Pompey's Pillar

Near the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa lies a pile of ruins with remnants of ancient walls, fragments, and rubble. Out of the ruins, the great Pompey’s Pillar rises 27 meters high towering over what used to be the famous Temple of Serapis. The pillar itself is made of red granite from Aswan and inside there is a staircase you can walk down into a substructure of chambers. It was actually built to honor the Roman Emperor Diocletian but is named Pompey's Pillar due to a historical misreading of the Greek dedicatory inscription on the base. Nevertheless, it stands grand as one of the largest ancient monoliths and one of the largest monolithic columns ever erected.It has been a historical destination in antiquity and history, being climbed by both legendary Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta in 1326 AD and Commander John Shortland of the British Navy in 1803.