Alexandria’s Graeco-Roman Museum finally reopens

We are all familiar with the Egyptian Museum in Cairo which holds the many treasures from the Egyptian dynasties including the world-famous gold mask of Tutankhamun. 

However, few people are aware of the Graeco-Roman Museum with its 40,000 artifacts from the Greek and Roman eras. It has been closed since 2005 for renovation and finally reopens. It covers artwork from before the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander in 331 BC, the ensuing Ptolemaic Dynasty that ended with Cleopatra in 30 BC, and the Roman occupation up to the Muslim conquest of 641 AD. 

The newly arranged collection is presented in an up-to-date manner as shown in this short video.

The most recent statues and artifacts to enter this museum are those recovered by Franck Goddio and his team during underwater excavations in the broad Nile estuary particularly from Thonis-Heracleion. 

Noteworthy is, for instance, the stele discovered at Thonis-Heracleion in 2000, displayed next to its twin uncovered in Naucratis in 1899. It is quite unique to find two identical inscriptions holding a decree of Nectanebo I. They state that the pharaoh raised subsidies for the temple using the taxes levied from Greek trade and manufacturing in Thonis and Naucratis. The steles also confirm that Thonis and Heracleion were respectively the Egyptian and the Greek name for the same town “at the entrance of the sea of the Greeks”. 

Another striking addition from Thonis-Heracleion is the statue of a Ptolemaic queen, 2.20 meters high made of black granodiorite and dated to the 2^nd century BC. It is attributed to either Cleopatra Selene II (185-180) or Cleopatra III (116-115 BC) and is executed in a mix of Greek and Egyptian styles. Alternatively, it could represent Cleopatra Thea, the queen consort of three Syrian kings of the Seleucid Empire between 150 to 125 BC. 

A new acquisition of the Graeco-Roman Museum is the so-called Neilos-bust, an astonishingly well-preserved rendition of the god of the Nile in greywacke (a variety of hard sandstone). It was found in the temple area of the Nile’s Canopus mouth. 

In-depth research by Franck Goddio revealed that Graeco-Egyptian statues in this dark Egyptian stone were probably made in specialist workshops in Alexandria. The Nile bust is of particular high-quality greywacke. 

Of an entirely different order is the Naos of the Decades, a small chapel-like shrine for statues of the divinities at the most sacred place of the temple. During Franck Goddio’s underwater exploration of the Bay of Abukir, he discovered walls of this exceptional naos, parts of which were already at the Graeco-Roman Museum in Alexandria and the Louvre in Paris. 

The Naos of the Decades was a shrine to Shu, the god of air, which predated the Ptolemaic era by more than fifty years. The most remarkable feature may well be the calendar engraved on the outside surfaces of its walls. The Egyptians divided the year into sections of ten days or decades, 36 in all - represented here by 36 squares - making a total of 360 days. A 37^th square was added for the five days to complete the year. Each square showed a text of an astrological nature about the influence of the stars and Shu on daily life during the specific period of ten days. One such text tells how Shu created the sky and the stars and placed himself between the sky and the earth to separate them. 

The Greek sphere of influence did not die with Alexander. In the first stage, it lived on as Hellenism from the Mediterranean to India after which Greek art and customs gradually fused and mixed with those of the newly formed kingdoms and civilizations. In Egypt, Hellenism officially ended with the death of Cleopatra when many concepts and ideas were continued by the Romans. The Parthian and Bactrian Kings did the same in the East. Greek remained the lingua franca in antiquity and helped to spread Christianity until the Islamic conquest in the 7^th century AD took over.

[Pictures from Franck Goddio's site]

Two temples identified in Thonis-Heracleion

It is noteworthy to realize that underwater archaeology is a very recent discipline. It started seriously in the 1960s and the techniques and equipment have grown and improved considerably since. 

Although Thonis-Heracleion was mentioned by Herodotus and Strabo, its location at Abukir Bay in the Nile Delta remained unknown until its discovery in 2000. Since then, much of the port has been mapped (see: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt). A variety of ships in all shapes and sizes have been located, as well as hundreds of anchors. 

