The sinking city into the depths3/11/2023 The Egyptians built the city upon a portion of the Nile delta. Thonis-Heracleion suffered from a flaw that undermined its overall strength. Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerigk The Demise of the Temple City Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerigk Five meters tall pharaoh, his queen and god Hapy, 4th century BC. Five meters tall pharaoh, his queen and god Hapy, 4th century BC. The Nile was also easily defensible from this location. Officials collected taxes and fees, and a huge amount of value traded hands. Ships from various parts of the ancient world dropped their anchors and unloaded their merchandise before returning home with a fresh supply of Egyptian goods to take back with them. In addition to serving as a place of worship, many official business transactions took place here. What better way to signify Heracleion’s strength than to essentially deem it the seat of a god? And so it was that their beloved Heracles became the focal point of the thriving port city and center of trade. It seems to reflect the belief by both the Egyptians and the Greeks that they were strong, proud people, as unconquerable as the mighty Hercules himself. In all cases, this mythical god-hero signified strength. Still, others claim Sesotris was the forerunner of the Greek hero. Herodotus identifies Heracles with the Egyptian god Shu. The Egyptians had their own version of Heracles and, so, shared this godlike hero. They stood at the entrance to the temple. The three large statues pictured below are a pharaoh, his queen, and the god Hapy, from left to right. Additionally, the annual Mysteries of Osiris celebration took place at the temple. This reinforces the idea that this divine city was a prominent religious site. Sixteen-foot stone sculptures and sarcophagi believed to contain mummified animals were discovered. The city was both a bustling trade port and a religious center of worship. Most significant of these is that the city boasted a huge temple constructed to honor the heroic god Heracles, hence the name, Heracleion. There are commonalities in the accounts of the old historians. Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerigk. Head of the statue of Ptolemaic queen presumed to be Cleopatra II or III. Herodotus also said Paris and Helen of Troy visited the port city. Thus, the Greeks gave Thonis the name Heracleion and built a grand temple dedicated to him. Sometime in the fifth century BCE, Herodotus wrote that the Greek god and hero, Heracles, actually first stepped foot onto Egypt at this port city. The Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily wrote about Thonis-Heracleion in his great work, Bibliotheca historica, between 60 BCE – 30 BCE. Source: Life Daily History of Thonis-Heracleionįor more than four centuries until the foundation of Alexandria in 331 BCE, Thonis reigned supreme over the Canopic portion of the Nile River. Maritime archaeologist, Franck Goddio led explorations of Alexandria, Heracleion, and Canopus. Never before had such weights been found among archaeological sites in Egypt. This is also supported by the discovery of weights from Athens, which would have been used to make important measurements of goods. The high number of maritime relics led researchers to believe that Heracleion was a mandatory port of entry for trade between the Nile and the Mediterranean. They also found more than 64 shipwrecks and 700 anchors in the Abu Qir Bay. Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerigk.įor thirteen years, Goddio and his team methodically excavated and explored the sunken city. This red granite statue of a pharaoh is over 5 meters and 5.5 tons. In 2000, the European Institute of Maritime Archaeology, led by renowned archaeologist Franck Goddio, finally discovered the city’s treasures in the depths of the Abu Qir Bay. Without any trace, except for a few references in historical writings, the forgotten ruins rested undisturbed until the 21st century. By the eighth century CE, what remained of the city sank into the sea and eventually became a distant memory. The Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion was the main port of entry to the Mediterranean Sea between the eighth century BCE and the fourth century BCE. The preeminent Egyptian port, Thonis-Heracleion, was lost at the bottom of the sea for 1300 years.
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