A colossal statue from Kemet is being raised from the depths off the coast of Alexandria, in Kemet. This statue once belonged to the submerged ancient port city of Thonis-Heracleion.

It depicts Hapy, the god of the Nile floods, and originally stood in front of the temple of Amun-Gereb in Thonis-Heracleion, a city that was destroyed by earthquakes, tsunamis, and flooding, causing it to sink. The city remained hidden underwater for over a thousand years.

The multi-ton statue was discovered by the European Insтιтute for Underwater Archaeology. After being cleaned, it was lifted from the seabed. Standing at 5.4 meters tall, it is one of the largest statues from Kemet.

The secrets of a lost Egyptian city were underwater

The ancient Egyptian cities of Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion sat on the seabed of the Abukir Bay for over a thousand years before pioneering archeologist Franck Goddio began excavating in 199. Now his finds are part of an upcoming exhibition at the British Museum in London: Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds.

Christoph Gerigk © Franck Goddio / Hilti Foundation

Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion are interesting to historians due to their location during a time of cultural cross-pollination. Key trading ports, they would receive boats from Greece and gradually developed an immigrant community, who built their own temples and worshiped their own gods.

A colossal statue of the god Hapy, made from pink granite, stands over 16-feet tall and is 12,000 pounds.

Hapy, god of the flooding of the Nile, was a symbol of abundance and fertility. The example on display dates from the Early Ptolemaic period. During that time, the Greek rulers of Canopus and Thonis- Heracleion commissioned statues of their likeness, though they also made sure to feature Egyptian affectations. The example on display dates from the 4th century BC. A century later, the Greek rulers of Egypt, the Ptolemies, added statues of their likeness next to Hapy colossus and made sure to feature Egyptian affectations<br />

The stele of Thonis-Heracleion, found by Goddio's team, is an artifact that helped consolidate Ptolemaic rule. Inscribed with the decree of Saϊs and commissioned by Nectanebos I (378-362 BC), the text describes trade and taxation agreements and details royal beneficiaries. The significance of the stele cannot be overstated: it was crucial to establishing that Thonis (in Egyptian) and Heracleion (in Greek) were the same city.

The intact stele is over six feet tall and was carefully removed by Goddio's team for preservation.

Goddio's team and a six-and-a-half-foot long pink granite garden vat dating from the fourth-to-second century BC. The ports became submerged through a variety of factors, including rising sea levels, subsidence, tidal waves and land liquefaction.

Ptolemaic rulers were not fans of animal worship, and so reconsтιтuted gods such as the all-powerful bull Apis into Serapis, a god with a Grecian appearance which was disseminated throughout temples in Egypt.

Bulls were sacrificed as part of the cult of Apis, and archeologists discovered bovid remains on the seabed in Canopus. Meanwhile animal bones and remains of food offerings were uncovered among votive objects at Thonis-Heracleion.<br />

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Until 1996, two of Egypt’s greatest cities were missing. Then along came French archeologist Franck Goddio, who made an extraordinary discovery underwater.

For 1,000 years, Thonis-Heracleion was completely submerged. Fish made their homes among the rubble of mighty temples; hieroglyphs gathered algae. Gods and kings sat in stasis, powerless, their statues slowly withdrawing from the world, one inch of sand at a time. Goddio spent years surveying this find, as well as neighboring Canopus, which was rediscovered by a British RAF pilot in 1933 who noticed ruins leading into the waters.

Thanks to a new exhibition at the British Museum, Goddio’s incredible finds will soon be open to the public.

Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds opens May 19, and according to museum curator, Aurelia Mᴀsson-Berghoff, the exhibition pulls back the curtain on what was once one of archeology’s greatest mysteries.

“(Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus) were known from Greek mythology, Greek historians and Egyptian decrees, and now we know where they were.”

The secrets of a lost Egyptian city were underwater

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