Mountain of the Dead
A Necropolis in the Desert
On the edge of the Siwa Oasis, a limestone hill rises from the desert, its slopes pierced by hundreds of dark openings. This is the Mountain of the Dead—Gebel al-Mawta, the “Mountain of the Dead.” From a distance it looks almost like a honeycomb carved into stone, but step closer and each hollow reveals itself as a tomb, a gateway to eternity.
The tombs date back to the Late Pharaonic, Ptolemaic, and Roman periods, when Siwa was both remote and yet connected to the wider world. Carved directly into the rock, these chambers were final resting places for priests, nobles, and citizens of the oasis. The walls of some glow with faint traces of paint—reds, blues, and ochres that once brought gods and prayers to life.
For centuries, the hill stood largely forgotten, its tombs sealed in silence. But during World War II, Siwans are said to have taken shelter here from Italian air raids. It was then that many of the tombs were rediscovered, their walls revealing scenes of ancient devotion and artistry that had slept beneath the sand.
Experience It
Among the hundreds, a few stand out:
The Tomb of Si-Amun – richly painted, blending Egyptian deities with Greco-Roman style.
The Tomb of Niperpathot – showing traditional Egyptian funerary art.
The Crocodile Tomb – named for the figures of crocodiles, symbols of the god Sobek.
These chambers tell of a community that lived between cultures, merging traditions of Egypt with echoes of Greece and Rome.
Climbing the hill today, the view opens across the date palms of Siwa and the shimmer of its lakes. Below lies life, green and thriving. Within the hill lies silence, the memory of those who believed in eternity. The Mountain of the Dead is not grand like the pyramids, nor vast like the Valley of the Kings—but it carries a quieter, haunting power. It is the story of a people on Egypt’s desert edge, whose dead still rest where sand meets sky.
Here, a different kind of experience takes place