Naukratis, a small town on the Nile Delta in Egypt, is emerging as a major Greek trading hub following excavations by the British Museum. Dr. Ross Thomas told British newspaper, Guardian, that the ancient city of Naukratis (meaning “mistress of ship”) was the “Hong Kong of its era”.

British archeologist Sir Flinders Petrie was the first to have located the site in 1884. The site “occupied a special place in the minds of scholars and a general public alike, speaking particularly to romantic minds.” Situated on the Canopic (western) branch of the Nile, Naukratis has been excavated multiple times since it was first discovered in the 19th century. The discovery of the city proved that Greeks had visited Egypt well before Alexander the Great’s reign. It proved that Greeks had landed in Egypt four hundred years than originally thought. The establishment of Naukratis is believed that it is the first and oldest Greek colony in Egypt.

The excavation revealed evidence of more than 10,000 artifacts though the site was believed to have been fully harvested of its archeological trinkets. Wood from Greek ships and relics from the “festival of drunkenness” were also retrieved. Best of all, archeologists found evidence of a 1,000-year-old trading network that began in the 7th century BC.

Naukratis was initially believed to have been about 30 hectares, however it is now speculated that it could have been twice that size and a trading center. Thomas says there is evidence of “tower houses” and apartment-like structures ranging from three to six stories in height. “We should imagine a mud-brick Manhattan, populated with tall houses and large sanctuaries, befitting a large cosmopolitan city,” says Thomas.

The British Museum will feature peaces unearthed as part of its Sunken Cities exhibition to open in May 2016.

Naukratis today: