KOM EL-DIKKA AND THE ALEXANDRIA NATIONAL MUSEUM
We were treated to a nice late wake-up this morning before heading off to Kom el-Dikka, a site in use roughly from the mid-4th through mid-7th centuries. The director of the project, Grzegorz Majcherek, led us around the place on an exclusive tour (other tourists were jealous and kept following us around, only to be deterred by Monika, our Lady Defender).
Kom el-Dikka is centrally located, and at the same time representative of ruins from the Ptolemaic Era through the Islamic Period. There is a great (I think the biggest we’ve seen) baked-brick bath complex, the kilns from the construction of which were uncovered under meters of neatly-layered ash across the dirt road in the center of the site. Examining the ash layers was such a treat for us (and probably for Dr. Majcherek) because they are so clean-cut!
Certainly the most unexpected elements of the site were the limestone amphitheater-shaped classrooms built along a central portico, proof that some university system existed at this time in Alexandria (there were several laws during the 5th century that forbade the teaching of law in the city and made it illegal for state-sponsored professors to teach privately, if I’m not mistaken, so it was refreshing to see it still flourishing).
Another interesting element was the rock grid laid out on the dirt surface next to the ash pit: it’s the remnant (and ongoing remains) of a contemporary solution to the age-old problem of pottery sorting. The ceramicists working at Kom el-Dikka use stones to form outlines around piles of pottery and marble found in each sector; I never got to watch the other students sort pottery on-site, but I think this is a great way to go about sorting on location, which certainly beats those rubber buckets.
At the far end of the site is a glass room enclosing the remains of part of a Roman villa, with very detailed second-century mosaic floors. I couldn’t help but compare the display method employed here, which involved constructing wooden ramps above the mosaics as a sort of viewing platform, with that which I saw in Cyprus at a Roman villa near Kourion. In Cyprus, they used the same ramp design for the same purpose of viewing mosaic floors; the only difference is that the Cypriot display is much more extensive, and includes ramps that allow visitors to explore the tops of the limestone structures which still survive on the site.
After our visit to Kom el-Dikka, we went to the Alexandria National Museum. Housed in the old American Consulate building, it’s quite picturesque from the outside (an off-white exterior with lovely tall windows and black treatments). On the inside, what looks like a very expensive, well-organized display turns out to be a hassle to get through because of its angular design; it’s also filled with incomplete or incorrect labels!
The basement level is a dark maze of ancient Egyptian pieces, while upstairs a female tomb effigy is dated to 500 BCE when it’s actually from the Flavian dynastic period (I can thank the statues I studied at Kom el-Shoqafa for that identification)!
My verdict is that the Alexandria National Museum spent too much money trying to create a fancy, “modern” display, whilst neglecting to give visitors correct information and good directions to get around.
