The Sunken Treasures of Egypt
ttp://www.macon.com/mld/macon/entertainment/16249577.htm
Exhibit shows Egypt's sunken treasures
JENNY BARCHFIELD
Associated Press
PARIS - The great port of Alexandria was a bustling trade hub, a transit point for merchandise from throughout the ancient world - until much of it vanished into the Mediterranean Sea.
Treasure hunters have long scoured the Egyptian coast for vestiges of the port, thought to have disappeared about 13 centuries ago. Now an exhibit at Paris' Grand Palais brings together 500 ancient artifacts recovered from the area by underwater archeologists using sophisticated nuclear technology.
"Egypt's Sunken Treasures" features colossuses of pink granite, a 17.6-ton slab inscribed with hieroglyphics, a phalanx of crouching sphinx, pottery, amulets and gold coins and jewelry - all painstakingly fished out of the Mediterranean. Some of the oldest artifacts are estimated to have spent 2,000 years underwater.
The show, which runs through mid-March, spans more than 1,500 years of Egyptian history and traces the decline of the Pharaohs and occupations by Greeks, Romans and Byzantines.
"This is not your usual Ancient Egypt exhibit," said archaeologist Franck Goddio, who led the expedition for the European Institute of Submarine Archaeology. "The artifacts have been living together under the sea for millennia - not gathering dust on a museum shelf."
Goddio's team began its search in 1996, using such technology as sonar, depth-finders and sounding equipment. They worked with France's Atomic Energy Commission to develop a device that measures objects' nuclear resonance to pinpoint the exact locations of the port and two other sites, the lost cities of Herakleion and Canopus.
Television screens projecting videos of the excavations dot the exhibit, in the newly restored Grand Palais, a turn-of-the-century building with a vast glass cupola.
While some of the recovered artifacts were slowly swallowed by the Mediterranean as sea levels rose, others sunk during natural disasters, such as earthquakes and tidal waves. Experts think some heavy objects may have slid into the sea when the clay soil gave way under their weight.
A protective layer of sediment settled over most of the pieces, preserving them from corrosive salt water. Other artifacts were not as fortunate. Riddled with pockmarks or rubbed smooth by the tides, these objects clearly bear the mark of their centuries under water.
Some of the oldest pieces, such as a sphinx dating from the 13th century B.C., were brought to Egypt's coast from other regions of the country. Later objects clearly show the influence of the Greeks, who controlled much of Egypt starting in the fourth century B.C.
In an exquisite black-granite sculpture, the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis strikes a quintessentially Pharaonic pose, with one leg forward and arms pressed tightly at her sides. But the sensual drape of her gown, with its delicate folds, belies an unmistakably Greek touch.
The Stela of Ptolemy, a mammoth marble slab standing 19.5 feet high, bears inscriptions in both hieroglyphics and Greek.
Sculptures from the Greco-Roman period show the degree to which the European colonizers assimilated Egyptian culture, and vice versa. In a second century B.C. bust, the Egyptian god Serapis looks just like the Greek god Zeus, with a full beard and curly locks. With its wild expression and frizzy hair, a second century A.D. bust of an Egyptian water god is the exact image of a Roman Bacchus.
One of the most impressive objects in the show is the so-called Naos of the Decades, a hieroglyphics-covered prayer niche dating from around 380 B.C.
The roof of the niche was discovered in 1776 and taken to Paris, where it became part of the Louvre Museum's permanent collection. In the 1940s, archaeologists working under Egyptian Prince Omar Toussoun discovered two more bits - the naos' back and the base. But it wasn't until the recent submarine excavations, which uncovered several more fragments, that archaeologists finally managed to put the naos together again.
"Egypt's Sunken Treasures," which attracted some 450,000 visitors at its first stop, Berlin, closes March 16. After Paris, the show will return to Egypt. Authorities in Alexandria plan to build a museum of submarine archaeology to hold the artifacts as well as new items that archaeologist Goddio's team continues to discover during its twice yearly expeditions.
"There's enough in the three sites to keep us busy for a while - for about the next 150 years, at least," he said.
I was dying to see this exhibit after I read this article, so I took a little trip to Paris & London. It's about time I post all this stuff in my pitifully neglected LJ.
Fortunately, I bought a bit of stuff to scan because the pictures I took suck, so I won’t be torturing people with too many of them. I’ll try to put a blurb from the exhibit/DVD/whatever about the artifact with the picture, but I don’t have stuff on everything.
For a little background (all info taken from the exhibit, the website & the DVD), beginning in 1992, underwater archeologist Frank Goddio & his team mapped the sea floor of the harbor of Alexandria for 4 years using magnetometric & bathymetric techniques before the divers started to dig underwater. When the diving began in 1996, they found stuff right away, vestiges of stones - blocks from buildings. Further searching lead to the discovery of sphinxes and other artifacts.
Further searching in the nearby Bay of Aboukir revealed the remnants of the cities Canopus (home to the temple of the Greek god Serapis, a deity that was merged with Osiris in Ptolemaic times) & Heracleion. These cities were both plagued by a series of natural disasters (an earthquake & floods) that ultimately left all of Heracleion and parts of Canopus submerged in the 8th century AD.
