Temple of Poseidon

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A wellhead in the Temple of Poseidon.

The temple is the resting place of one piece of the Armour of Horus. It, like the catacombs, is guarded by re-animated skeletons and elemental spirits.

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Summary

The Alexandrian temple to Poseidon is accessed through a flue from the Catacombs. It is of a fairly unorthodox design, as there are four wellheads to the north, south, east and west, with statues of the god behind them.

The waterflow behind the wellheads must be activated by use of the trident heads on the statues of Poseidon. Only when all four have been switched, the well in the centre is filled and Lara can safely access the sarcophagus chamber below. From here, a crawlspace offers access to the Lost Library.

There is also a metal grate that offers an exit back to the Coastal Ruins.

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Notes

There was indeed a temple to Poseidon in ancient Alexandria, as he was a Greek import. Furthermore, a sea-god such as Poseidon would have found a particular following in a port-city, where so much depended on fair winds and a lack of storms to ensure safe cargoes and ships. The temple would have flourished throughout the Ptolemaic and Roman periods also, as Alexandria was one of the two most important ports in the Roman Empire - it shipped the Egyptian grain which the citizens of Rome would make into bread (the other port was Ostia in Italy, which received the shipments).

Several emperors, such as Vespasian, became emperors on the strength of their control of the grain-ships in Alexandria, holding the city of Rome to hostage to claim the imperial throne.

However, the level does not seem to consititute a typical place of worship for either Romans or Greeks - it is possible that this area was used in some more ancient rite, (especially when considering the wellheads at the cardinal points of the compass).

However the temple of Poseidon was not the grandest religious ediface of Greek Alexandria - the Serapeum, dedicated to the Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis was much more significant.

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