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Archaeologists have uncovered a pyramid-topped mud-brick tomb at Bir al-Shaghala in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis, including a 19-line Greek funerary poem in which a son addresses his dead father directly. The burial, belonging to a man named Pisechtes (also spelled Psychtis) and his wife, dates to the late third or early fourth century C.E.—about 1,700 years ago.
What archaeologists found
The discovery was reported by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities after excavations at Bir al-Shaghala, an elite necropolis serving the ancient oasis capital of Mothis. Archaeological work at the site has continued since 2002.
Visitors to the tomb descended a 14-step staircase to a sandstone entrance. Protective Egyptian imagery remains visible there, including hieroglyphic spells, a winged sun disk, two cobras and a reed-bundle motif. Inside is a mud-brick hall with a partly collapsed vaulted ceiling and two burial chambers beneath a pyramid-shaped upper section.
The architecture reflects the area’s established funerary traditions, while the objects and inscriptions show that the burial took place in the Roman period. Finds include a sandstone offering table, a sandstone purification basin, pottery and a bronze coin bearing the likeness of Emperor Constantine.
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The 19-line poem addressed to Pisechtes
A rectangular stone stela set into the southern wall carries the tomb’s most personal discovery: a 19-line poem written in ancient Greek. The text was composed by Pisechtes’ son, Sarapion, as a direct address to his father.
The inscription remembers Pisechtes as an “adviser in life,” praising his kindness and wisdom. Its emotional force comes from the way Sarapion speaks to the deceased rather than simply describing him. The poem ends with the words “Listen, father!” and asks Pisechtes to accept the funerary libations and offerings brought by his grieving children.
Classicist Angelos Chaniotis of the Institute for Advanced Study described the composition as “a highly literary and original epigram.” He was not part of the excavation team. His interpretation highlights why the stela matters beyond its literary quality: it preserves an unusually direct expression of family grief in a local funerary setting.
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Pisechtes appears to have been a prominent resident of Mothis, but the evidence does not establish every detail of his career. Some reporting suggests he may have been a judge, based on the inscription’s wording; that remains an inference rather than a confirmed office.
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The tomb was built for Pisechtes and his wife. Its scale, decorated entrance and substantial superstructure indicate an elite burial, yet the poem supplies a different kind of information from the architecture: how one family remembered an individual and performed its obligations to him after death.
What the Amduat scene means
The lintel above the entrance depicts the seventh hour of the Amduat, an Egyptian funerary composition describing the sun god Ra’s night journey through the underworld. Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said this is the first depiction of that hour identified at Bir al-Shaghala.
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The scene places the tomb within a specifically Egyptian religious framework. The protective hieroglyphs, solar disk, cobras, reed-bundle decoration and underworld imagery all belong to traditions that remained meaningful in the oasis during the Roman era.
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The tomb does not represent a simple choice between “Egyptian” and “Roman” identity. Its evidence combines Egyptian ritual imagery, a Greek literary inscription and an object associated with the Roman imperial world.
| Evidence | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Hieroglyphic protections, winged sun disk and cobras | Continuing Egyptian funerary symbolism |
| Seventh-hour Amduat scene | Use of an Egyptian underworld tradition; the first such example reported at Bir al-Shaghala |
| Greek elegy on a stone stela | Greek-language literary commemoration and a son’s personal address |
| Coin showing Constantine | Connection to the Roman-period monetary and political environment |
| Pottery, offering table and purification basin | Objects associated with burial rites and offerings |
Together, these elements illustrate the layered cultural life of the Dakhla Oasis, where Egyptian religious practices and Greek forms of literary expression continued under Roman rule.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Was the tomb reused?
A mud-brick chapel and a four-column funerary shrine in the upper section appear to belong to a later phase. Their presence raises the possibility that the monument was reused after its original construction.
The sequence is not yet certain. Archaeologists are still studying the relationship between the chapel, shrine and the main burial, so the proposed later reuse should be treated as provisional rather than as a fixed chronology.
Why this discovery matters
Hisham el-Leithy, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the tomb’s architectural elements, inscriptions and funerary texts provide information about funerary practices and the cultural and religious life of the Dakhla Oasis during the Roman period.
The poem makes that information unusually intimate. Egyptian tomb decoration and ritual equipment reveal how the dead were protected and supplied, while Sarapion’s words reveal how a surviving family member imagined the continuing relationship with his father. The final appeal—“Listen, father!”—turns a 1,700-year-old monument into a record of a specific act of mourning.
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