While diving off the coast of Egypt, underwater archaeologists discovered the remains of a 2,000-year-old boat that may have been a luxury “pleasure barge” for the ancient elite.
The team discovered the barge in the ancient harbor of Alexandria, the capital of Egypt during the Ptolemaic period (304–30 BC) and a major city when Roman Empire later dominated the region.
Goddio said his team discovered the remains of the vessel in October during an underwater excavation of the now sunken ruins of the Temple of Isis. The temple was once located on the island of Antirhodos, which is now underwater, and was located within the “Portus Magnus”, or Great Harbor, which was used in Alexandria during the Ptolemaic period. The temple there was destroyed, probably during an earthquake around 50 AD, and the island sank under the waves between the fourth and eighth centuries.
Goddio believes that the pleasure barge would have had a luxuriously decorated central cabin and would have been propelled by oars. No remains of such a vessel have ever been found, although they were described by ancient writers and depicted in Egyptian art.
Among the lotuses
Giant pleasure barges were popular during the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt and have been described Greek geographer Strabo, who lived in the first century BC. like the crossing of the rich between selected places: “… they arrange feasts in cabins, where they go into the very thick of the sea. king [Egyptian lotuses that grow in fresh water] and the shadow of the leaves.”
In Strabo's time, Alexandria was under direct Roman control—an ancient regime change that began at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. BC, when the naval forces under the command of the Roman leader Octavian (later August) defeated the fleet Cleopatra VII (last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty) and her lover, Roman rebel Mark Antony.
How exactly the newfound ship ended up off the island of Antirhodos is unclear.
“This intriguing shipwreck could have been used along the canals at Alexandria as described by Strabo,” Goddio said in a statement. But he was found near the underwater ruins Temple of Isis at Antirhodos and may have been involved in the destruction there.
As a result, researchers have proposed “a ritual use for this barge,” Goddio said. Perhaps this was part of the “navigatio iside”. a naval ceremony held in Roman-era Alexandria, where a procession in honor of Isis carried an ornate ship called the Navigium through the streets. The model of the boat was solar boat that the Egyptian gods traveled through the sky. (Isis was the goddess of the sea.)
This, in turn, could mean that “this ship was making the annual ritual journey of the goddess from Portus Magnus from Alexandria to the sanctuary of Osiris at Canopus, next to the Canopic Canal of the Nile, Goddio said.
Early Roman Egypt
The study of the wreck is at a very early stage, but it “promises to be a fascinating journey into life, religion, luxury and pleasure on the waterways of early Roman Egypt,” Goddio said.
The vessel is an “impressive find”, said Timmy Gambinmaritime archaeologist V University of Malta, whose research covers ancient vessels and also wartime wreckage. However, it has not yet been scientifically determined whether the vessel is actually a Thalamagos, said Gambin, who was not involved in the discovery.
“It is too early to determine exactly what the vessel was used for,” he told Live Science via email.
