Archaeologists Discover Ancient Greek Roman Building in Egypt's Sinai

CAIRO - 31 July 2019: The Ministry of Antiquities announced the discovery of part of a huge building from the Greek-Roman era, and many evidence confirm that it is the senate, but nothing was official announced yet. The discovery was made by the Egyptian expedition working in North Sinai.

Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector Ayman Ashmawy stated that the building is built of red bricks and limestone, and is about 2,500 square meters. It has a rectangular shape from the outside with circular strips from the inside. It has a main gate on the eastern side that flows to the main street of the ancient city of Belozium, a part of which was revealed during the excavations this season.


As for the interior design of the building, Head of the Central Department of Antiquities in Lower Egypt Nadia Khader said that it consists of the remains of three circular stands that were used for sitting; the thickness of each stand is 60 cm. It is built of red brick and coated with marble. At the middle of the third stand, the mission found the remains of parts of the foundations of the main building, which is rectangular and constructed of red brick. The mission was also able to identify parts of the city's old streets.

Director General of the Antiquities of North Sinai Hisham Hussein said that during the fifth and sixth centuries AD, the building was used as a quarry where stones, bricks and columns were taken from their original places to be used in constructing other buildings in later periods within the city. The mission found during excavations in the region the remains of columns and pillars of columns, as well as crowns, tassels and tiles of Mosaic and colored mortar; all were extracted from their original places in the discovered building.