i2 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



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

 are all the antiquities we find now in Alexandria; thefc 

 have been defcribed frequently, ably, and minutely. 



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

 nerally to difpleafe ; the full 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 ilone; and I fhould fufpecl: thofe rudiments of 

 leaves were only intended to Support firmly leaves of me- 

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

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

 ftone, would be not only very large, but, after being fimfh- 

 ed, liable to injuries. 



This magnificent monument appears, in tafte, to be the 

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

 though the former erected feveral large buildings in the eaft, 

 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 fmce no ancient 

 hiftory mentions its exiftence at an earlier period. 



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

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



imagined 



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



