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Archaeological site in the Mediterranean Sea (symbol)
Photo: Sybille Reuter / iStockphoto / Getty Images
An earthquake, a huge landslide, a tidal wave - the Egyptian city of Thonis-Herakleion in the Nile Delta was once devastated by the forces of nature.
For more than 2000 years, the remains of their buildings have been about ten meters deep in Abu Kir Bay, east of today's Alexandria in the Mediterranean.
Archaeologists regularly make exciting discoveries there.
Wrecks, statues and stone tablets with inscriptions were uncovered.
By deciphering them, Egyptologists were only able to prove that they had found Herakleion.
This is what the Greeks called the place, the Egyptians named it Thonis.
Hence the double name.
Experts have now discovered parts of a military ship that is more than 2000 years old in the sunken ancient city.
It was a 25-meter-long galley, which was equipped with oars and a large sail, announced the Ministry of Antiquities in Cairo.
Extremely rare find
The research team discovered the ship during underwater excavations, it said.
In the 2nd century BC it was hit by stone blocks from the nearby Amun temple in a catastrophe and sank.
Ships from this period are considered extremely rare.
To this day, the remains of Thonis-Herakleion and Canopus lie off the north coast of Egypt.
In their heyday, both cities were important trading ports.
The taxes and import duties levied there served as an important source of income for the rulers in ancient Egypt.
In addition, the places were important religious centers.
Alexander the Great had the city of Alexandria named after him built nearby in the year 331 AD.
The most important evidence of Thonis-Herakleion can still be found under water: Experts from the European Institute for Underwater Archeology (IEASM) around founder Franck Goddio have already discovered more than 700 ancient anchors and 16 wrecks from the 6th to 2nd centuries BC .
And more finds are considered more than likely.
chs / joe / dpa
