Divers discover Greek cemetery in submerged Egyptian city | Abroad

The ship sank in the 2nd century BC. According to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, the ship is a classic 25-meter-wide Egyptian warship with oars and a sail.

A fragment of the old ship.

Ⓒ REUTERS

The ship was buried under a layer of mud five meters deep, the ministry said. One of the researchers told local media that it was special that such an ancient fast ship was found.

City

Thônis-Heraklion was for centuries the main city of the region and the main port of entry into the Mediterranean for Egypt. Many Greek merchants lived in the city, hence the Greek cemetery, which dates from the beginning of the 4th century BC. The cemetery was next to a temple in Amun. The temple and the tombs ended up in the Nile at the same time and the human remains of Greeks and Egyptians are now mixed. It was probably due to an earthquake.

Researchers at work.

Ⓒ VIA REUTERS

Amon was the supreme god or the creator god in Egyptian mythology and was worshiped in many places.

Alexander The Great

The city lost power after Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC. Thônis-Heracleion completely disappeared in the Nile in the following years due to earthquakes and high waves, with much of the Nile Delta. In 2001, the city was discovered in a bay near Alexandria.