Beautiful treasures discovered in Egypt...

[WildHoney]

Good morning, all...

I happen to be a history and geography lover and was greatly excited when I opened my local newspaper this morning. They've discovered some beautiful treasures buried in the Mediterranean Sea from a city called Herakleion. This city was destroyed 1,200 years ago in a terrible earthquake. What makes this such an interesting find is that most thought this city and several others were just thought to be part of stories, but now they have discovered, through what they've found, that this city along with two others was truly real.

Pulled from the sea were statues of Hapi, an Egyptian God along with stone tablets, some were quite huge and heavy. They have found temples and sunken boats that prove this city was a major harbor area.

Anyway, just wanted to share that with you as it really intrigues me.

Have a wonderful Friday.

WildHoney

 

[gleam]

Interesting...

Thanks for the info! Are you an Egyptian history buff?

 

[rambling man]

What is cool about it is that it was supposedly founded by Hecules, and many people argued it didn't exist, that it was as mythical as Atlantis. I wonder how many other cities were sunk into the ocean like this. Maybe in 3,000 years people will find the ruins of L.A. or San Francisco deep beneath the Pacific

 

[Guest]

Fascinating stuff!
I'm still waiting for better and newer reports on
the "mythical" Amazon nations that
existed in North Africa and East Asia.

 

[TonyG]

Lost Egyptian cities discovered beneath the sea

FROM SAM KILEY IN ALEXANDRIA





TWO cities where ancient religions collided with Christianity and that were lost to the sea 1,200 years ago re-emerged over the weekend after their discovery was announced by Franck Goddio, a French underwater explorer.
Until now they had been known only through Greek mythology, local legends and a handful of early histories.

The discovery of what are believed to be the cities of Herakleion and Canopus and its suburb Menouthis, off the Egyptian coast close to Alexandria, was hailed by archaeologists as among the most important finds of the past two decades in the relatively new field of sub-aqua exploration of ancient sites.

"These are intact. Frozen in time and totally untouched. In Canopus we have found monumental statues and other structures. Around them are enormous amounts of gold coins and of ceramics," said M Goddio, who pioneered electronic techniques for scanning the seabed for anomalies that revealed the cities buried beneath 5ft of sand and silt.

The life of the cities appears to have been brought to an end by an earthquake. The shaking of the earth caused by a fault that runs northwest from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean may have been partly responsible for the flooding of the cities.

Professor Amos Nur, of Stanford University, a geophysicist. said: "It is possible that a tidal wave caused by an earthquake could have flooded the cities, but there is also the simple explanation of subsidence over time, given the sand and silt on which the cities were built."

The finds made over the past two years, unveiled on Saturday, show constant inhabitation from about 1500BC to the early years of Islam in the eighth century AD in the three cities.

Among the most important finds were two large fragments of black stone from the "Naos of the Decades", a 4th-century BC shrine which Professor Jean Yoyotte, of the Collège de France, said had originated in Saft to the east of the Nile delta but was transferred to Canopus between the first and second centuries AD.

Christians determined to stamp out pagan beliefs in the area during the 6th century AD smashed the naos and scattered its pieces. One part, a pyramid block discovered by Sonnini de Manoncourt in 1777 on land at Abukir, is in the Louvre in Paris.

M Goddio's find adds to earlier discoveries of fragments of the naos, giving an almost complete picture of the complex hieroglyphics which sorted and arranged the 36 "decades", ten-day periods defined by the appearance and disappearance of stars called the "decans", which in turn were used to count the night hours.

Inscriptions on the black slabs define the influence that each decade has on animal behaviour and human communities; they are still used by astrologers. "They are the most ancient known documents bearing witness to the origins of classical astrology," Professor Yoyotte said.

M Goddio's search for the cities began in ancient literature and myth. Greek mythology tells the story of Menelaus, king of Sparta, who stopped in Herakleion during his return from Troy with Helen. His helmsman Canopus was bitten by a viper and subsequently transformed into a god. Canopus and his wife Menouthis were immortalised by the two cities that bore their names.

