After more than a thousand years, lost treasures from sunken cities in Egypt, known as the Atlantis of Egypt have been reclaimed from the sea.
Hieroglyphic tablets, huge statues and golden jewellery are to be put on public display later this month in a major exhibition by the British Museum.
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The treasures belong to Heraklion and Canopus, cities built on the shifting ground of the Nile delta, which are now buried beneath 10ft (3 meters) of silt.
As you can see in the picture, the diver Franck Goddio poses with an inscribed tablet he found in the ruins of Heraklion in Aboukir Bay, Egypt. The slab, which is 1.9m tall, will be one of the treasures on display at an upcoming British Museum exhibition of underwater treasures.
Divers also secured a 5.4m statue of Hapy, a divine personification of the Nile floods, to be lifted out of the waters. The colossal red granite carving will one of the exhibition’s centrepieces. The six-tonne statue, which dates to the 4th Century BC is the largest known example of a Hapy statue.
Ancient texts are so important to record the existence of the settlements, which were the gateway to Egypt before Alexandria rose to prominence. But with time, they were lost until they were discovered by chance in 1996.
Highlights of the collection include a 6ft (1.9 metre) heirogylphic tablet inscribed with a royal declaration from Pharaoh Nectanebo I and a 5.4m statue of Hapy, an Egyptian god who personifies the Nile’s floods.
The exhibition, called Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost World, will run from May 9 to November.
It will combine items from the Museum’s own archives with items on special loan from Egyptian authorities, who rarely let the artefacts leave their country.
Around 300 items will be put on display, most of which were pulled from the sunken ruins.
The exhibition will focus on the mingling of cultures in the Nile delta cities, particularly the interaction between Egypt and Ancient Greece.
