Lost treasure found in Egypt with gold, relics and secrets from sunken temple

An Egyptian-French archaeological mission announced a few days ago the discovery of a 5th century BC temple dedicated to the Greek goddess Aphrodite in the submerged city of Thonis-Heraclion, located in the Gulf of Abu Qir, in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria, reported the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities.

The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, said in the note that the mission also found inside that temple “archaeological finds of bronze and ceramics imported from Greece, in addition to remains of buildings supported by wooden beams dating from the 5th century BC.”.

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In addition, they found other archaeological pieces belonging to the sanctuary of Ammon-Gereb, also located in the sunken city under the waters of the Mediterranean and where underwater excavation work is being carried out.

For his part, the president of the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology, French archaeologist Franck Goddio, pointed out that the area in which the offerings and valuable objects were stored in the western part of the temple of Amun are “gold jewelry, such as lion-head earrings“.

Those jewels were also molded like the eye of Wadjet, the snake goddess daughter of Anubis who symbolizes the heat of the Sun and fireas well as a pendant and alabaster vessels that were used “to store perfumes and beautifying creams,” according to the note.

They also found “some silver plates used in religious rituals and funeraries, as well as a limestone fist and a bronze teapot in the shape of a duck”.

The city of Thonis-Heraclion is located seven kilometers from the coast of Abu Qir and was considered Egypt’s largest port on the Mediterranean coast before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC

The earthquakes that hit the country in the 8th century BC caused the sinking of the city completely under the sea, and it was rediscovered in 2000 by Goddio himself.

EFE