Archaeologists have found rare remains of a military vessel and a Greek funerary complex at Thonis-Heracleion in an ancient sunken city that once served as Egypt’s main Mediterranean port.
The find was made during underwater excavations at Thonis-Heracleion, a one-time bustling metropolis that sat on the edge of the Nile river where it meets with the Mediterranean sea.
Thonis-Heracleion was for centuries considered Egypt’s largest port in the area until Alexander the Great founded the coastal city of Alexandria in 331 Before Christ (BC).
The city, submerged following a series of earthquakes and tidal waves, was discovered in 2001.
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The Egyptian-French archaeological mission of the European Institute of Underwater Archeology (IEASM), working in Alexandria, discovered the wreck of a warship from the Ptolemaic period, and the remains of a Greek funerary area dating back to the beginning of the fourth centuryBC pic.twitter.com/hdT7WJToZL
— Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (@TourismandAntiq) July 19, 2021
“An Egyptian-French mission… found the debris of a military vessel from the Ptolemaic era and the remains of a Greek funerary complex dating to the fourth century BC,” the antiquities ministry said.
Read more: RFI
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