceased to the God of the Dead; the figure of the deceased is almost completely effaced.

We now enter the atrium (measuring 5 m. 40 by 4 m.) whose walls still preserve traces of decoration in the same style as that of the staircase walls, known as the first Pompeian style or incrustation style.

The entrance into tomb A (see plan) is on our right hand. The vestibule is almost quadrangular in shape. For some unknown reason the decoration of the walls was never completed; the walls are covered with a layer of white stucco only, but they still retain inscriptions and drawings sketched in black outline (dipinti) which are not lacking in interest. These

<< dipinti seem to have been done by some artisan who was working in the hypogeum, an extempore artist who drew boats and even a man's head, a caricature maybe of one of his companions. See on the left-hand wall the sketch (oxiá) of Antiphilos by Diodorus, who naturally wrote the inscription too. On the right-hand wall there is a drawing of a boat with its sail spread out and a vessel which recent investigations have proved to be a war-ship, with a turret, the « navis turrita » of the Romans.

The door into the funerary chapel is in the middle of the wall at the end of the vestibule. We enter it by two low steps. The architrave over the door was formed of a frieze of uraei and surmounted by a winged solar disk. The dark interior is devoid of any decoration.

We now return to the atrium in order to enter tomb B, which is in a better state of preservation and prettily decorated (fig. 247). First of all we notice that the chamber before us has received two successive coats of decoration. In certain spots the more recent coating has fallen away and left an older decoration exposed, which is of the same style as that on the staircase: a rather high dado imitating alabaster or marble slabs on a greyish-yellow base. Above the dado and up to the cornice there is a design of rectangles in imitation of opus isodomum, outlined in reddish brown. The later decoration consists of a dado imitating an alabaster facing, but the space between this course and the cornice which surmounts the wall is decorated with great richness and variety. Over the dado are three rows of small black and white squares, like a draught-board, then a narrow strip in imitation of ala