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Visiting the Past: Finding and Understanding Britain's Archaeology

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<< Other Photo Pages >> Heracleion - Ancient Village or Settlement in Egypt in Lower Egypt (North)

Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2021  Page Views: 5567

Multi-periodSite Name: Heracleion Alternative Name: Thonis, Thonis-Heracleion
Country: Egypt Region: Lower Egypt (North) Type: Ancient Village or Settlement

Latitude: 31.419200N  Longitude: 30.156600E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
1

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Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad : A fragment of a basket brought to the surface by the team. Photo Credit: Christoph Gerigk/Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation (Vote or comment on this photo)
Thonis-Heracleion (the Egyptian and Greek names of the city) is a city lost between legend and reality. Before the foundation of Alexandria in 331 BC, the city knew glorious times as the obligatory port of entry to Egypt for all ships coming from the Greek world. It had also a religious importance because of the temple of Amun, which played an important role in rites associated with dynasty continuity. The city was founded probably around the 8th century BC, underwent diverse natural catastrophes, and finally sunk entirely into the depths of the Mediterranean in the 8th century AD.

Prior to its discovery in 2000 by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio, no trace of Thonis-Heracleion had been found. Its name was almost razed from the memory of mankind, only preserved in ancient classic texts and rare inscriptions found on land by archaeologists. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) tells us of a great temple that was built where the famous hero Herakles first set foot on to Egypt. He also reports of Helen’s visit to Heracleion with her lover Paris before the Trojan War. More than four centuries after Herodotus’ visit to Egypt, the geographer Strabo observed that the city of Heracleion, which possessed the temple of Herakles, is located straight to the east of Canopus at the mouth of the Canopic branch of the River Nile. The sister port of Thonis-Heracleion was Naucratis.

Source:franckgoddio.org

Note: Fragments of fruit baskets from the fourth century BC that have lain untouched since Thonis-Heracleion disappeared beneath the waves in the second century BC
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Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad : Stele of Thonis-Heracleion, Thonis-Heracleion, Aboukir Bay, Egypt (SCA 277) The intact stele (1.90 m) is inscribed with the decree of Saϊs and was discovered on the site of Thonis-Heracleion. It was commissioned by Nectanebos I (378-362 BC) and is almost identical to the Stele of Naukratis in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The place where it was to be situated is clearly named: Thonis-H... (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad : Colossal statue of god Hapy, Thonis-Heracleion, Aboukir Bay, Egypt (SCA 281) A colossal statue of red granite (5.4 m) representing the god Hapy, which decorated the temple of Thonis-Heracleion. The god of the flooding of the Nile, symbol of abundance and fertility, has never before been discovered at such a large scale, which points to his importance for the Canopic region. Height 5.4 ... (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad : ‘Garden vat’. Pink granite. L. 205 cm. Ptolemaic Period, IVth-IInd century BC. Thonis-Heracleion, Aboukir Bay (SCA 459). ©Franck Goddio / Hilti Foundation - Photo: Christoph Gerigk (Vote or comment on this photo)

Heracleion
Heracleion submitted by dodomad : Stele of Thonis-Heracleion, Thonis-Heracleion, Aboukir Bay, Egypt (SCA 277) The intact stele (1.90 m) is inscribed with the decree of Saϊs and was discovered on the site of Thonis-Heracleion. It was commissioned by Nectanebos I (378-362 BC) and is almost identical to the Stele of Naukratis in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The place where it was to be situated is clearly named: Thonis-H... (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 13.9km SSW 203° Canopus* Ancient Village or Settlement
 36.1km SW 223° Pompey's Column* Sculptured Stone
 36.2km SW 223° Serapeum at Alexandria* Ancient Temple
 36.7km SW 223° Kom El-Shugafa Rock Cut Tombs* Rock Cut Tomb
 61.1km ESE 114° Buto Ancient Village or Settlement
 72.5km SE 143° Naucratis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 76.8km SE 131° Sais* Ancient Temple
 80.7km SW 229° Temple of Osiris at Abusir* Ancient Temple
 81.2km SSE 149° Imau Temple of Sekhmet Ancient Temple
 159.9km SE 126° Bubastis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 170.3km SE 137° Leontopolis Ancient Village or Settlement
 171.1km ESE 106° Tanis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 173.4km ESE 113° Avaris* Ancient Village or Settlement
 174.1km ESE 113° Pi-Ramesse Ancient Village or Settlement
 174.3km ESE 113° Ezbet Rushdi Temple Ancient Temple
 177.5km SSE 150° Djedefre's Pyramid Pyramid / Mastaba
 180.7km SE 142° Heliopolis* Ancient Village or Settlement
 183.7km SE 146° El Zadalek Island Obelisk* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 184.1km SE 146° Museum of Egyptian Antiquities* Museum
 185.1km SSE 150° Giza Plateau* Pyramid / Mastaba
 185.2km SSE 149° Senegemid Mastabas* Chambered Cairn
 185.2km SSE 150° Seschemnofer III. Mastaba* Pyramid / Mastaba
 185.3km SSE 150° Giza Mastaba Cemetery* Pyramid / Mastaba
 185.3km SSE 149° Khufu's Pyramid* Pyramid / Mastaba
 185.5km SSE 150° Khafre's Pyramid* Pyramid / Mastaba
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Fruit baskets from fourth century BC found in ruins of Thonis-Heracleion by Andy B on Monday, 02 August 2021
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‘Incredible’ discoveries at submerged ancient city off coast of Egypt have lain untouched
A fragment of a basket that has lain untouched since Thonis-Heracleion disappeared beneath the waves in the second century BC

Wicker baskets filled with fruit that have survived from the 4th century BC and hundreds of ancient ceramic artefacts and bronze treasures have been discovered in the submerged ruins of the near-legendary city of Thonis-Heracleion off the coast of Egypt.

