Perhaps it was the tsunami in the 4th century AD or the great earthquake in the 8th century AD that hit the shores of North Africa, or perhaps the gradual erosion of the coastline. More probably, it was a combination of all three. But about 1,200 years ago, one of the greatest ports on the Mediterranean coast slipped beneath the waves. The entire city, with its monumental architecture, its colossal stone statues, and all the detritus of a bustling commercial hub, was lost to the sea, along with its name.
Until, that is, Franck Goddio and his team from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), with funding from the Hilti Foundation, surveyed the area at the mouth of the Nile.
The archaeologists noticed traces of a submerged landscape about 6.5km (4 miles) off the Egyptian shore. What they had found was Thonis-Heracleion, a long-forgotten emporium that once controlled the maritime trade entering and leaving Egypt. And in doing so, they also solved an ancient mystery: historical sources mention two cities on this westernmost mouth of the Nile near the city of Canopus, where the great river enters the Mediterranean Sea: Thonis and Heracleion. In fact, they are one and the same.
