Egyptian officials said on Monday that a team of divers had discovered the fragments of a military ship in the sunken ancient city of Thonis-Heraklion – once Egypt’s largest port in the Mediterranean – as well as confirming the presence of Greek traders. A funeral complex. Reuters.
Thonis-Heraklion, who controlled the entrance to Egypt at the mouth of the Nile, dominated the region for centuries before the construction of the nearby city of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.
After several earthquakes and giant waves destroyed and sank with a large part of the Nile Delta, Thonis-Heraklion was rediscovered in 2001 at Abu Qir Bay near Alexandria, now the second largest city in Egypt.
The military boat, discovered by an Egyptian-French mission led by the European Institute of Underwater Archeology (IEASM), sank in the 2nd century BC when the famous Temple of Amun, near which the boat was anchored, collapsed.
According to preliminary analysis, the ship’s hull, with a length of 25 meters, provided with oars and a large sail, was built in the classical tradition, with characteristics of ancient Egyptian construction, the Egyptian said. The Ministry of Antiquities writes Eggpress.
In another area of the city, the archeological mission uncovered the remains of a large Greek burial area dating from the first years of the 4th century BCE, the institution also specified.
“The discovery best reflects the presence of Greek merchants living in that city,” the ministry said, adding that the Greeks were allowed to settle in those places during the last Pharaonic dynasties.
‘ They built their own temples near the huge temple of Amun. They perished together, and their fragments were found mixed with the fragments of the Egyptian temple.”
Editor: AP
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