This day was our last working day in Egypt. Mons Claudianus was our destination. This was another mining town, much better preserved than Mons Porphyites. Our trip was a much smoother ride. Most of what should have been an extremely bumpy ride, was a nicely paved road that had opened only a few days before we arrived. Charles and I were re-united in Tamer’s Land rover. Tamer showed us Google Maps on his ever present iPhone. It showed us our gps location and the site of Mons Claudianus and was able to work even without a cellular signal.
We went off road not too far from what Italian archeologists believed was a Roman aqueduct. We exited our vehicles to inspect it. Ken seemed dubious about the evaluation. There were no signs of pottery tubes or a trough or hydraulic cement. We followed a path parallel to the “aqueduct”, Tamer pointed out small stone buildings he believed to be guardhouses. This was roughly the same path the cut stone from the quarry would follow.
A little farther down the road we found a ruined Roman water station. Here we found our first samples of quartz diorite. Quartz diorite could be cut into huge columns and was the second most favored stone of the Romans, right behind porphyry. Inside the water station we found a water reservoir lined with hydraulic cement. The village supporting the water station was well preserved, the interior walls still standing. Ken told us not to bother spending much time here. The main site of Mons Claudianus was much better preserved.
Mons Claudianus was much larger. Our Land rovers parked just outside the village. Half hewn columns and piles of broken pottery lay just outside the walls. We found well-preserved pieces of potter on top of a huge abandoned quartz diorite column drum. We walked around the outer walls of the main site before entering. The wall was well preserved, still standing as high as 16 feet. Some of the towers were still stood.
We walked around to the opposite side. The town was built near the mining site itself. A huge ramp just outside the town lead to the quarrying site. We entered the town itself. It was the most well preserved Roman site I had seen save the ruins of Vesuvius. Some doorways and halls were still preserved. One room had the original plaster intact, some of the coloring was still visible.
We found an entire enclosed room with its lintel column supported roof intact. Because of the smallness of these rooms it was thought that these small rooms were slave houses. However, pay records were found. These were skilled workers paid time and a half to work in such remote sites.
Leaving the city we walked up the ramp to quarry site. The recent flash flood had washed out half the ramp. From the top of the ramp we could look down upon the whole of the ruins of Mons Claudianus. At the top of the ramp was abandoned stone work. A path led onwards to the quarry site. We saw stone masons marks in the living rock left behind two thousand years ago. Over the hill we saw the valley where much of the quarrying had taken place. Dotting the valley was a dozen or so circular stone buildings whose purpose was unknown to us: possibly guard posts, storage, lighting towers or kilns?
As we walked further we saw a giant column abandoned two thousand years ago. While working on the column it had cracked. At least three sets of repairs could be seen on the column, but the crack had spread even further. We gathered by it, taking turns walking the length of it.
We walked down the valley. Along the way I gathered some genuine Egyptian sand promised to a coworker. The Land rovers couldn’t meet us at until we reached the bottom of the valley; the rains had washed out the road. We gathered up at a rocky outcropping at the bottom of walk and headed down the road in the Land rovers.
We stopped where centuries ago the Romans had left behind several pillars. Tamer had set up a lunch buffet a top one of the pillars. Lunch was flat bread sandwiches, fresh fruit and a variety of juices. After lunch we gathered around a pillar and had our group photo.
We started on our way home. Along the way we stopped at a Roman water station. A modern road had been built just a few hundred feet away from it. It was a walled fort with one principal tower rising above all. An ancient well eighty to a hundred feet deep was protected inside the walls. There were no protective barriers along the well and it was a little scary edging closer to the well to a get a glimpse of the shimmering hint of water below.
Finally, we walked a great distance of the length of what the Italians regarded as an aqueduct. At points we could see what appeared to be a trough. But inside there was no evidence of piping or hydraulic cement. We heaped disapproval at their hasty judgment, but couldn’t offer a better reason for this walls existence.
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