They have lain untouched since the city disappeared beneath the waves in the second century BC, then sank further in the eight century AD, following cataclysmic natural disasters, including an earthquake and tidal waves.

Thonis-Heracleion – the city’s Egyptian and Greek names – was for centuries Egypt’s largest port on the Mediterranean before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331BC.

But the vast site in Aboukir Bay near Alexandria was forgotten until its re-discovery by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio two decades ago, in one of the greatest archaeological finds of recent times.

Colossal statues were among treasures from an opulent civilisation frozen in time. Some of the discoveries were shown in a major exhibition at the British Museum in 2016.

Goddio has been taken aback by the latest discoveries. He told the Guardian that the fruit baskets were “incredible”, having been untouched for more than 2,000 years.

They were still filled with doum, the fruit of an African palm tree that was sacred for the ancient Egyptians, as well as grape-seeds.

More at
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/aug/02/fruit-baskets-from-fourth-century-bc-found-in-ruins-of-thonis-heracleion
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British Museum launches first major exhibition of underwater archaeology May-Nov 2016 by Andy B on Monday, 16 May 2016
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Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds
Opens 19 May 2016
Organised with Hilti Foundation and the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The British Museum is to stage a major exhibition on two lost Egyptian cities and their recent rediscovery by archaeologists beneath the Mediterranean seabed. Opening in May 2016 for an extended run of six months, Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds will be the Museum’s first large-scale exhibition of underwater discoveries. It will show how the exploration of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus – submerged at the mouth of the River Nile for over a thousand years – is transforming our understanding of the relationship between ancient Egypt and the Greek world and the great importance of these ancient cities.

300 outstanding objects will be brought together for the exhibition including more than 200 spectacular finds excavated off the coast of Egypt near Alexandria between 1996 and 2012. Important loans from Egyptian museums rarely seen before outside Egypt (and the first such loans since the Egyptian revolution) will be supplemented with objects from various sites across the Delta drawn from the British Museum’s collection; most notably from Naukratis – a sister harbour town to Thonis- Heracleion and the first Greek settlement in Egypt.

Likely founded during the 7th century BC, Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus were busy, cosmopolitan cities that once sat on adjacent islands at the edge of the fertile lands of the Egyptian Delta, intersected by canals. After Alexander the Great’s conquest of Egypt in 332BC, centuries of Greek (Ptolemaic) rule followed. The exhibition will reveal how cross-cultural exchange and religion flourished, particularly the worship of the Egyptian god of the afterlife, Osiris.

By the 8th century AD, the sea had reclaimed the cities and they lay hidden several metres beneath the seabed, their location and condition unclear. Although well-known from Egyptian decrees and Greek mythology and historians, past attempts to locate them were either fruitless or very partial. The exhibition will show how a pioneering European team led by Franck Goddio in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Press Release British Museum launches first major exhibition of underwater archaeology The BP exhibition Sunken cities Egypt’s lost worlds Opens 19 May 2016 Supported by BP Organised with Hilti Foundation and the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine. In collaboration with the Ministry of Antiquities of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Embargoed until 09.00, 30 November 2015 Antiquities made use of the most.

Thanks to the underwater setting, a vast number of objects of great archaeological significance have been astonishingly well preserved. Pristine monumental statues, fine metalware and gold jewellery will reveal how Greece and Egypt interacted in the late first millennium BC. These artefacts offer a new insight into the quality and unique character of the art of this period and show how the Greek kings and queens who ruled Egypt for 300 years adopted and adapted Egyptian beliefs and rituals to legitimise their reign.

The exhibition will feature a number of extraordinary, monumental sculptures. A 5.4m granite statue of Hapy, a divine personification of the Nile’s flood, will greet visitors as they enter the space. Masterpieces from Egyptian museums such as the Apis bull from the Serapeum in Alexandria will be shown alongside magnificent recent finds from the sea. One such piece is the stunning sculpture from Canopus

Read the rest of this post...
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Drowned worlds: Egypt's lost cities by Andy B on Monday, 16 May 2016
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As a major new exhibition opens at the British Museum, Charlotte Higgins from The Guardian travelled to the Nile Delta to meet the archaeologists uncovering the spellbinding secrets of ancient Naukratis.

Near the tiny farming villages of Rashwan and Abu Mishfa in the Nile Delta – the kind of villages where you might see a girl tugging on the harness of a recalcitrant water buffalo as she leads it out to graze, or a mule-drawn cart loaded with animal feed – is a scrappy lake, the haunt of innumerable egrets. Under this lake, and surrounding fields and houses, lie the remains of Naukratis, a city established by Greeks as a trading port in around 620BC. It is here that a British Museum excavation is under way, and some of the archaeologists’ most intriguing discoveries in the city – which you might think of as a kind of Hong Kong of the ancient world – are about to form part of a major exhibition.

It takes an effort of imagination to conjure this place back to its ancient flourishing before its abandonment in the seventh century. But once it was a city with perhaps 16,000 inhabitants, full of temples to gods such as Hera, Aphrodite and the Dioskouroi (Castor and Pollux), and dominated by a vast sanctuary dedicated to the Egyptian deity Amun-Ra, from which a sphinx-lined avenue led to the Canopic branch of the Nile, which long ago flowed here.

Read more in the Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/may/15/drowned-worlds-egypts-sunken-cities
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