A 2,000-year-old ancient artifact was recovered from Egypt's northern Mediterranean Sea on the 21st (local time), the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said, APA reports, citing Maeil Business Newspaper.
Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities raised four artifacts about 2000 years ago with cranes in the waters of the Gulf of Abukir near the northern port city of Alexandria, according to dpa and AFP news agency.
The artifacts recovered on the day included a 2.17-meter-long granite statue without a head and legs believed to be from the Ptolemy Dynasty (305 BC-30 BC) and were the first to recover artifacts underwater in 24 years since 2001, according to dpa news agency.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities explained that the undersea site where the relic was found could be part of the ancient cities of Canopus and Heracleion, which were the centers of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Roman Empire.
"There are many artifacts in the water, but there are limited things that can be pulled up," said Sherif Fati, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. "Only certain artifacts can be picked up according to strict standards, and the rest will remain part of the flooded heritage."
The two cities, known only through ancient Greek tragedies, travel stories, and legends, were discovered in 1999 by a French excavation team on the seabed of the Gulf of Abukir, where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Heracleion, in particular, is believed to have been the largest port city in Egypt until 331 BC when Alexander the Great of Macedonia discovered Alexandria.
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