The lost city known as “Heracleion” for the Greeks and “Thonis” for the Egyptians was discovered in 2000 by the French archaeologist Franck Goddio, after 13 years of painful excavations, thousands of findings have come to light. As the archaeologist told the newspaper “Mirror”, “It will take another 200 years for the work to be fully disclosed and understood by Thonis-Heracleion“.
Heracleion was a seaside port city and was a major naval hub of ancient Egypt with Greece. It was an important religious center with significant commercial traffic. A column found indicates that the port levied a 10% tax on all freight ships.
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Also, since 1899 we know that the Egyptians called it a “port on the Greek sea“. This point is today ten meters deep in the sea and six kilometers off the present coast. The city was built on islands connected by bridges.
The name of the city goes back to the famous temple which was famous throughout the ancient world and was dedicated to Heracles.
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