Ancient Military Vessel Discovered in Egypt

A dive team made a unique discovery at Thônis-Heracleion—once Egypt’s greatest port on the Mediterranean—a military vessel as well as an ancient funerary complex illustrating the presence of Greek merchants.

A location of great historical significance, the city had controlled the entrance to Egypt on the west side of the Nile since ancient times. This was before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria nearby in 331 BC.

Disappeared and submerged under multiple tidal waves and earthquakes in the delta of the Nile River, Thônis-Heracleion was discovered again in 2001, when it was rediscovered as a ruin at Abu Qir Bay in Alexandria, which is now Egypt’s second-largest city.

When the famous temple of Amun fell down in second century AD, an Egyptian-French mission led by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology located and reported the location of the military vessel, which had sank when it was moored adjacent to the temple.

An early analysis has revealed that the hull of the 25-meter-long, flat-bottomed ship, with oars and a massive sail, was fashioned in the classical tradition as well as incorporated elements of ancient Egyptian construction.

This finding is especially illustrative of the fact that Greek merchants were permitted to live in that city throughout the later Pharaonic dynasties, the ministry stated.