🏛️ Mons Claudianus Day Trip to the Roman Quarries

Explore the ancient Roman quarries in the Eastern Desert

Embark on a journey to Mons Claudianus, one of the largest and most famous Roman quarries in the Eastern Desert. Discover the history of this ancient site, see the ruins of a Roman settlement, and marvel at the massive stone columns and structures left behind.

🌟 Key Highlights 🌟

📅 Tour Program

📜 Mons Claudianus History

Mons Claudianus was a quarrying settlement in the Eastern Desert, midway between the Red Sea and the Nile. Discovered in 1823 by Wilkinson and Burton, the quarries operated between the 1st and 3rd centuries. The site housed an estimated 1,000 people, including quarrymen and guards, and was connected to the Nile by a Roman road marked by way-stations.

The stones from Mons Claudianus were used in iconic Roman structures, including the Pantheon in Rome, the Basilica of Trajan, the Flavian Palace, and the Baths of Caracalla.

🏛️ Mons Claudianus Highlights

• Numerous columns, tubs, and baths still lie broken but intact.
• Ruins of a temple started by Emperor Hadrian but never completed.
• Camp, dwellings, workshops, stables, and a dromos (processional way).
• Surviving facilities that show how quarrymen accessed and transported stone.

🍴 Mons Claudianus Life

Between 1987 and 1993, 9,200 ostraca (pottery fragments) were found, detailing the lives of the men, women, and children who lived here. The ostraca reveal four groups of people:

• Soldiers and officials
• Skilled civilian workers
• Unskilled workers
• Women and children

Workers earned around 47 drachmas a month, twice the wage of their counterparts in the Nile Valley. The diet included fish from the Red Sea, pepper from India, game animals, snails, oysters, and locally grown vegetables like cabbage, lettuce, and mint.

📦 Inclusions & Exclusions

⏰ Tour Details

Duration:

5 hours

Type:

Private

State:

Hurghada

Runs:

Daily

Pickup Time:

05:00 AM

Return Time:

01:00 PM

🎒 What to Bring

📸 Adventure Gallery 📸