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Underwater archeology brings ancient Alexandria to light
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As researchers have explored the ancient city of Alexandria, they have discovered treasures of the ancient and neoclassical worlds that dominated the Mediterranean. Researchers have been utilizing underwater archeological techniques to detail finds of artifacts that have thought lost for thousands of years.
Recent discoveries have included the famous university complex of Alexandria and remnants of the famous Pharos, the 440 foot tall lighthouse that guided ships into the ancient seaport for almost 2,000 years. Other ancient findings now being explored in the waters off the ancient seacoast include ancient streets and what is perhaps the palace of the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra.
The location of Alexandria has been know since its founding by Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C.. However the site has been considered useless for excavation since the early digging efforts of the late 19th century sent would be archeologists scouring the region for finds. The difficulties posed by Alexandria have served to direct archeologists to more accessible sites around the Mediterranean such as Troy, and the Valley of the Kings.
Still, interest in Alexandria persisted despite the difficulties of exploring a site that was damaged by war and eventually swallowed by the seat itself.
How did Alexandria disappear?
Beginning in AD 365, a series of tsunamis and tidal-area subsidence began to erode the city. Over the course of about two hundred years much of Alexandria literally sank from view. The slow spread of the devastation created a sense that the learning of the past that had always been at the heart of Alexandria was being taken from Egypt. Over time, the scholars learned in the classical wisdom of Greece left the schools for which Alexandria had been so famous moved to the east, to Damascus and Baghdad while Europe waited for the rebirth of learning in the Renaissance.
Still, the lost wonders of Alexandria waited under the shallow seas of the Mediterranean. Now, those marvels are coming to light. Perhaps the most legendary structures of the legendary Alexandria were the great library, the tomb of Alexander the Great, and the Pharos lighthouse. Of the three, the best information currently being found in the underwater work being done at Alexandria relates to the great Pharos lighthouse.
The great lighthouse served two purposes. It did, in fact, lead ships safely into the harbor at Alexandria, but at 440 feet high, it also announced the world power of the nation that controlled the port of Alexandria. Its sheer size commanded respect. For hundreds of years questions surrounding the disappearance of a structure of such size have plagued historians and archeologists alike.
One of the primary archeologists working in the waters off Alexandria, Jean Yves Empereur, may be finding answers to the destruction of the great lighthouse if not sections of the lighthouse itself. In an interview with NOVA, Empereur explained part of his current research into the destruction of the lighthouse, which he now ascribes to seismic activity over the course of a thousand years.
As discoveries continue to be made in Alexandria, the Egyptian government is considering how to best preserve the past while allowing for continued development in the port city. Modern buildings are rapidly being constructed over unexcavated sites. Often developers are reluctant to allow excavations that may slow their modern building plans. Part of the difficulties faced by modern archeologists come not from finding and understanding artifacts from the past, but in protecting the past from bulldozers and upscale apartment complexes.
Material for block quotes
The Pharos Lighthouse
From the fourth century until the 14th century there were earthquakes in Alexandria. In the Arab sources alone you have more than 20 mentions of earthquakes which affected the lighthouse. And we know that in the 14th century, after the Arabs had made some repairs to the lighthouse, the lighthouse collapsed due to very severe earthquakes. There is a map in Montpelier, a town in southern France, which indicates that in 1303 the lighthouse of Alexandria was destroyed. In fact, there is an Arab traveler, his name is Ibn Battuta, who came to Alexandria in 1326 for the first time. And he writes, “I could have access to the door of the first floor of the lighthouse.” And when he comes back to Alexandria in 1349, he says, “No access to this door. Everything here has collapsed.” So in fact, in the first half of the 14th century that very strong earthquake put an end to this tower. This earthquake made the lighthouse collapse in a kind of line from the seashore. And we found a dozen fallen pieces under the sea in a line. Some of these pieces were in fact broken in two or three fragments, each of which is about 20 or 30 tons. (Empereur, 2000)
The founding of Alexandria
On an April day in 331 B.C., on his way to an oracle in the Egyptian desert before he set off to subdue Persia, Alexander envisioned a metropolis linking Greece and Egypt. Avoiding the treacherous mouth of the Nile, with its shifting currents and unstable shoreline, he chose a site 20 miles west of the great river, on a narrow spit of land between the sea and a lake. He paced out the city limits of his vision: ten miles of walls and a grid pattern of streets, some as wide as 100 feet. The canal dug to the Nile provided both fresh water and transport to Egypt’s rich interior, with its endless supply of grain, fruit, stone and skilled laborers. For nearly a millennium, Alexandria was the Mediterranean’s bustling center of trade. (Lawler, 2007).
References
Empereur, J. Y. (2000). Treasures of the sunken city. NOVA. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sunken/empereur.html
Lawler, A. (2007, April). Raising Alexandria. Smithsonian. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/raising-alexandria-151005550/