Pretty much all of these artifacts date to a time of Hellenistic rule, and the art of this time period shows a Greco-Roman influence.
Serapis
Ptolemy Soter tried to merge Egyptian religion with Hellenic (Greek), and declared Serapis to be the equivalent of the bull god Apis. Serapis was later equated with Osiris.
Statue Believed to be Ptolemaic Queen Arsinoe II as Isis
She is depicted as Isis and portrayed as Aphrodite, rising from the sea.
A Priest of Isis Holding a Canopic Vase (Jar)
When they first saw this underwater, they thought it was a woman holding a baby. In ancient times, the jar the priest is holding were believed to contain the dreams of Osiris.
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Supply of Gold Leaf
Gold is not damaged underwater. Restoration consists of simply rinsing it off in freshwater.
Golden Foundation Plaque
Bears the names of Pharaoh Ptolemy the III & his wife & kids; possible founder of the city of Heracleion. This plaque was probably laid when the temple of Heracles (Hercules) was built.
3 Rings
These were found in an ancient shipwreck. The one on the left is a bird with a ribbon.
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Cleopatra Coin
A bronze coin with Cleopatra wearing a diadem on one side, and the eagle of Zeus (symbol of the Ptolemics) on the other. (Sorry, the eagle of Zeus side didn’t come out... T_T)
Golden Wadjet
The eye of Horus (originally Ra), it represents power. (Note, the left eye, which would be the inverse of this one, represents Thoth and the Moon.)
Stele of Isis-Thermoutis
Isis-Thermoutis means Isis depicted as a serpent. It looks plain, but it’s really quite beautiful.
Canopic Jar of Osiris
Sphinx of Ptolemy XII
From Alexandria.
Head of a Ptolemaic Sphinx
From Canopus.
Mini Pantheon
A bunch of statuettes of deities (one looks like Osiris) from Heracleion.
Statue of a Ptolemaic Queen Believed to be Cleopatra II or III
The knot of her dress (at her chest) is called an ‘Isis Knot.’ I love this statue. It was my favorite piece. The pictures don’t do it justice, its really really beautiful.
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The Naos of the Decades
Naos are shrines that enclose a statue of the deity they are dedicated to. This one is for the air god Shu. It was built by Pharaoh Nectanebo I in the 4th century BCE. The top part was found in the late 1700’s, and sat in the Louvre. In the 1940’s the rear and the side were discovered by deep sea divers. Frank Goddio’s expedition brought up several side pieces. A calendar is engraved into the exterior wall of this Naos, dividing the year into 10 day periods, or “decades,” which was based on the appearance & disappearance of major stars called “decans.” These decans also were used to count the night hours. (in the 9th century B. C., the Egyptians attributed these celestial figures with the menacing power of influencing human destiny. When the Greeks later brought to Alexandria an astrology with roots reaching far back in time to the Assyrians and Chaldaeans, the Egyptian decans were introduced as subdivisions of the twelve signs of the zodiac, which they remained even up to today’s practitioners of astrology.) To this day, it is the only know Egyptian calendar that has been found.
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3 Pink Granite Statues of a Pharaoh, his Queen (represented as Isis), & Hapi (god of the Nile, flooding & fertility)
It’s a symbol of prosperity for these rulers to be presented with him). They stood at the entrance to Heracleion & the Temple of Amon-Gereb. The stele (below) and the statues were placed in a desalinization chamber (a tub of fresh water) & kept there for more than a year, the water being changed regularly to counteract the ruining effect of the sea salt. They were finally restored early 2006. These statues had all been broken and restored in antiquity, where they were put together again using metal pins. Like back then, they have been restored and mounted on metal frames, with metal fastener pins holding them together. (Don't let the pictures fool you, Hapi is pretty much the same size as the other two.)
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The Black Stele of Nektanebo I
Heracleion was on the tip of Nile Delta, the mouth of the Nile and the port of entry to Egypt. This Black Stele was discovered here, and named the city, Thonis of Sais. This solved a 2,000 year old mystery; there had been a question if the Egyptian city of Thonis & the Greek city of Heracleion were the same place, but this stele proves they are one in the same.
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The stele has been translated, and I took pictures of the translation. Apologies for the sucky quality, the crowd was always huge (don’t blame them, this thing is freakin’ gorgeous. It draws you to it...) & I ended up on the floor, trying to take them.
Alrighty then, I think I’ve got enough pictures here, nay?
I’ll leave off on this note, all of the articles about this exhibit I could find (they date back to December) state that the exhibit is going back to Egypt after its stint in Paris that ends in mid-March. One mentioned talks were in progress for adding more cities to the tour. One of the people who worked at the Grand Palais said it’s scheduled to go to Spain (Madrid?) next. Hopefully, it’ll come to America. Judging by the lines I saw, & the crowd I fought through, the exhibit seems to be super popular. & I’d love to see it again!