Treasures of sunken port revealed off Egypt's northern coast
Egypt, History, 6/9/2001

Colossal statues, sunken ships, gold coins and jewellery are among the treasures newly uncovered by a team of marine archaeologists in the submerged ancient city of Heracleion off the Egyptian northern coast.

"History is materialising our hands," Culture Minister Farouk Hosni told a news conference in nearby Alexandria yesterday at which French expert Franck Goddio presented the results of what he called a "very special year" of excavation.

Goddio announced the discovery of the city itself a year ago. The archaeologist believes Heracleion, recorded as a key port at the mouth of the Nile ancient times, was destroyed by an earthquake or something similar such as a sudden catastrophic event.

The French scientist has been documenting and mapping the antiquities discovered by his team of divers at the site 6.5 km from the shores of Aboukir Bay with the help of advanced electronic technology.

Among the most remarkable findings is an intact black granite stele, or inscribed slab, almost identical to one found in 1899 that now reposes in Cairo's Egyptian Museum. Both feature an edict of Pharaoh Nektanebos the First (378362 BC) imposing a 10 per cent levy on Greek goods in favour of a temple to the goddess Neith.

The edict found more than a century ago, orders the stele to be erected in the town of Naukratis. That discovered by Goddio says it should be installed at "HeracleionThonis". The perfectly preserved stele 195 cm high, thus bolsters the case for identifying the ruined city as Egypt's Heracleion, once more the stuff of legend than history.

Goddio showed an electronic image of the site with a deep blue stripe that he said indicated the old Nile riverbed running next to the submerged city.

Goddio's team found three huge pink granite statues,one of the Nile god Hapi, the others of an unidentified pharaoh and queen-in pieces, near the remains of some thick walls.

They lay on the seabed near a granite shrine, with hieroglyphics from the Ptolemaic era- the last three centuries BC-showing that it was the sanctuary in a temple to the supreme god Amun, apparently the great temple of Heracleion.

Goddio believes a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, destroyed Heracleion, which would explain why none of the artifacts found dates back to later than the first century BC.

"During the electronic survey, we had evidence, a very strong nuclear resonance magnetic image, which shows there was some seismic fault right on the spot of Heracleion," he said.

It was obvious that there was a lot of buried ruins and vestiges in that spot." He said his team had been surprised to find that despite lying beneath the sea for centuries, remains such as a wall 150 metres long and 1.25 metres wide were very well preserved under a layer of sediment.

Goddio, who heads the Paris- based Institute of Underwater Archaeology, said a huge stone fragment, found not far from the temple was one of 15 that made up one of the biggest stele ever found in Egypt, covered with hieroglyphics and Greek inscriptions from Cleopatra's time in the first century BC.

Previous Stories:
  Important archaeological find in northwest coast   (6/4/2001)
  Remains of ancient Greek ambassadors found in Alexandria cemetry   (5/21/2001)
  Ancient tomb unearthed in Bahariya Oases   (5/19/2001)

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