Beneath the shimmering waters off the Egyptian coast lies an ancient city that was lost more than a thousand years ago. Tunis-Heraklion, a legendary Egyptian port city that mysteriously disappeared after sinking into the Mediterranean, has been rediscovered in recent years, revealing a vast treasure trove of ancient Egyptian and Greek artifacts. We used ChatGPT to extract the details from the depths of the internet.
The amazing discovery was made by a team of archaeologists who were on a mission to uncover the secrets of this underwater city. Tunis-Heraklion, located in Abu Kir Bay, right at the mouth of the Nile Delta, was in its heyday a bustling metropolis and a political powerhouse. It served as a gateway to Egypt for ships arriving from Greece, and was the focus of important ceremonies of the country's rulers.
However, a series of natural disasters, including rising water levels, earthquakes and a devastating tsunami wave, led to liquefaction of the city's foundations. Over time, it was simply swallowed up by the Mediterranean, completely disappearing by the eighth century. The only memory left of it for humanity was references to it in scattered ancient texts and inscriptions.
Only in 2000 was the city rediscovered by archaeologist and president of the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology, Frank Gudio, and his team, in collaboration with Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Since then, they have continued detailed survey work to uncover the sunken remains of the city, buried beneath layers of sediment.
The latest excavation revealed a temple to the god Amun who is considered the king of the Egyptian gods, making this temple a place where the pharaohs sought blessings upon their rise to power. Among the amazing objects discovered in the temple treasury were gold jewelry, a symbolic "Jed pillar" made of lapis lazuli ("azure", a gemstone that looks like blue marble), silver trays and an alabaster container used for perfumes and tugs during ceremonies. The rarity of silver in ancient Egypt emphasized the great grandeur of this temple.
Not all artifacts are made of precious metals, yet they were of deep archaeological importance. Thus, for example, wooden structures interwoven with papyrus from 500 BC, which were probably parts of the base of the temple, were exposed.
The excavation also revealed a sacred site for ancient Greek rituals. East of the Temple of Amun, archaeologists discovered bronze and ceramic artifacts dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. This suggests that the ancient Greeks who traded in Tunisia-Heraklion had a significant presence in the city about 2,500 years ago.
In addition, the presence of weapons at the site indicates the employment of Greek mercenaries, who were apparently tasked with defending the city during its heyday.
These findings are not the last to be found in the sunken city, of course, and it is likely that we will hear about additional discoveries in its territory.
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