AND LOWER EGYPT. I 23 



to me, but it was impossible for me to distinguish 

 any thing, for they are almost entirely buried un- 

 der the sand of the sea. I was farther informed, 

 that those fragments of a statue were of the most 

 beautiful porphyry. 



We have nothing beyond conjecture, more or 

 less supported by evidence, respecting the era, and 

 the motives which dictated the construction of the 

 column of Alexandria. The name Pompeys column, 

 by which it is generally designed, indicates the ori- 

 gin commonly ascribed to it. Cesar, we are told, 

 ordered it to be erected, to perpetuate the memory 

 of the victory which he had gained over Pompey, 

 in the celebrated battle of Pharsalia. Relying on 

 the testimony of an Arabian author, Savary pre- 

 tends that it was a monument of the gratitude of 

 the inhabitants of Alexandria to the Roman em- 

 peror, Alexander-Severus*. Finally, others ascribe 

 the elevation of the pillar to a king of Egypt, Ptole- 

 meus-Euergetes. 



Mr. W. Montague, whom his extensive erudi- 

 tion and singular adventures have raised to cele- 

 brity, had formed, during his long residence in the 

 East, a new opinion on the same subject. He main- 

 tained that the column was the work of Adrian, 

 another Roman emperor, who had travelled in 



* Letters on Egypt, vol. i. p. 3 7. 



Egypt. 



