"An ancient Egyptian city found 6.5 km off of modern Egypt's coastline..."(LINK)
Posted on 12/07/2013 12:44:04 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The city of Heracleion was engulfed underwater 1500 years ago. This grand city had been mentioned by the Greek writer Herodotus, the 5th-century BC historian. He had told a wonderful tale of Helen of Troy, who traveled to Heracleion, then a port of 'great wealth', with her Trojan lover, Paris.
When French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio stumbled upon some relics, it led them to one of the greatest finds of the 21st century; a city underwater. The discovery took place when Goddio had been in search of Napoleon’s warships from the 1798 Battle of the Nile, when he had been defeated by Nelson in these very waters, but to his surprise, he stumbled upon this magnificent discovery.
The discoveries include the colossal statues of the Egyptian goddess Isis, the god Hapi, and an unidentified Egyptian pharaoh, all preserved in excellent condition by their muddy burial shroud. Along with these 16ft statues there are hundreds of smaller statues of Egyptian gods, among them the figures that guarded the temple where Cleopatra who was inaugurated as Queen of the Nile. Dozens of sarcophagi have also been found, containing the bodies of mummified animals sacrificed to Amun-Gereb, the supreme god of the Egyptians. Many amulets, or religious charms, have been unearthed, too, showing gods such as Isis, Osiris and Horus.
Evidence shows that Heracleion slipped into its watery grave sometime in the 6th or 7th century AD. The discovery of Heracleion will now add depth and detail to our knowledge of the ancient world, because among the discoveries, there are perfectly preserved inscribed pillars decorated with hieroglyphics.
Thanks for posting this article. Look forward to all articles on archaeological finds.
Awesome....
Very; thanks for posting. I think the name of the site is Sunny Skys, rather than Sunken Skys. Come to think of it though. . .
SunkenCiv - Ping.
If the city was underwater wouldn’t everyone be wet all the time....?
I’d like to know how an entire city came to be inundated like this. Obviously the sea level rose, but how? Sport Utility Chariots belching CO2?
If the city was underwater wouldn’t everyone be wet all the time....?
Just because civilization was still primitive doesn’t mean the people were stupid. They probably used umbrellas.
The pics are worth seeing!!!
This is not just any find... the statues and the massive tablets look almost NEW. I’ve never seen anything that old preserved so well.
Can’t wait to get some high res pics of those after they are brought up.
And that bronze statue... much of that stuff dates BC. Can you believe the quality of it? It’s preserved condition really shows that we underestimate what their artisans were capable of. I mean, just LOOK at that thing.
Thanks for the link. That was great.
For those of us today who follow and learn from history and not try to re write it, nice!
"An ancient Egyptian city found 6.5 km off of modern Egypt's coastline..."(LINK)
Would be nice if the article explained what causes a city to slip into a sea. What is the possibility of a modern city doing the same thing today? It just happened 1,400 years ago. Less than a minute ago in the earth’s history.
From everything I’ve been able to find so far, sea levels have been pretty stable over the last 3000 years, and around 500 AD especially. There have been some periods of slight rises, but nothing to put a city underwater as seen in the photos @ the link. I’d guess at subsidence during a large seismic event. The Mediterranean region is very active...
http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/the-dynamic-earth/anatolian-history/#page=1
You know, that possibility also occurred to me. I'll bet that was what did it.
I was stationed in the Sinai desert for a year back in the late 80s and I remember the discussions that earthquakes had caused some of the port cities to submerge and others to be pushed upward and out of the sea’s reach. All along the northern Sinai there are the remains of Roman outposts between al Kantara (near the Suez Canal) and el Arish (near the Israeli border). During routine patrols in that area it was easy to find the remains of Pelusium - where Cleopatra was unrolled in front of Caesar - and Petrocine with its graving docks and baths. A short stroll unearthed lamps, small statues, coins, and bronze arrowheads. That part of the world is loaded with archeological treasures but the attitude of the Egyptian authorities was “if it isn’t Islamic, we don’t care”.
Also, the city is in the Nile Delta area. The ground was “sinking sand” to begin with, since the river constantly deposits silt, shifts its channel, and generally restructures the topography all the time. Add in earthquakes and storms, and a nice port city can easily be left submerged, like Caesaraea Maritima, or high and dry.
Think of New Orleans and the Mississippi Delta area or the river-mouths area we call Bangladesh. It doesn’t take sea-level changes to make the situation unstable.
Is that what happened in Detroit ? Heard that they are underwater too.
LOL!
Oh, sorry, I’d have included you as a recipient to my post 12, but I was on the comment page and had gone reading for a while...
As far as the “possibility” goes, I’d say it’s just a matter of time. You’ll find that article I linked to pretty fascinating, I think. Sobering, too. I sure did.
Yes. Any area with any depth of sediments is vulnerable. The New Madrid (MO) earthquake(s) were an excellent example (and will be again).
Al Gore finds proof of man made global warming when, “An Ancient City Is Discovered Underwater. What They Found Will Change History Forever”
How do you change history? Is it done by executive order?
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