392 ALEXANDRIA. 
CFiAP. chamber was without ornament ; the entrance 
^. y > to it being from the north-west. Opposite to 
this entrance was a handsome square Crypt 
with three Soroi ; and to the right and left were 
other Crijptce, similarly surrounded with places 
for the dead. Over the entrance to this sepul- 
chre we observed the remarkable symbol, 
sculptured in relief, of an Orb 2v'uh extended 
tvhigs \, 
It is to this hieroglyphical sign that allusion 
was before made ; for this seems evidently to 
represent the subterraneous Sun, or Sol ixfe- 
Rus, as mentioned by Macrobius ^ ; and if the 
latter be Serapis, as it is maintained to be by 
JablonsJii\ we have almost a proof that the cir- 
l) In one of Colonel Squire's Letters to his brother, dated Alex- 
andrin, Christmas-day, 1801, it is stated, that he saw "« Crescent" over 
the entrance to the circular chamber, and tliat it is perhaps on that 
account vulgarly called " the Temple of Diana." Perhaps Colonel 
Squire mistook the Orb for a Crescent, by discernine: only a part of 
the symbol above mentioned. The author's description of the inte- 
rior of these Catacombs was, of necessity, written from memory ; it 
being almost impossible to n)ake notes while exploring them. He 
certainl y saw the symbol of the Orb with wings, as he has described 
it,: but whether it were over the Entrance to the circular Temple, or 
within the Dome of the Temple over the entrance to the " handsome 
square Crypt" mentioned above, he cannot positively affirm. 
(2) Saturnalia, lib. i. c. 19. 
(Z) VanMa. ^gypt. tom.L p. 235. Franco/. 1570. 
