The catacomb of Kom El-Shuqafa is one of Alexandria's most memorable monuments. the Great Catacomb defies comprehensible description. Its vast, intricately decorated interior spaces cut at so great a depth into the rock present an enormity of experience outside the normal human realm and tell us of a level of technological expertise equaling enterprises of modern subways and tunnels while far surpassing them in aesthetic response. These catacombs date back to the late first century AD. Kom El-Shuqafa lies on the site where the village and fishing port of Rhakotis, the oldest part of Alexandria that predates Alexander the Great, was located. They are situated in the Karmouz district of western Alexandria, which is now one of the most densely populated districts of Alexandria. This district itself was used by Mohammad Ali Pasha to defend the city. Then the area was destroyed in about 1850. On its western side, as usual in Egyptian funerary practices, lies its “City of the Dead.” However, while the ancient Egyptians mummifed their dead, the Hellenistic custom was for cremation. This area used to contain a mound of shards of terra cotta which mostly consisted of jars and objects made of clay. These objects were mostly left by those visiting the tombs, which would bring food and wine for their consumption during the visit. However, they did not wish to carry these containers home from this place of death. The catacombs are unique both for their plan and for its decoration which represents a melding and mixing of the cultures and traditions of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. It was a place where people seemed to have a talent for combining rather than destroying cultures. Though the funerary motifs are pure ancient Egyptian, the architects and artists were clearly trained in the Greco-Roman style. Here then, we find decorations related to ancient Egyptian themes, but with an amazing twist that makes them quite unlike anything else in the world. The catacomb is composed of a ground level construction that probably served as a funerary chapel, a deep spiral stairway and three underground levels for the funerary ritual and entombment. The first level consists of a vestibule with a double exedra, a rotunda and a triclinium. The second level, in its original state, was the main tomb, with various surrounding corridors. It was reached by a monumental staircase from the rotunda. The third level is submerged in ground water, which has also caused it to be saturated with sand. The Catacomb is one of the most inspired monuments of Alexandrian funerary architecture, following the conceptual design laid down in the Ptolemaic period, but disposing the elements of the tomb on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. At Kom el-Shuqafa, a shaft about six meters in diameter contains both the spiral staircase, which is preserved to a height of about ten meters, and the central light well around which the steps wind. Most other tombs at Alexandria have square shafts, but this one is round. These shafts were not only used to light the tombs, but to lower the bodies of the deceased down to the actual burial area. The wall that encloses the stairwell and separates it from the light well consists of squared blocks pierced by arched windows that have slanted sills in order to direct light downward onto the stairs. There are ninety-nine steps that decrease in height as they approach the surface, so that at the top there is almost no steps at all. This was designed for the tomb visitors so that after viewing the deceased in the lower levels, the climb back up to the surface would become easier as the visitor became tired from the climb out. This spiral staircase only went as low as the first floor and lead to a vestibule with two, opposed niches, known as exedrae. These were actually seats where visitors could rest. The niches were paved with alabaster and sheltered with shell style conch-shaped semi-domes. The ceiling of these niches were in the form of a semi dome ornamented as a shell. This type of design can be dated to the Antoinini period of Roman rule, or about the second century AD. There are also some remains a mosaic floor.