In addition to the legendary and mysterious Atlantis (which everyone knows about, but no one has yet found it), there are a hundred more myths and legends that also claim to be true. So, one of these myths was confirmed, namely - archaeologists have found the missing city of Heraklion!
It is believed that ancient Heraklion was destroyed by a strong earthquake and disappeared from the face of the earth literally overnight. This is the similarity of the myth with the legend of Atlantis, which also disappeared in a matter of hours. And now, after thousands of years, the legendary city was discovered. Here's what we know about him now.
The ruins were hidden from researchers under water and silt at a depth of about 10 meters in Aboukir Bay, which is about three kilometers from the coast of Alexandria. During one of the dives, the French archaeologist Franck Gaudio suddenly came across a black granite slab on which the word "Heraklion" was carved in white on black.
In addition to the well-preserved stele, thousands of other objects were discovered that left no doubt: this is the same legendary city about which little is known to contemporaries, although it often appears in the works of the ancients. Diodorus wrote that Hercules, the son of Zeus, blocked the course of the Nile and thereby saved the lives of people who lived on its banks. In gratitude, the inhabitants erected a temple dedicated to the hero and named the city in his honor.
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Heraklion was assigned an important role - it was the main seaport at the mouth of the Nile. The inhabitants of the city were well educated thanks to contacts with foreign merchants and sailors who often visited the city on their way to Egypt. The main temple of the city was dedicated to the god Amon.
But one day Heraklion disappeared. In the 1st century BC. e. there was a strong earthquake, which destroyed it to the ground. Most of the townspeople died, the survivors fled, leaving all their property. Then the ruins were covered with water, and the city turned into a myth …
Near the destroyed walls, archaeologists have found three huge statues of pink granite, which are believed to have collapsed during the earthquake. Two statues depict an unknown pharaoh and his wife. The third statue is Hapi, the Egyptian god of the Nile flood.
Inside the main temple is a monumental pink granite tomb covered with hieroglyphs. Its upper part is still difficult to read, but a preliminary translation of the text of the lower part proves that it is undoubtedly the temple of Heraklion.
But the greatest impression is made by a two-meter black granite stele - an almost complete copy of a stele found in 1899. This is the first case of duplication of steles in Egyptology. The text on the stele from Nokratj, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, states that Pharaoh Noctanebus I imposes a 10 percent tax on Greek artisans.
The text ends with the words: "Let this be carved on a stele erected in Nokratj, on the banks of the Anu Canal." The recently found stele does not differ from the first in anything, except for the last sentence, which says: "Let this be carved on a stele installed at the entrance to the Greek sea in Heraklion-Tonis."
The underwater search has just begun, and Godyot's group has already found a wide variety of items. All of them date back to the 1st century BC. e. and are in very good condition before, although they have been under water for 2 thousand years. These are gold earrings, bracelets, hairpins, rings, hundreds of coins, which have only a little scratched surface …
Share this story with others! After all, not every day archaeologists find disappeared cities, moreover, covered with ancient myths. And we are looking forward to new finds from Heraklion, which can tell us a lot!