In the past few months divers at Heracleion have discovered what can only be described as a treasure trove of artifacts from the site. Among the recent discoveries are gold
jewelry, coins, and a missing piece of a large ceremonial boat that, when
complete, measured 43 feet in length and 16 feet across. According to
Egypt’s Ministry of
Antiquities, they also discovered two previously unearthed temples: the first was large and included
stone columns while the second, smaller temple was crumbling and buried beneath 3 feet of sediment. Goddio and
his team discovered the artifacts by using sophisticated underwater scanning
tools that can locate and produce images of items buried under the seabed.
To date the excavation has also uncovered 700 anchors, 64
ships, numerous other
gold coins, tiny sarcophagi used for the
animals that were sacrificed to Amun-Gereb, a number of colossal
statues like that of Hapi, and the temple of Amun-Gereb itself.
Many of the coins found at Heracleion date to the time of
King Ptolemy II, who ruled
Egypt from 283 to 246 B.C..
Ptolemy II’s father
had been a companion and bodyguard of
Alexander the Great and he participated in Alexander’s
military campaigns in Afghanistan and
India. Some have even claimed that
Ptolemy I was Alexander’s half-brother. After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.,
Ptolemy became the governor of
Egypt and he and
his successors styled themselves as the new pharaohs in
Egypt. When Heracleion was first discovered it was the huge
statues of
Ptolemy II and
his queen (and sister), Arsinoe, that helped draw attention to the site. The
statues were so large that the ceiling of the British Museum
had to be dismantled before they could be exhibited
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