Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa

December 10th, 2007 by Shenron

The Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa is a massive complex that was used from the 100’s to the 300’s AD, and held many corpses and burials of many people. It has Egyptians who were buried there, along with Romans and Greeks, and is one of the few catacombs that is multi cultural on this scale.

In the middle of this massive complex there is a spiral staircase that was for the movement of corpses down into the catacomb, and one of the most famous episode of this catacomb is the result of Emperor Caracalla. Although Emperor Caracalla was not buried here, he contributed to this necropolis’ population, with a mass burial chamber containing animals and humans massacred on his orders. The catacomb was lost for over a thousand years until in 1900 a donkey fell into one of its shafts, and lead to its rediscovery.