Heracleion artifacts

A statue was hidden for more than 1200 years in the sunken city of Heracleion, near Alexandria, Egypt. Credit: Facebook/Contemporary Explorations in Mythology LLCAuthorities in Egypt have arrested two men for attempting to steal hundreds of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts from the bottom of the sea, the country’s interior ministry said in a Monday statement.The men took the artifacts from the sea floor of Abu Qir Bay, near the port city of Alexandria, the ministry said. The ancient cities of Canopus, Heracleion and Menouthis lie submerged beneath the waters of the bay.When confronted by authorities, the men said that had planned to traffic the items, according to the ministry. The men obtained all of the antiquities by diving to the bottom of the sea, it said.Almost 500 ancient Greek and Roman artifacts confiscated in EgyptSome 448 objects were taken by the men, the ministry statement said, including 305 coins, 53 statues, 41 axes, 14 bronze cups, 12 spears, and three statue heads.The items date back to Greek and Roman Antiquity, a period that lasted about 900 years, from around 500 BCE to 400 CE.Photographs released by Egypt’s interior ministry show the items after they were seized.The artifacts, turned turquoise by layers of patina, depict objects and people from the era they are from. Some statues depict ancient soldiers in uniform, while others appear to be people draped in fabric.The coins are also intricately carved, featuring depictions of animals including lions, elephants, turtles, dolphins, and scorpions. Two coins appear to show the immortal winged horse Pegasus from Greek mythology.In ancient times Abu Qir Bay was surrounded by marshland and contained several islands. As early as the 7th century BC, port cities were established on the bay.Artifacts recovered from underwater citiesThe bay now contains the underwater archaeological sites of three cities from the pre-Hellenistic, Hellenistic and Roman periods. The eastern part of ancient city of Canopus is submerged in the bay, along with the remains of Menouthis and its sister-city Herakleion–Thonis which now lies 7 kilometers offshore.The lost city Of Heracleion, once the largest port in Egypt, was discovered underwater after over 2,000 years in the year 2000. Its legendary beginnings go back to the 12th century BC, and it has many links to Ancient Greece.Flourishing as long ago as the waning days of the Pharaohs, the city was destroyed over time, as it was weakened by a combination of earthquakes,

Archaeologists have found artifacts from the sunken ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion. They found wicker baskets still filled with fruit from the fourth century BCE. Thonis-Heracleion was an ancient Egyptian city that is now submerged. See more stories on Insider's business page. Archaeologists have discovered a trove of ancient artifacts from the fourth century BCE, including wicker baskets filled with fruit and Greek ceramics. The discoveries were made in the ruins of the sunken ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion, which was Egypt's largest Mediterranean port for centuries until Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BCE. The artifacts were found by a team of researchers from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, or IEASM, led by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio, who discovered the ruins two decades ago. Goddio told The Guardian that the discoveries were "incredible" and that the fruit baskets had been untouched for over 2,000 years. "Nothing was disturbed," Goddio told The Guardian. "It was very striking to see baskets of fruits." The wicker baskets were filled with doum, fruit from an African palm tree, and grape seeds. Goddio theorized that the fruit might have been preserved because they were placed in an underground room, possibly with a funerary connotation, The Guardian reported. The discoveries were made near the site of a large tumulus, a burial mound, which had been previously explored by the team. The tumulus, which is 197 feet long and 26 feet wide, was "covered with sumptuous funerary offerings" dating back to the beginning of the fourth century BCE, the IEASM said, CNN reported. The team described the tumulus as being like a kind of island surrounded by channels. "Everywhere we found evidence of burned material," Goddio said, CNN reported. "Spectacular ceremonies must have taken place there." The researchers also found ancient Greek miniature ceramics and bronze artifacts, including mirrors and statuettes of Osiris, the ancient Egyptian fertility god. "There's something very strange here," Goddio told The Guardian. "That site has been used maybe one time, never touched before, never touched after, for the reason that we cannot understand for the time being. It's a big mystery." Goddio said the site must have been sealed for hundreds of years as they have found no objects from later than the early fourth century BCE, even though the city existed for hundreds of years after that. The discovery "beautifully illustrates the presence of Greek merchants and mercenaries

Ancient authors such as the Greek historian Herodotus from the 5th century BC wrote about Heracleion, a great temple city in honor of Amun, the Egyptian god of the sun and the air. Amun was one of the most important gods during the New Kingdom from about 1570 to 1069 BC. The city, Thonis-Heracleion, which had become more legend than fact, was discovered in 2001 by Franck Goddio and the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology.This is the city where Paris and Helen hid before the Trojan War and the city that hosted Herakles. Four hundred years later, Strabo, the Greek geographer and historian, wrote that Heracleion was located east of Canopus near the mouth of the River Nile. Some historians also believe Cleopatra III was installed as Pharaoh in this temple.Heracleion was built in about the 8th century BC on sandy and hard clay soil that was already being permeated by water when the city was active. With the rise and fall of sea levels and earthquakes that frequent the area, Heracleion eventually slipped under the water where it rests now at about 1500 feet, according to Ancient Origins.#Heracleion was an ancient #Egyptian city located near the Canopic Mouth of the #Nile, about 32 km northeast of Alexandria. Its ruins are located in Abu Qir Bay, currently 2.5 km off the coast, under 10 m of water. #AncientSiteSunday pic.twitter.com/d43tNqi5pj— Digital Maps of the Ancient World (@DigitalMapsAW) September 22, 2019While Goddio was aware of the myth of the underwater city, he wasn’t sure that it actually existed until he was searching for Napoleon’s warships from the Battle of the Nile in 1798 and found the remains of the base of the temple, according to Franck Goddio. The farther he moved around the area, the more artifacts and evidence of structures he found making his discovery arguably as important as the opening of King Tut’s tomb in 1922.The Lost City of Heracleion. Once a bustling metropolis, this long-lost Egyptian city flooded, sank, and was forgotten — until archeologists rediscovered it. #Heracleion— Talking Pyramids💬 (@Bennu) August 20, 2019While not as rich or opulent