Mons Porphyrites
Hello my dearest friends and archeological enthusiast,
today I hope to give you an insight into a rare piece of human history. Into a archeological site that is neither well-excavated nor robbed. Maybe the distant location or the scorching sun are the factors that let you see this beautiful piece of the ancient world.
If you ever are in Hurghada and you don’t mind a 3 hour car ride from the Egyptian coast of the Red Sea deep into the mountains you might be up for the challenge. The Red Sea Mountains are very special and interesting, especially because of how rarely tourists enter the region. Getting a permit and paying a Bedouin to guide you is the easy part of the journey, opposed to the excruciatingly difficult hikes and climbs that wait for you if you want to visit the place where ancient times are still visible.
If you don’t know what place I’m talking about, it’s Mons Porphyrites or in its current name Gebel Abu Dukhan. I will split this post in 2 sections based on the different interests of people reading them: 1. The History of the site 2. The hike itself.
Gebel Abu Dukhan used to be the only legitimate source of imperial purple porphyrite used for special purposes. The purple stone was used almost exclusively by the emperors for special purposes like sarcophagi (Constantine’s Mother Helena), columns, statues. Even Byzantine emperor-heirs were called “porphyrogennetos", born in the purple, after the porphyry-lined room in the palace where they came into the world. The quarry was discovered in the early 1st century AD and was worked for roughly 400 years. Huge blocks were cut high up in the mountains, slid down steep ramps that you can still see today, and then dragged about 150 km across the desert along the Via Porphyrites to the Nile at Qena. From there they went by boat to Alexandria and on to Rome. At the site you can still find the remains of a fort, workers' houses, a temple of Serapis, and half-worked blocks lying exactly where they were abandoned almost 1,600 years ago. The archeological site is well preserved and very untouched. Even today archaeologists come to work on the vast site. There are about 5 main complexes to be noticed. At first when entering the mountain range you can see an old platform for a stable. There the blocks officially left the quarry-region and headed out of the valley into the desert. After about an hour of driving you find a water-well with a few old ruins around them. Before reaching the main and third complex you see many sites where potential houses or working places could have been. At the main complex you find a large Roman fort on an elevated position, many ruins of old Roman houses and a temple, as named earlier the temple of Serapis. The forth site is very small. It’s just one building, that is already in an elevated position about 600m above sea level. It’s there because from the position of the main complex the summit of the mountain and consequently the main quarry aren’t visible, so archaeologists have concluded, that this probably is a light tower, that was meant to alarm the fort/town if something happened on the summit and the other way around. The last site is a rather large village laying about 100m from the summit. You can count about 20 houses along the main pathway to the summit (it’s not really a pathway see hike section). Finally when you reach the top you see the huge blocks of the royal stone. Along the way you can find many things including pottery and pottery shards, porphyrite (a lot of it but please don’t take any), writing in stone even coins can be and were found at the site. I recommend it a lot for all Roman fans if you have any questions let me know down below :)
The Hike:
Calling this a hike is like calling Nero a good emperor. It’s not a hike and if you have never done any scrambling and small hiking this might not be for you. It took us about 4 hours with some breaks and about 20 minutes of photographing time on the summit. To reach the real summit however expect to do some free climbing on a 5 high wall so definitely ask your Bedouin guide for help. Remember that there is no phone service, no mountain rescue and no shelter along the way or even in a proximity. It takes 3 hours by car to drive there. So this is a risky situation, where you are at the mercy of your own abilities. This climb is hard and requires a lot of fighting on the way and dealing with constantly moving stones under your feet. If you take 5 litres of water and some bananas you should do it though. Even though this mountain isn’t very high I’d still say it’s a challenging hike and definitely harder of what you mostly get in Europe (even on higher mountains.) hate me as much as you want, but I first ask you to climb a big pile of pebbles that are constantly moving in 39 degree heat and a 18kg pack because your girlfriend “forgot” her backpack.
Hope you had fun reading and if you ever decide to go too I wish you a nice trip :) v