Archaeologists found an ancient pleasure boat from the time of Ancient Egypt off the coast of Alexandria
Kyiv • UNN
An ancient pleasure boat, matching the description of the Greek historian Strabo, was discovered off the coast of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. The vessel lay 7 meters underwater and 1.5 meters under sediment near the sunken island of Antirhodos.
An ancient pleasure boat, matching the description of the Greek historian Strabo, who lived in the 1st century BC, has been found off the coast of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. This was reported by UNN with reference to The Guardian.
Details
The ship was discovered near the sunken island of Antirhodos, which was part of the large port of Alexandria. The research was conducted by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) under the direction of Franck Goddio, a visiting professor of maritime archaeology at Oxford University.
The ancient ship lay 7 meters underwater and 1.5 meters under sediment. Initially, scientists decided that there were two ships, because the design seemed "very strange" to them.
After a series of earthquakes and tsunamis, the port and parts of the ancient coastline sank underwater, engulfing palaces, ships, and other buildings, according to the research results.
Although the study of the sunken ship is still in its early stages, it promises to reveal new information about "life, religion, luxury, and entertainment" on Egypt's waterways during the early Roman period, scientists said. At the same time, it was decided to leave the ship underwater, as required by UNESCO rules.