Hundreds of ancient Egyptian-Greek ceramic artifacts and bronze treasures have been discovered in the submerged ruins of the near-legendary city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt.
They remained untouched since the city disappeared beneath the waves in the second century BC, then sunk further in the eighth century AD, following cataclysmic natural disasters, including an earthquake and tidal waves.
Thonis-Heracleion – the city’s Egyptian and Greek names – was for centuries Egypt’s largest port on the Mediterranean before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331BC.
But the vast site in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria has been forgotten until its re-discovery by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio two decades ago, in one of the greatest archaeological findings of recent times.
Colossal statues were among treasures from an opulent civilisation frozen in time. Some of the discoveries were shown in a major exhibition at the British Museum in 2016.
Goddio has been taken aback by the latest discoveries. He told the Guardian that the fruit baskets were “incredible”, having been untouched for more than 2,000 years.
They were still filled with doum, a fruit of an African palm tree that was sacred for the ancient Egyptians, as well as grape-seeds.
“Nothing was disturbed,” he said. “It was very striking to see baskets of fruits.”
"One explanation for their survival may be that they were placed within an underground room," Goddio said, noting a possible funerary connotation.
It is within an area where Goddio and his team of archaeologists have discovered a sizeable tumulus (a mound raised over graves) – about 60 meters long by 8 meters wide – and sumptuous Greek funerary offerings.
They date from the early fourth century BC when Greek merchants and mercenaries lived in Thonis-Heracleion. The city controlled the entrance to Egypt at the mouth of the Canopic branch of the Nile.
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