Ancient boat found off the coast of Egypt is believed to have been a ‘pleasure boat’ for a king

Long before modern billionaires held lavish parties at sea on their superyachts, the wealthy elite of ancient Egypt cruised the Nile in luxury on their pleasure boats.

Now, for the first time, archaeologist Believe they have unearthed one of those grand shipwrecks of ancient times from beneath the sediment off the coast of Alexandria.

“When you find a boat that has never been studied before… and that has never been found before, it’s always very exciting,” University of Oxford Marine archaeologist Frank Godio told as it happens Host Nil Koksal.

If the boat is indeed what it seems, it brings to life a piece of Egyptian history that, until now, was only depicted in art or described in ancient historical texts.

The discovery comes from one of several recent underwater expeditions led by Goddio and the European Institute for Underwater Archeology in partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. The findings have been Published by Oxford Center for Maritime Archaeology.

Grand Voyages on the Nile River

This wooden ship dates back to the first century AD and was found Near the island of Antirhodos, which was part of the great port of ancient Alexandria.

It is about 35 meters long, with space for about 20 sailors, and has a large pavilion in the center, which Godio says would probably have been “richly decorated” and “full of luxury.” Not built for sea travel, it would probably have traveled the Channel between Alexandra and Canopus On the Nile River.

but what makes it different from among other ships That time, its architecture, says Goddio, has a “bizarre peculiarity” – a flat-bottomed bow paired with a rounded stern.

“It fits the symbolism of those pleasure boats perfectly,” Godio said.

What Historians Know About Those Pleasure Craft They Were Called thalamogosCome from text and imagination.

The shape of the ship discovered by Goddio’s team matches historical depictions, particularly those from Nile Mosaic of PalestineAn ancient floor mosaic depicting the route of ships from the Blue Nile to the Mediterranean Sea.

It also appears to match the descriptions of the Greek historian Strabo, who visited Alexandria between 29–25 BC. According to the Guardian newspaperWrote: “Every day and every night the boats are crowded with people who play flutes and dance without restraint and with extreme immorality.”

Egyptologist Caroline Arbuckle MacLeod, who was not involved in the discovery, called it “really exciting”, noting that it is extremely rare to find a preserved boat from that era, let alone a probable one. Thalamogos.

“To my knowledge, this would be the first preserved type of pleasure craft that we found from ancient Egypt,” MacLeod, an archaeologist at the University of Saskatchewan, told CBC. “So it would be pretty amazing to have an existing piece of history like that.”

He compared the pleasure boats of ancient Egypt with the boats of modern times.

“You’ll take trips up and down the Nile, just as you can now on a dinner boat or cruise,” he said. “And we know this was something King did on a regular basis.”

The most famous example, she says, is Huge, two-story palace barge commissioned by Ptolemy IV PhilopatorA pharaoh, for himself and his wife Arsinoe III.

Or, it could have been a religious ship

Goddio says that while more work is needed to definitively confirm this discovery, it is indeed a pleasure.

However, he has a competing theory. It may have been the property of a nearby temple of Isis – the goddess of magic, motherhood, healing and fertility – which was used in religious rituals.

“In this case, in the middle of that boat, instead of a pavilion, you would have a small temple dedicated to the goddess Isis,” he said.

He says that the temple was built in 50 BC. It was destroyed in a series of devastating earthquakes and tidal waves around 1500 BC, which explains how the barge sank and became buried beneath the sediment that protected it.

Whatever it is, MacLeod says it’s in a Important A piece of maritime history that speaks key The role the Nile River has played in the history of Egypt.

“When we think of the Egyptian Highway, it’s really the Nile River,” she said. “It would have been full of different types of ships for people coming and going, visiting friends, carrying their goods for trade, traveling back and forth for commercial purposes and then of course these types of pleasure trips.”

Goddio says the team has made every effort to study the ship underwater. They have taken wood samples for carbon dating and taken photographs from every angle to create a 3D model.

They then covered it back with sediment and left it as they found it, as recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

He says it is here to stay, unless the Egyptian government one day decides otherwise. He says that removing it from the water without damaging it will be a very complex effort.

“It was there for 2,000 years,” he said. “It may still be in peace for a few more centuries.”