Archaeologists Make New Discoveries at Ancient Temple in Sunken City off Egypt's Coast

ARTnews ^ | September 20, 2023 | Francesca Aton

[SunkenCiv]

A team of underwater archaeologists has made new discoveries at a sunken temple in the ancient port city Thonis-Heracleion, which is now located off Egypt's coast, the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) announced on Tuesday.

The city, which was initially found underwater by the IEASM in 2000, was once Egypt's largest port along the Mediterranean Sea. That port was active for centuries before the founding of Alexandria in 331 BCE. Its remains are now under the ocean roughly 4.3 miles from the current coastline.

Led by French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, the team found huge blocks of stone from a collapsed ancient temple dedicated to the god Amun. Pharaohs went to the temple to be bestowed with their power as king.

Additionally, the team found precious objects, among them silver ritual instruments, gold jewelry, and alabaster containers for perfumes and ointments. These objects are thought to have once belonged to the temple treasury.

Excavations conducted by Goddio's team and the underwater archaeology department of Egypt's ministry and tourism department yielded underground structures supported dating back to the 5th century BCE. Before these structures sunk, they were supported using wooden posts and beams. The use of new geophysical prospecting technologies, which make it possible to detect buried chambers and objects, aided in the find.

A Greek sanctuary to Aphrodite containing bronze and ceramic objects was unearthed east of the Amun temple. Archaeologists believe that the discovery of Greek weapons in the area indicated the presence of mercenaries who would have been defending access to the Kingdom. It also demonstrates that Greeks were allowed to trade and settle in the city during the Saïte dynasty (664–525 BCE).

[SunkenCiv]

© Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation. Photo Christoph Gerigk

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of three keywords, sorted:

• Fruit baskets from fourth century BC found in ruins of Thonis-Heracleion [08/15/2021]
• Archaeologists find ancient Egyptian shipwreck that sank 2,200 years ago when it was hit by falling blocks as temple of Amun was destroyed by a massive earthquake [07/27/2021]
• Discovery of the ruined temple in the ancient sunken city of Heracleion, Egypt [12/14/2020]
• Nile Shipwreck Discovery Proves Herodotus Right [03/23/2019]
• Found: A Ship Once Described By Herodotus [03/23/2019]
• 10 Mysterious Underwater Cities You Haven't Heard Of [12/14/2014]
• An Ancient City Is Discovered Underwater. What They Found Will Change History Forever [12/07/2013]
• Underwater Archaeologist Franck Goddio Finds 1,600-Year-Old City that Vanished 1,200 Years Ago [06/18/2013]
• Sunken Egyptian city reveals 1,200-year-old secrets [05/01/2013]
• Research Sheds Light On Ancient Egyptian Port And Ship Graveyard [03/29/2013]
• Salvaging Cleopatra's Watery Palace [05/26/2010]
• Raising Alexandria [ from 2007 ] [10/11/2008]
• Earliest Reference Describes Christ as 'Magician' [ sez Ogoistais ] [10/06/2008]
• Egypt's Sunken Treasures reveals lost world [12/16/2006]
• Murder, Mayhem and Mystery on Display [Ancient Alexandria] [05/13/2006]
• Cleopatra's gems rise from the deep [05/11/2006]
• ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient Alexandria Emerges, By Land and By Sea [02/26/2005]
• New astonishing finds in Aboukir! [01/30/2004]
• A Thousand Relics Found in Egypt [01/30/2004]
• Bronze Artifacts Found Off Egypt's Coast [01/18/2004]
• Floods Swept Ancient Nile Cities Away, Experts Says [10/18/2001]

[Getready]

If those underwater cities had expensive objects still in the ruins, wouldn’t it mean that the inundation by water was fast. Otherwise the people would have taken the stuff away before the complete flooding.
So they had rapid climate change, I guess. Even in those times..

[frank ballenger]

RE: So they had rapid climate change, I guess. Even in those times..

Yes, the SUV tire tracks and the plastic straws and fast food drink lids show they were on a downward earth stewardship trend at the end.

[deks]

This port flourished at the mouth of the Nile in the seventh century BC. The port city was also known as Thonis to the Egyptians and Heracleion to the Greeks. It flourished as a vital center for trade and culture, and then disappeared when it was suddenly flooded.

At the end of the second century BC and possibly after a severe flood, the land on which the central island of Heracleion was built underwent soil liquefaction, solid clay quickly turned into liquid and buildings collapsed in the water. A small number of residents remained in the Roman era and the beginning of the Arab conquest, but by the end of the eighth century AD, what remained of Thonis sank under water.

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/116264/Thonis-Heracleion-An-ancient-Egyptian-city-that-sank-under-water

[Vendome]

Someone should rub that lamp and see what happens

[mass55th]

I've been following Franck Goddio's work for many years. He has a YouTube channel, although the videos are slim to none. If anyone's interested, this is his website:

Franck Goddio

[JParris]

And cow farts. Don’t forget the cow farts.

[himno hero]

Yep, all that arctic ice melting due to industrial glass furnaces and human commerce.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks m. Also there are probably a bunch of documentaries — some by vloggers, but also avast-ye-swabs “borrowed” stuff from pros — on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrpkwLSzxZ_gTJLj7nKfVhQ

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Franck+Goddio

[frank ballenger]

RE:And cow farts. Don’t forget the cow farts.

I won’t.
Much as I try to.🐄🐄

[mass55th]

Yep...thanks SunkenCiv.