Virtual Exhibition

Bahnasa (Oxyrhynchus) from the north-west: 1981

This view links the three distinctive features of this area of the site: the dilapidated 15th century mosque of Zain el-Abidin in the background on the left, the prominent yellow dome of the 18th century qubba of Abu Samra on the right, and the stump of the Roman honorific column (the ‘Phocas pillar’) in the foreground. The collocation of these three elements helped to locate the viewpoint in the Denon drawing of 1798, showing the upper part of the column.