The three sites, between a mile and a half and four miles offshore in about 30ft of water, were found by M Goddio and his team on board the research ship the Princess Duda. Herakleion, once a customs port where commerce flourished until the founding of Alexandria by Alexander the Great in 331BC, was found in its entirety. Its port and the foundations of many houses have been found intact.

On Saturday M Goddio brought a 4th-century BC headless statue of the goddess Isis to the surface. The work, described by Professor Manfred Clauss, an expert on the period, as a masterpiece, was so finely worked and sensual that it drew spontaneous applause from those who saw it.

"There is enough work at the three sites already excavated for us all and many others for the next 50 years," Professor Gaballa Ali Gaballa, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities, said.

 

[WildHoney]

Thank you!

Thank you, Tony, for posting the article. I appreciate that very much.

I find all of this so interesting because the ancient civilizations have fascinated me ever since I was a child. Stonehenge was my first mysterious love and after that there was nothing that could escape my inquiring mind, well, except maybe studying for tests. But that's a different story.

Thanks, again.

WildHoney

 

[crystalhunting]

Here is something else about Eygpt...you may not be familar with.....

CH


THE ANCIENT EMERALD MINES OF CLEOPATRA
The ancient world's most famous mines were those of Egypt in the eastern desert region.In addition to major gold deposits, the prized emeralds mines were located in the scorpion and snake invested desert region know as Sikeit and Zabara. Even today the ruins of the mining cities of Zabara and Sikeit are still evident as well as some of the old mine sites (mostly all caved in). After nearly 3500 years the mine dumps and adit areas are also still evident. Also evident are the remains of temples where the slaves would pray for safety and protection during the day's work. It was not unusual for temperatures to reach 140 degrees F in the summer afternoon heat and drop dramatically in the chilling night air. The working conditions were unbearable for the slaves of Egypt. Since the mines were worked by hand, very few samples of these magnificent gems have been left for us. Even attempts of re-exploration have been fruitless. After ages of neglect M. Fredric Cailliaud unsuccessfully reworked the mines in 1822. He tried to get samples of the famous emerald crystals to show the modern world that the ancients did not have the technology and tools of modern civilization. He left in disgust and it was said that he warned later visitors to avoid the sites because ". . .they were the refuge of snakes, wolves, scorpions and other beasts of prey; the abode of demons, who would resent the intrusion." It is again proof in the mysteries that the ancient Egyptians had extreme understanding of mining techniques and were very thorough in following the dark mica and talc schist veins into the mountain walls. Many of the ancient civilizations that traded with Egypt held the emeralds in the highest of favor. Emeralds from the mines have been found in the buried roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

The deep rich green emeralds of these mines have adorned the mummies of the nobles and Pharaohs of the Middle and New Kingdoms, such as Seti I, Rameses II and the most famous, the Boy King Tutankhamen. But it was Cleopatra that made the mines even more renowned. It was her favorite gem, and it was not unusual for her in greeting ambassadors from other countries, to be decked in lavished emerald jewelry. As legend holds, she would give these dignitaries a wonderful gem when they left Egypt, carved with her likeness upon it. She is said to have personally taken control over all the crystals from the mines, saying that these gems only befit the royalty of Egypt. Because of their great beauty and trading value to her kingdom, she had the mines named in her honor during her reign of 51 to 30 B.C.. When Egypt was conquered, it was gold and the emeralds from her mines that were the most prized of all the captured bounty. The quality, vivid color and intense brilliance of the few examples of these wonderful emerald crystals that are still in existence in museums, are truth of the lore of the "Ancient Mines of Cleopatra."

 

[WildHoney]

Thank you Chrystalhunting!

Chrystalhunting,

I saw on another post the pictures you posted of some of your creations. They were most beautiful. It's amazing to me that people have the many talents they have. I am not a creative person when it comes to designing or even drawing. The best I can come up with are stick figures when I draw people.

The information you posted on the mines in Egypt was very interesting. It seems they had terrible slave practices even in those times. What I find so interesting is that Cleopatra used the gems as a marketing device. Perhaps that was her way of enticing those dignitaries to come back and visit her wonderful country again real soon, or else she would gain control over them. lol

Thank you for sharing - I appreciated that very much.

WildHoney