• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Long-Lost Treasures And Temple Found Among Sunken Ancient City

September 27, 2023 by Deborah Bloomfield

More ancient treasures have been recovered from the sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt. Among the underwater ruins of a fallen temple, the team uncovered a collection of valuable items, including gold relics, ornate jewelry, ceramics, perfume decanters, and gifts to the gods.

The artifacts were discovered at the site of an ancient Egyptian port city near the Mouth of the Nile called Thonis-Heracleion. In its heyday some 2,300 years ago, the city was known as the Venice of the Nile and is thought to be one of the biggest ports in the Mediterranean at the time. 

Advertisement

At some point during antiquity, the city was submerged in the wake of rising sea levels and earthquakes followed by tidal waves triggering land liquefaction events. All in all, around 110 square kilometers (42 square miles) of the Nile Delta totally disappeared under the sea, including the city of Thonis-Heracleion.

After being discovered in 2000 CE, Thonis-Heracleion has since been the scene of numerous archeological excavations, the latest of which was carried out by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), led by Franck Goddio in a joint mission with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

A delicate bronze duck-shaped pourer is discovered amongst ceramics of the 4th century BC on the site of a newly discovered Greek sanctuary to Aphrodite in Thonis-Heracleion.

A delicate bronze duck-shaped pourer is discovered amongst ceramics of the 4th century BC on the site of a newly discovered Greek sanctuary to Aphrodite in Thonis-Heracleion.

Image courtesy of Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.

A gang of diving archeologists focused their efforts on the city’s south canal. Here, they discovered the submerged stone block and wood beams of a once-great temple that collapsed during a cataclysmic event that struck the area in the second century BCE.

This was a temple to Amun, the god of the air who was one of the most significant deities in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. Owing to the importance of the temple, the excavation revealed an array of precious artifacts, including silver ritual instruments, gold jewelry, and fragile alabaster containers for perfumes.

Advertisement

“It is extremely moving to discover such delicate objects, which survived intact despite the violence and magnitude of the cataclysm” Franck Goddio, President of IEASM and director of excavations, said in a statement sent to IFLScience.

Gold objects, jewelry and a Djed pilar, symbol of stability, made of lapis lazuli were retrieved. Thonis-Heracleion, 5th century BC.

Gold objects, jewelry and a Djed pilar, symbol of stability, made of lapis lazuli were retrieved. Thonis-Heracleion, 5th century BC.

Image courtesy of Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.

A short swim from the temple, they also discovered the ruins of a Greek sanctuary devoted to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, which yielded discovered like important bronze and ceramics. 

“This illustrates that Greeks who were allowed to trade and settle in the city during the time of the Pharaohs of the Saïte dynasty (664 to 525 BC) had their sanctuaries to their own gods. The presence of Greek mercenaries is also seen by numerous finds of Greek weapons. They were defending the access to the Kingdom at the mouth of the Canopic Branch of the Nile,” the IEASM said in the statement. 

Thonis-Heracleion is just one of the long-lost cities in the Mediterranean being investigated by this team. Elsewhere in Egypt, there are also efforts to explore the sunken ruins of Canopus, as well as parts of ancient Alexandria that have been lost to the sea. 

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Colombian lawmakers approve $4 billion tax reform after protests
  2. ECB to mull upping regular bond purchases after emergency scheme: Bloomberg
  3. Chalo raises $40 million to digitize bus commutes in India
  4. What Happens If A Black Widow Bites You?

Source Link: Long-Lost Treasures And Temple Found Among Sunken Ancient City

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • Manta Rays Dive Way Deeper Than We Thought – Up To 1.2 Kilometers – To Explore The Seas
  • Prof Brian Cox Explains What He Finds “Remarkable” About Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Story
  • Pioneering “Pregnancy Test” Could Identify Hormones In Skeletons Over 1,000 Years Old
  • The First Neolithic Self-Portrait? Stony Human Face Emerges In 12,000-Year-Old Ruins At Karahan Tepe
  • Women Are Diagnosed With ADHD 5 Years Later Than Men, Even With Worse Symptoms
  • What Is Cryptozoology? We Explore The History And Mystery Of This Controversial Field
  • The Universe’s “Red Sky Paradox” Just Got Darker: Most Stars Might Never Host Observers
  • Uranus And Neptune May Not Be “Ice Giants” But The Solar System’s First “Rocky Giants”
  • COVID-19 Can Alter Sperm And Affect Brain Development In Offspring, Causing Anxious Behavior
  • Why Do Spiders’ Legs Curl Up Like That When They’re Dead?
  • “Dead Men’s Fingers” Might Just Be The Strangest Fruit On The Planet
  • The South Atlantic’s Giant Weak Spot In The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing
  • Nearly Half A Century After Being Lost, “Zombie Satellite” LES-1 Began Sending Signals To Earth
  • Extinct In the Wild, An Incredibly Rare Spix’s Macaw Chick Hatches In New Hope For Species
  • HUNTR/X Or Giant Squid? Following Alien Claims, We Asked Scientists What They Would Like Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS To Be
  • Flat-Earthers Proved Wrong Using A Security Camera And A Garage
  • Earth Breaches Its First Climate Tipping Point: We’re Moving Into A World Without Coral Reefs
  • Cheese Caves, A Proposal, And Chance: How Scientists Ended Up Watching Fungi Evolve In Real Time
  • Lab-Grown 3D Embryo Models Make Their Own Blood In Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough
  • Humans’ Hidden “Sixth Sense” To Be Mapped Following $14.2 Million Prize – What Is Interoception?
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version