In my earlier post, Remains of an almost unique warship discovered in Thonis-Heracleion, I spoke about an ancient Greek warship discovered beneath the rubble of a temple destroyed by an earthquake in the 2^nd century BC. As a result, the ship sank into the muddy seabed, which contributed to its preservation. It could be established that the 25-meter-long ship was built in Egypt using both Egyptian and Greek techniques. 

By now it has been established that this temple was dedicated to the god Amon-Gereb, who played a key role in the continuity of the pharaohs’ dynasty. It was here in Thonis-Heracleion that Ptolemaic rulers were confirmed and legitimized in their power. The temple was part of a large sanctuary that covered an area of more than 3 hectares surrounded by walls made of limestone blocs. Remarkably, the naos of the temple was built using red granite, which automatically linked it to Amon-Gereb, the supreme god of Egypt in the 6^th-4^th centuries BC. 

The cult of Amon-Gereb was already known from the Royal Decree of Canopus established by Ptolemy III Euvergetes in 238 BC. From its Greek version, we learn that every year a statue of Osiris was carried in his sacred boat from this sanctuary in Heracleion to his temple in Canopus. The Decree also mentions the temple of Amon-Gereb.

The research, which started in 2019, revealed countless artifacts ranging from statues to gold jewelry like the eye of Horus, earrings in the shape of a lion’s head, silver ritual phiales, a bronze jug, and alabaster bottles for perfumes and ointments have been brought to light. Also, a more than six-meter-high stele from the reign of Ptolemy VIII that stood near the Temple of Amon-Gereb has been found in several pieces and much eroded. Because of its condition, it could be only partially deciphered. 

Three colossal statues of a royal couple in pink granite, a five-meter-tall god of fertility, and the Nile flood were retrieved. The statues of the Ptolemaic rulers are the best preserved so far. 

In 2023, a temple of Aphrodite was also discovered, and remains of some buildings supported by preserved wooden beams dating from the 5^th century BC. It is not surprising to read that bronze and ceramic artifacts of Greek origin were found. 

The Temple of Amon disappeared in the 2^nd century BC and the city of Heracleion vanished in the 8^th century AD after surviving years of earthquakes and land liquefaction caused by tidal waves. Until now, it is estimated that only five percent of the city’s surface has been discovered. 

For more information and pictures as used above, please visit the website of Franck Goddio.

Getting around in the Nile Delta

Speaking of the Nile Delta, we obviously mean the embouchure of the river Nile where its waters mingle with those of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The problem, however, is to picture the ancient cities and harbors along that coastline. There are several elements to be taken into account. 

Historically, we best know the role played by Alexandria and Pelusium, situated on opposite sides of the Delta, roughly 250 kilometers apart. 

[From Pinterest]

Pelusium, about 30 kilometers south of modern Port Said, was looking to the East. This city was the entrance gate for conquerors coming from the east. Alexander entered Egypt through Pelusium, as did the Hittites and Persians before him. For the Egyptian pharaohs, it was their gateway to the lands on the eastern Mediterranean. The city played an essential role as a transit station for the goods coming from and going to the lands around the Red Sea (see: The fame of elusive Pelusium). 

Alexander founded Alexandria after he returned from visiting the oracle in Siwah. It arose on the most westerly end of the Delta, on the Canopic Branch of the Nile. The city was intentionally oriented towards Crete and Greece, creating a close trading route with his homeland.

The Greeks had already established thriving trade emporiums in the area. Best known is Naucratis, settled as early as the 7th century BC (see: Egypt, land of the free for ancient Greeks?) As mighty Egypt allowed them to operate a lucrative business, even granting them special privileges, Naucratis eventually became a melting pot of Greek and Egyptian art and culture where they lived in harmony with each other. In its heyday, it was home to at least 16,000 people who appear to have lived in high-rise buildings three to six floors high, not unlike the mud-brick houses we encounter today in Yemen. 

Archaeological research has found proof that the Canopic Branch of the Nile was navigable all the way down to the heart of the city. However, Herodotus gave us the impression that the freight from the ships arriving from the Mediterranean was to be transshipped into barges which would sail to reach Naucratis (see: An update about Naucratis). 

