S"2 



TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



Pompey's pillar, the obelhks, and Subterraneous citterns, 

 are all the antiquities we find now in Alexandria; thefe 

 have been defcribed frequently, ably, and minutely. 



,The foliage and capital of the pillar are what feem ge- 

 nerally to difpleafe ; the fuft is thought to have merited 

 more attention than has been bellowed upon the capital. 



The whole of the pillar is granite, but the capital is of 

 another flone; and I fhould fufpect thofe rudiments of 

 leaves were only intended to fupport firmly leaves of me- 

 tal* of better workmanfhip ; for the capital itfelf is near 

 nine feet high, and the work, in proportionable leaves of 

 flone, would be not only very large, but, after being finifh- 

 ed, liable to injuries. 



This magnificent monument appears, in tafle, to be the 

 work of that period, between Hadrian and Severus ; but, 

 though the former erefred feveral large buildings in the eafl, 

 it is obferved of him he never put infcriptions upon them. 



This has had a Greek inscription, and I think may very 

 probably be attributed to the time of the latter, as a monu- 

 ment of the gratitude of the city of Alexandria for the be- 

 nefits he conferred on them, efpecially fince no ancient 

 hiflory mentions its exiilence at an earlier period. 



I apprehend it to have been brought in a block from the 

 Thebais in Upper Egypt, by the Nile ; though fome have 



imagined 



*We fee many examples of fuch leaves both at Palmyra and Baalhec. 



