Sensation! An archaeologist found ancient Heraklion - a city lost under water

The discovery of the ancient city of Heraklion, which disappeared after an earthquake of 1200 years, incredibly surprised scientists. The history of the mysterious city is very similar to Atlantis.

Heraklion was located at the mouth of the Nile and was a small prosperous city, and its inhabitants were intelligent and educated.
But literally in an instant, Heraklion simply disappeared.

This happened in the 1st century BC, when a strong earthquake destroyed houses, sank ships and destroyed almost the entire population. Survivors had to flee, abandoning all their belongings.

For many centuries, the ruins of this city lay 3 kilometers from the coast of Alexandria in the bay of Abukir, hidden under thick silt.

However, the French archaeologist Frank Godot managed to discover the ancient city. He realized that this was Heraklion lost due to the black granite slab on which his name was carved. Here were the remains of sunken ships and many items, including coins, jewelry and personal belongings of former residents.

This city was considered semi-mythical, and modern scientists know little about it. But historians of antiquity often mentioned Heraklion in their records. So Diodorus wrote that when Hercules blocked the flow of the Nile, saving the lives of people, they erected a temple in his honor and named the city by his name. Herodotus' notes say that Elena the Beautiful, trying to hide from her husband, wanted to escape with her beloved Paris precisely to Heraklion.

During the archaeological expedition, one of the first to discover the great temple with the remains of thick stone walls. Nearby were three huge statues made of pink granite. Two of them depict the pharaoh with his wife, who remains unknown, and the third is dedicated to the Egyptian god Hapi.

Inside the temple, scientists found a monumental tomb, covered with hieroglyphs. Their translation allowed us to say with confidence that this is really a great temple of Heraklion.

Another discovery was also struck by archaeologists - a two-meter granite stele, which is an almost identical copy of the stele found in Nokratzha in 1899. In Egyptology, duplication of stelae occurs for the first time. The text carved on them reads about the decree of Pharaoh Nektaneb I, introducing a 10 percent tax on the goods of Greek artisans.

The only difference in the text of both stelae is its end. One decree ends with the words: "Let it be carved on a stele erected in Nokratzha, on the banks of the Anu Canal." Another says: "Let it be carved on a stele installed at the entrance to the Greek sea in Heraklion-Tonis."

After examining the place where the harbor with a dozen ships was located, scientists suggested that they were all washed away by the tidal wave that followed the earthquake.

Despite the fact that the city has been under water for many centuries, most of the objects discovered by scuba divers have been preserved in good condition. All of them were created in the period from the 1st century BC and earlier.

Among the finds are a variety of gold rings, bracelets, earrings, hairpins and combs, as well as a beautiful Greek cup, a smoker, a huge number of coins and other ancient objects belonging to the inhabitants of Heraklion.