A look at the above map illustrates that vessels heading for the harbor of Naucratis had to sail an extra distance from the Mediterranean. Alexandria was obviously more accessible. 

[Mosaic from Madaba, Jordan, showing the Nile with Pelusium]

Another major port was Heracleion, which the ancient Egyptians called Thonis, founded back in the 8th century BC. Known more commonly as Thonis-Heracleion, the site has been discovered under ten meters of mud near modern Abukir Bay (see: Heracleion, ancient Greek port in Egypt and Underwater excavation at Heracleion still ongoing). The above map shows Thonis/Thanis on a more easterly branch of the Nile, closer to Pelusium. Recent excavations have exposed 64 ancient beautifully preserved shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors. Heracleion reached its peak between the 6th and the 4th century BC. 

Halfway between Alexandria and El-Alamein, Ptolemy II Philadelphus founded Taposiris Magna around 280-270 BC. The harbor played a significant role on the trading route for the goods from the east arriving over Lake Mareotis and overland from the Cyrenaica (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). Alexandria, built on the headland between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis, claimed taxes on the goods that transited through the city until the 7th century AD at least (see: Taposiris Magna in Egypt). 

The Egyptians had founded the city of Marea, as highlighted on the map, in the 7^th century BC. It actually lies on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis, modern Lake Maryut, and 45 kilometers southwest of Alexandria. Speaking of strategic locations! 

The last major city in the Nile Delta is Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, which Alexander saw in full glory with its countless temples and at least 30 towering obelisks. The sunrise over Heliopolis must have been a sight for sore eyes when the first sunrays hit the golden pyramidal point on the obelisks (see: Buried secrets of Heliopolis)! 

This religious center was a meeting place where the priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon consulted the available library that contained the entire history of Egypt. This seat of learning was eventually moved to Alexandria once the city was completed. 

For centuries, every single Pharaoh made it to the sacred city of Heliopolis, where the gods would confer him their power. When Alexander, who fully understood the importance of this ritual, followed suit, he was accepted by the Egyptians as their new Pharaoh.

Heraklea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria

There are a great number of towns going by the name Heraclea or Herakleia throughout Turkey and Greece. Wikipedia provides an enticing list of places. 

In previous blogs, I developed Herakleia Pontus, a kingdom in Bithynia (see: Time to reconnect with Princess Amastris), Herakleia by Latmos to be found on the banks of Lake Bafa in Western Turkey, Herakleia Lyncestis in Illyria (see: King Philip, one year later – Macedonia forged by Philip II), and Heracleion-Thonis (see: Heracleion, ancient Greek port in Egypt).

This time, I’m focusing on Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria. The additive Sintica refers to the Sintians, a Thracian tribe that lived in the Valley of the Struma, the Greek Strymon River that runs past Amphipolis. The Sintian occupation goes back to 1300-1200 BC. Although many sources claim that the city had been founded by Cassander around 300 BC, others state that it was Philip, Alexander’s father who conquered Sintica and added Heraclea to remind the Thracians and the Macedonians that his ancestor was Heracles. The city’s layout appears to be similar to that of Philippi or Philippopolis. 

Heraclea Sintica was a major hub on the North-South traffic and connected the Aegean coast to Macedonia, Thracia, and the Balkan hinterland. In its heyday, its population may have reached 40-50,000 inhabitants! 

The city existed at least until the 6^th century AD since it was mentioned in the Byzantine tax records of Emperor Justinian the Great. 

Although the city's name was known, it took some investigation to find its location. A Latin inscription left by Emperor Galerius revealed that in response to their plea to restore their lost civil rights in 308 AD, he addressed the local citizens as those of Heraclea Sintica. 

Serious and steady excavations in Heraclea Sintica are pretty recent and seem to have started in 2007. 

By 2016, an imposing Basilica was unearthed measuring 22m x 16m with walls rising five meters tall, next to other sanctuaries and shops. An older Basilica from the 4th century BC was discovered a year earlier. A striking find happened in 2017 when a Roman gold necklace came to light. It has been dated to the 4^th century AD and may have been made by craftsmen in Rome. 

