Ain Duheiba

Has extensive rocktombs and a ruined Doric Temple. This is sometimes claimed as Alexander the Great's burial site, which it is not.

This has become joined to shore as Lake Siwa silted up. Bathe in the hot smelly spring, have tea at the café, relax amidst the greenery and watch the sun set over the lake. It is usually idyllic but the bugs can be pesky.

Limestone hillock with many rock-cut tombs, mostly from the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. The highlight is the group of four tombs on the northeast slope (no photography within). These are the Tomb of Si-Amun with beautifully colored reliefs; the Tomb of Mesu-Isis is little decorated but contains a mummified skull; the Tomb of Per-nj-pa-thot has inscriptions and drawings; and the Tomb of the Crocodile where the wall paintings are deteriorating, but the yellow crocodile is probably the deity Sobek.

Siwa's original town, founded early 13th century and remaining the chief settlement until the 1920s. Parts of the old town walls and gates survive, along with houses and a mosque from 19th C. Wander the tiny alleys, then you can climb the hill just west which has Graeco-Roman rock tombs.

The temple, built perhaps in 570 BCE, was dedicated to Amun, the same deity as Zeus or Jupiter / Jove. The priestly oracles pronounced on propositions put to them and in 331 BCE Alexander the Great came to ask if he was the son of Zeus. He sent everyone else out of the room before receiving the answer, and afterwards enough gold was distributed to ensure that the answer was yes as he had claimed. It is called "leadership", and thus he legitimised his rule in Egypt. He intended to be buried here but lies in Alexandria at an unknown site. The temple is undecorated except for the Hall of the Sacrament. It never had a tiled roof, but palm trunks were overlain. The area became built over and the temple was lost sight of until rediscovered in 1853.