The picture on the right is the oldest surviving obelisk still standing.. It is located in Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt and was built for the Pharoah Sesostris who reigned from 1971-1928 B.C. An obelisk is a slender four sided tapering monument.  Obelisks had the representations and hierglyphs of name and title of the Pharoah inscribed on them. They have been referred to the "Pharoah's Packing Needles". These monuments with there inscriptions represent what the Pharoah life stands for and his political importance.  The top left picture is of the base of an obelisk.  The picture on the bottom left is a mold that has been made from the hierglyphs inscriptions carved on an obelisk date back to the time of Setti (Father of Ramses II).

This map depicts what the Bay of Alexandria looked like before it was covered by the floods and destroyed by the earthquakes. It shows where the statues, columns, hieroglyphs, and paved areas are located.

Underwater picture of ancient statue of a Priest found at the port of Alexandria, Egypt.

Underwater Discoveries

Frank Goddio,  a Marine Archaeologist, and his research team have been making discoveries of ancient artifacts on the port of Alexandria, Egypt since the early 1980's. They have discovered many statues, vessels, and coins.

Alexandria is known as "the Pearl of the Mediteranian".  It is located on the northwest of the Nile Delta. It is the capitol of the Ptolemies.  Alexandria is the second largest city and main port in Egypt.  It was founded by Alexander the Great.  It was designed by the Greek Architect Dinocrates (332-331BC).Much trade took place here, and it increased with the convenience of the city's great lighthouse.  The Great Library is located here. The dynamic city has an Egyptian past and it became the "greatest center of Hellenistic  (Greek) civilization and Jewish culture," (www.encyclopedia./com/articles/00324History.html). There are also Roman influences found in Alexandria.  This mixing of cultures is evident in the artifacts that have been dicovered here.  Many events took place on these shores between Cleopatra, Julius Ceasar, and Marc Anthony.  The city "flourished into a prominent cultural, intellectual, politcal, and economic metropolis,"  (p. 1 Hellonic)           Most of the ancient parts of the city are underwater due to mulitple earthquakes and floods.  "The city is located on a geological fault line, near the junction of two continent-sized techno plates that make up the surface of the earth's crust- a cirumstance that occasioned not only earthquakes but a gradual sinking of the land"  (Foreman).

I became interested in the discoveries made at Alexandria because of my interest in art and in what made these discoveries possible, scuba diving. Studing and creating art throughout my life has made me aware of it's abilty to visually communicate emotions, spirituallity, and stories of the past. Art is a direct outlet to the maker's emotions and purpose for creating it. Ancient Alexandria is full of ancient artifacts that lie in the sea bed which diplay it's richness in religion, politics, and culture.

The lighthouse of Alexandria is located on the ancient island of Pharoes. This lighthouse is the only one of the Seven Wonder's of the World with a "secular use" p. 45 Foreman).  Ptolemy Soter conceived the project in 290 BC, but it was not completed until after his death.  The lighthouse is 384 feet tall equivalent to a 40 story building. At night there was fire at the top of the lighthouse and during the day a mirror at the top of the lighthouse reflected the sun rays to navigate ships. This light from the fire and the reflections from the mirror could be seen from 30 miles away.  "The light house was dedicated to the savior gods. The It was occasionally referred to as the Pharoes lighthouse " (pg.1 Flint).  The lighthouse was destroyed by earthquakes.

A depiction of Alexandria, the royal headquaters of Cleopatra, the last Queen of Egypt were located here. Her reign began  in 51 B.C. after the death of her father Ptolemy Auletes.

This statue of the priest carrying an "effigy of Osiris of Canupos found on Antirhodus Island".   Osiris is the Greek God of Death.  The statue carrying the jar with the head on top of it was probably located  near or in  a temple. Its purpose was to watch over the deceased.  A priest might have carried this artifact at a ceremony for the dead during an Egyptian Dynasty. This statue displays the people's belief in an after life and how the God Osiris was believed to watch over the dead. The statue priest was discovered close to two Sphinxs.

The sphinx bore the portrait of the ancient ruling Pharoah at the time. The Sphinx was supposed to represent the god Horus who guarded temples and tombs. A sphinx having a face of the current monarch displays the people's  belief that this ruler was a God.  Egyptian's believed that the monarchs were Gods and who could keep the country prosperous by his devine power. "Egyptian sphinxs had the head of a man and the body, legs, feet, and a tail of a lion" (World Encyclopedia V 18).  The diver in this picture is collecting data on the location of the Sphinx using a "Global Positioning System" (pg 178 Foreman).

This limestone statue is the body of an Ibis. Alexandria was populated with many of these birds. "They also are used to represent Thoth, the Egyptian God of writing and knowlegde" (pg 1 Discovery online).

Discoveries at Aboukir

Aboukir is located along the Egyptian coast where many ancient archaeolgical discoveries have been found under water.

This enormous granite head of a statue that was found in basalt, a hard dark volcanic rock. The head represents a Pharoah with a royal headdress. Professor Kiss, who is envolved with the project with Goddio, identified it as being that of "Octavian, Cleopatra's nemesis.  Based on the size of the head, the statue was originally sixteen feet tall" (pg 183 Foreman).  Octavian, Ceasar's heir, declared war on Cleopatra and Marc Anthony. Octavian won the war and he tricked Antony into believing that Cleopatra had killed herself, so Marc Anthony commited suicide. After Cleopatra heard that Octavian was going to display her as his triump at Rome, she killed herself. Since Cleopatra was the last of the Ptolemy dynasty, after her death, Egypt became a Roman Province.

This is a Hellenistic (Greek) head in white marble.

This is a wine amphorae. Two features that make it distinct from other vessels are its long neck and its two handles rising close to the mouth of the vessel. It was used to store wine, olive oil, and fish.        It was designed to faciliate handling aboard ships. Many of these amphora's have been found.

These colomns have been found at the west bay. They are an example of the  architecture during that time.

This is another head of a statue, most likely of a Pharoah.

The Bay of Alexandria

The diver is holding a white marble head of a woman. The head represents Antonia Minor mother of Germanicus and Claudius.

This is a Bas-relief temple carving of Cleopatra as Hathor, Temple of Haroeris at Kom Ombo from the 1st century B.C.  Cleopatra's ancestry was Macedoinian. She was educated in Hellenic culture. "She was the first Ptolemy to learn the Egyptian language, as she sought to solidify her hold on power by embracing Eygpt's indigenous culture.  In this carving, she is depicted not as a Greek goddess, but in the stylized manner of the pharoahs who preceded the Ptolemys"  (www. Discovery.com/stories /history/cleopatra/zoom1.html).

Bibliography Web Sites: www.franckgoddio.org www.greece.org/alexandria/phaors www.geocites.com/theancientworld/lightalex.html www.discover.com/jan_01/featyear.html www.discovery.com/stories/history/cleopatra/act2main.html www.greece.org/alexandria/pharos ce.eng.usf.edu.pharos/wonders/pharos.html www.encylopedia.com/articles/00324.html Books: Foreman, Laura.  Forewarded by Frank Goddio. Cleopatra's Palace: In Search of a Legend.                 Discovery Communications.  1999. La Riche, William.  Alexandria: The Sunken City. Weidenfeld and Nicholson the Orion Publishing                      Group.  1996.

By Corinna Wohler