Egypt discovers 2,000-year-old cruise ship wreck

European archaeologists announced on December 8 that they had discovered the wreck of an Egyptian cruise ship dating back about 2,000 years off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.

According to the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), the cruise ship was found in the port of Antirhodos Island, an ancient island that sank after earthquakes and tsunamis devastated its coast.

The team of divers identified the hull of the ship, more than 35m long and about 7m wide, relatively well preserved under the sediments of the Mediterranean Sea.

On the hull, they discovered Greek scrawls that could date from the first half of the first century AD. These characters strengthen the theory that the ship was built right in Alexandria.

IEASM believes the ship likely featured a lavishly decorated sleeping compartment powered entirely by oars – a design typically reserved for the wealthy in ancient Egyptian-Roman society.

The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Over the centuries, this once-magnificent coastal city suffered several natural disasters so powerful that the island of Antirhodos sank into the sea, only to be rediscovered in 1996.

Since then, archaeologists have salvaged countless ancient statues, coins and other treasures, some of which are on display at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.

Franck Goddio, director of the IEASM, recently published a comprehensive report on Antirhodos Island and the Temple of Isis based on more than 30 years of underwater exploration. He said the newly discovered shipwreck “will open a new window into the life, religion, wealth and maritime pleasures of ancient Roman Egypt.”

Despite possessing many valuable ancient relics, Alexandria today is one of the cities most vulnerable to climate change.

The city is estimated to be sinking more than 3mm per year and even in the UN's most optimistic climate change scenario, one-third of Alexandria is at risk of sinking or becoming uninhabitable by 2050./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/ai-cap-phat-hien-xac-tau-du-lich-2000-nam-tuoi-post1081967.vnp