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Once only a legend, referenced in only a few and rare inscriptions or ancient texts. The lost Egyptian city of Heracleion, also referred to as Thonis-Heracleion for both its Egyptian and Greek names, was a mystery for over a thousand years.  A once thriving city, a gathering place among prosperous ports for its growing brilliancy of its time has been found by pure mistake. With its discovery questions are being answered and new insight into the world back then, alive with culture and wealth, is being brought to curious minds who dared to ask the question – what happened to Heracleion?

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Before its disappearance, the city of Heracleion was a thriving city with one of the most major international trading ports of its time. It is believed that the city was founded around 8th century BC and was the port of entry into Egypt for all ships coming from the Greek world, thus being recognized as Heracleion in the Greek culture. Slabs of stone were found with inscriptions in both the ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek languages that may contain religious references. Heracleion was a city known for religion and worship. At the heart of the city was a large temple dedicated to the supreme god of the Egyptians of the time, Amun-Gereb. There, an assumption based on findings, is where the people of Heracleion offered animals and sculptures or statues to their gods. Extending from the heart of the city was a network of cannels and canals that became the reason as to why Thonis-Heracleion had one of the most legendary international ports in the Mediterranean, which was controlled by the main temple.

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What Heracleion might have looked like.

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In 2000 the lost city was found by French archaeologist Franck Goddio. Franck Goddio was looking for French warships when he stumbled upon an enormous face among the shadows in the water, located 6.5 kilometers off of Alexandria’s coastline in the western part of Abu Qir Bay. The face Franck Goddio saw could have been from a statue of Hapi, the god of the flooding of the Nile each year, which is recorded to be the largest statue dedicated to Hapi. Among the statue multiple others, depicting a variety of gods and rulers, have been found along with the remains of more than sixty ships, over seven-hundred ship anchors, and gold coins. These findings give more proof to the knowledge of Heracleion being a wealthy city due to its international port.

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The statue of Hapi.

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Franck Goddio with the Heracleion Stele.

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Franck Goddio believes that Thonis-Heracleion was completely submerged in the Mediterranean in the 8th century AD after diverse natural disasters. Some natural disasters that could cause such a thing to happen are tsunamis, a series of waves created by a mass disturbance in the water such something such as an earthquake, which is quite plausible to be the thing that sunk the city. Another massive rush of water that could have sunk the city is a tidal wave. Tidal waves are caused by the gravitational pull on the water from the sun and moon; the tidal way could have moved its way through one of the many canals to heart of the city where it flooded the canals and channels, essentially submerging Heracleion. One theory states liquefaction of the soil which the city was built upon. If a massive disturbance, such as an earthquake, hit the city the soil that Heracleion was built on wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure. Because of high clay and water content, along with the weight of the buildings, the whole city would sink as the ground beneath began to breakdown. Unfortunately there is no solid answer as to how the Thonis-Heracleion became completely submerged in the Abu Qir Bay, but more discoveries are being uncovered as the excavation continues.

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Underwater archaeological excavations directed by Franck Goddio in the bay of Aboukir, Egypt : Thonis-Heracleion, the sunken Royal Quarters of Alexandria, and shipwrecks off the Philippines: San Diego, Griffin, Royal Captain, Lena Shoal junk, Santa Cruz junk, and off Egypt: Napoleon's fleet and ancient vessels.

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- http://egyptianstreets.com/2013/11/22/the-lost-city-of-heracleion/

- http://twistedsifter.com/2013/06/lost-egyptian-city-heracleion-found-underwater-after-1200-years/

- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/archaeology/10022628/Lost-city-of-Heracleion-gives-up-its-secrets.html

- http://www.franckgoddio.org/projects/sunken-civilizations/heracleion.html