Kom el-Dekka was a hilly pasture garden during the Ptolemaic period known as the Park of Pan. Its limestone summit was carved in the shape of a pinecone, a phallic symbol, and thus a sacred icon. In later centuries, the Romans built villas and public buildings over the park. When excavating the site, archaeologists found on top of the garden second century AD Roman baths and ninth century Moslem tombs