In 2018, a headless Roman statue from ca. 100 AD was found underneath the stairs of the Forum. The statue represents a magistrate and was apparently carefully buried four meters deep. More recently, a female head was discovered in the eastern corner of the Forum. This head carries traces of ocher paint indicating that the woman was blond. In ancient times blond hair symbolized sin. This beautiful marble seems to date to the same time as the headless man. It is too early to draw any conclusion about the reason for these careful burial rights as the site has not been entirely investigated yet. Intriguingly, both discoveries were made underneath buildings of later periods. Archaeologists suppose that these respectful funerals could have had a ritual meaning in antiquity – and may be meant as protection from calamities or barbarian attacks. 

More questions remain unsolved like the bone needle whose end was wrapped in a thin gold sheet. It must have belonged to a woman of some importance who lived in Heraclea Sintica in the 2^nd century AD. 

Undoubtedly, many more buildings and artifacts are still hidden from view awaiting to be uncovered.

Remains of an almost unique warship discovered in Thonis-Heracleion

In an earlier blog (see: Heracleion, ancient Greek port in Egypt), I summarized the outcome of years of underwater excavations at the modern site of Abukir Bay, roughly 37 kiometers east of Alexandria. The city reached its peak between the 6th and the 4th century BC. 

By 2019, excavations exposed 70 ancient shipwrecks (see: A unique Egyptian baris found at Thonis-Heracleion). We should remember that pending the completion of Alexander’s Alexandria, which started in 331 BC, Thonis-Heracleion was the largest harbor in Egypt. 

[A diver examines the remains of an ancient military vessel discovered in the Mediterranean sunken city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. Reuters]

Today, the city made headlines once again as the remains of an ancient Greek warship were exposed. They have been dated to the 2^nd century BC, i.e., in Ptolemaic times. This find is almost unique because until now, only one other warship from this period exists. It is a Punic ship called Marsala found in western Sicily. 

The warship was discovered beneath the remains of a funerary temple from the 4th century BC. Archaeologists have established that the temple was destroyed by a strong earthquake in the 2nd century BC. As a result, the building blocks of this sanctuary fell on the warship, which sank into the muddy seabed. This muddy bottom solidified, and, in the process, it contributed to preserving the ship. 

Despite the damage caused by the crumbling temple, a preliminary study helped to determine that the vessel was approximately 25 meters long. Based on the wood and shipbuilding fashion, the study also revealed that the ship was built in Egypt using a mixture of Greek and Egyptian techniques and decoration styles. 

[Picture from the National News]

The solid layer of mud also yielded some artifacts and bits of stone and rubble from the temple as it collapsed. 

Year after year, the submerged port of Thonis-Heracleion exposes ever more secrets buried for twenty centuries. With each and every archaeological investigation, we obtain a closer view of how this coastline looked in Alexander’s day before he opted to build an entirely new harbor that still exists today.

A unique Egyptian baris found at Thonis-Heracleion

In an earlier blog, I discussed the site of Thonis-Heracleion at the mouth of the Nile (see: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt). Excavations revealed many ships that had sunken in its harbor – 64 at the time of my writing in 2013.

Further underwater explorations have reset the counter to 70 shipwrecks by now. Studying all these individual vessels is a lengthy process, and we must appreciate the tenacity and determination of the specialists involved to classify them into their appropriate times in history.

The latest excavations focused on what they call Ship 17, which has been dated to 664-332 BC. Please note that the year 332 BC coincides with Alexander’s arrival in Egypt.

As archaeologists uncovered 70% of the hull, this ship was prime study material. Interestingly, they could establish a link with Herodotus’ description of the Nile cargo boat called baris. Until now, they only could go by pictures of this type of vessel, but they had no archaeological confirmation (see also: Useful graffiti from ancient Egypt).

Herodotus tells us that this baris was constructed like brickwork, lined with papyrus. Its rudder passed through a hole in the keel.

We are getting very close to this appearance with Ship 17 at Thonis-Heracleion. The joints of the planks are staggered in such a way that they easily match that of bricks. The planking proper is held together by nearly two-meter-long tenons (a projection formed on the end of a timber for insertion into a mortise of the same dimension), passing through up to 11 strakes, which again match Herodotus’ words. The keel is twice as thick as the planking – another confirmation.

