Sunken City of Heracleion

The lost city of Heracleion/Thonis lies in about 10 metres of water in Aboukir Bay, roughly 30 km east of Alexandria. The site is not currently open for diving — the underwater excavation is still active and largely off-limits to amateurs — but a representative selection of recovered objects can be seen at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and (when it is open for the relevant exhibition) the Graeco-Roman Museum.

A traveling exhibition of Heracleion finds — 'Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds' — has been touring international museums since 2015 and remains one of the most spectacular underwater archaeology shows ever assembled. Check the Bibliotheca's current exhibition list before visiting; the artefacts rotate. The site itself is best approached as something to know about while visiting the inland and underwater sites that are open: it puts Alexandria's submerged royal quarter and the Heracleion finds together as parts of the same drowned-coast story.

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A story
Heracleion — known to Egyptians as Thonis — was a major port at the western mouth of the Nile from at least the 8th century BC, the gateway to Egypt for Greek traders before Alexander founded Alexandria. The city sat on a delta of islands threaded by canals, with a great temple of Amun-Gereb at its centre. Around the 2nd-3rd century AD, an earthquake-and-tsunami sequence followed by gradual subsidence of the soft delta soils sent the city underwater. It was rediscovered in 2000 by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio. Over 64 ships and 700 anchors have been found at the site. Many of the recovered statues, including a colossal pharaoh and a 5-metre statue of the god Hapy, have toured the world's museums.

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