Beneath the shifting waters of Alexandria’s eastern harbour, on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, lie the drowned remnants of a once-splendid city – ports, palaces and temples swallowed by the sea. Submerged by earthquakes and a rising sea level, these lost monuments have become the focus of survey and excavations by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, in conjunction with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Much of our recent work has centred around Antirhodos Island, revealing a temple to the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis which was renovated by Cleopatra VII, and the Timonium – a palace built by her partner, the Roman general Mark Antony.
The shipwrecks from the Royal Port of Antirhodos tell the story of how Alexandria changed from a place emphasising the great wealth and extravagance of the Ptolemaic dynasty to an economic powerhouse of the Roman world.