But then, the study hits some inconsistencies about the length of the tenons and the reinforced frame.

Alexander Belov, who published the results of his research in his book Ship 17: a baris from Thonis-Heracleion, has provided an illustrative drawing of the main elements of this baris.

[Drawing copied from Science Alert (Belov, IJNA, 2013)]

He explains that Ship 17, which is 27 meters long, is bigger than the vessel described by Herodotus, who speaks of boats with long internal ribs. This statement did not make sense without any visual image until this shipwreck provided a matching construction.

It also became clear that the rudder could be fitted in one of the two holes in the stern, possibly chosen depending on the load of the cargo.

The bottom line is that the researchers must admit that Ship 17 resembles Herodotus’ description so closely that it is almost as if he had actually seen it.

Underwater excavation at Heracleion still ongoing

It is nice to read about the progress of underwater excavations at the Egyptian site of Heracleion. It is in the news again as Oxford University is also diving at the site (see my earlier post: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt) and presenting a few interesting pictures.

For the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology, it is a unique opportunity to partake in this project and divers have recovered many important ancient landmarks at the mouth of the Nile. There are, for instance, more than five meters tall statues that were hauled to the surface, not counting the hundreds of smaller statues that were retrieved from the sea floor. So far a monumental statue of goddess Isis and a massive head of the god Serapis have been removed. Art treasures like jewelry, coins, and ceramics have also been recovered and testify of the glorious past of Heracleion, named according to Diodorus after Heracles because he stopped the flood of the Nile.

Work in this murky water is pretty difficult but very promising. The article published in The Oxford Times adequately states that “it can appear that someone emptied the contents of the Museum of Cairo on the bottom of the Mediterranean, while the images of building foundations appear akin to an underwater Pompeii”.

As mentioned in my earlier post (Heracleion, ancient Greek port in Egypt), the remains of 64 ships have been found, but also over 700 anchors. At present the archaeological team is focussing on what they call Shipwreck 43, a 24-meter long vessel that has been dated between 785 and 480 BC and is one of eight belonging to the same size. This is a flat-bottomed vessel, ideal to operate in shallow waters. 

The article in the Oxford Times mentions further that a major exhibition will be held in Germany next year and hopefully will come to the UK at a later date.

[Picture from the Oxford Times]

Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt

Many cities have been named after Heracles, and we find plenty of examples in Greece and Turkey. Still, this Heracleion was discovered about 10 meters under the surface of the Mediterranean at Abukir Bay in the Nile Delta. Before the foundation of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, Heracleion, which the ancient Egyptians called Thonis, was a major port going back to the 8th century BC.

Thonis-Heracleion, as it was baptized for convenience, was the central trade hub and an important religious center. Herodotus, for instance, told us about a great temple devoted to Heracles after he set foot on Egyptian soil. He also mentions that Helen of Troy visited Heracleion with Paris before the Trojan War. Strabo visited Egypt four hundred years later and recorded that the Temple of Heracles was straight to the east on the Canopic branch of the River Nile. Evidence has shown that the city spread along a network of canals which must have given it a leisurely appearance.

After 13 years of underwater excavations, 64 ancient beautifully preserved shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors have been dug out of the mud. More archaeological material shows that the city peaked between the 6th and the 4th century BC, as shown through a wide variety of artifacts like  gold coins, weights from Athens (never found in Egypt before), and giant tablets with ancient Greek and Egyptian inscriptions. Some religious objects, like a five-meter stone sculpture supposedly from one of its temples and limestone sarcophagi apparently used for mummified animals, were also unearthed.

[Reconstruction by Huffington Post]

The one mystery that remains to be solved is why so many ships sank. It has been suggested that the overall weight of the large buildings on the water-logged clay and sand inevitably led the city to sink in the wake of an earthquake.

Whatever the cause, it often occurs to me that Alexander, although he never knew about the Americas or Australia, had a far better knowledge of his world than we have today as we keep on discovering so many lost cities he was familiar with!

[visit Goddio's Heracleion website for more pictures].