Ancient Egyptian treasures of sunken cities go on show after years in Niles

[Batu69]

Explore the splendours of Egypt's 'Atlantis': Lost treasures of sunken cities to go on show after more than 1,000 years submerged in the waters of the Nile delta

• Artefacts dredged up from ruins of lost cities in the Nile delta to go on display in major British Museum exhibition
• Treasures were found by divers as recently as 2012, perfectly preserved by a millennium under the sea
• Items come from the lost cities of Heracleion and Canopus, which vanished around 800AD
• Highlights include a 5.4 metre statue of a Nile god, a huge hieroglyphic tablet and jewellery belonging to pharaohs
• Exhibition, called Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost World, will run from 19 May to November

Lost artefacts from sunken cities dubbed the Atlantis of Egypt are to be together for the first time after laying submerged for more than a thousand years.

Enormous statues, golden jewellery and hieroglyphic tablets which were feared lost forever have been reclaimed from the sea, and are to be put on public display later this month in a major exhibition by the British Museum.

The treasures belong to Heracleion and Canopus, cities built on the shifting ground of the Nile delta, which are now buried beneath 10ft (3 metres) of silt.

Reclaimed: The intact Stele of Thonis-Heracleion, is pictured being carefully lifted out of the Nile delta. The inscription makes clear that it was to be placed on the site of Heracleion, a city thought lost to the sands of time, and helped archaeologists be sure that they had found the right place

Ancient texts record the existence of the settlements, which were the gateway to Egypt before Alexandria rose to prominence. But the two trading hubs were lost - literally - to the sands of time until a chance discovery in 1996.

Divers in the mouth of the Nile unearthed the treasures, and have spent almost two decades since painstakingly dredging them out of the deep. 

Highlights of the collection include a 6ft (1.9 metre) heirogylphic tablet inscribed with a royal declaration from Pharaoh Nectanebo I and a 5.4m statue of Hapy, an Egyptian god who personifies the Nile's floods. 

The exhibition, called Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost World, will run from 9 May to November.

It will combine items from the Museum's own archives with items on special loan from Egyptian authorities, who rarely let the artefacts leave their country.

Around 300 items will be put on display, most of which were pulled from the sunken ruins. 

The exhibition will focus on the mingling of cultures in the Nile delta cities, particularly the interaction between Egypt and Ancient Greece.

Other treasures on display will include a statue of Arsinoe II, a queen in the Ptolemaic dynasty which was founded after Alexander the Great conquered the country.

Franck Goddio, the president of the European Institutue of Underwater Archaeology and a co-curator of the exhibition, said: 'My team and I, as well as the Hilti Foundation, are delighted that the exhibition with discoveries from our underwater archaeological expeditions off the coast of Egypt will be on display at the British Museum.

'It enables us to share with the public the results of years of work at the sunken cities and our fascination for ancient worlds and civilisations.

'Placing our discoveries alongside selected masterpieces from the collections of Egyptian museums, complemented by important objects from the British Museum, the exhibition presents unique insights into a fascinating period in history during which Egyptians and Greeks encountered each other on the shores of the Mediterranean.'

Article source & more images here.