The Greeks call it Heracleion and the Egyptians Thonis but, in the end, it is the exact same city: a city - "the submerged Atlantis " - sank into the sea 1200 years ago due to an unusual combination of factors. There is no certain information about the end of this legendary city. Do you long to visit it? You can only do it thanks to one reconstruction in the form of interactive map.
Heracleion: the interactive map of the sunken city 1200 years ago
According to archeologists, the metropolis of Heracleion, as big as Paris and located in the bay of Aboukir, it is located 6 km from the coast, it was buried by an earthquake, a tsunami and by the enormous weight of the buildings, including temples and colossal statues. These are just hypotheses for now. Fortunately the sea seems to have perfectly preserved Heracleion, which allowed archaeologists to unearth about 64 ships and more than 700 anchors, but also coins, steles with hieroglyphics and ancient Greek writings, a statue of Hapi - the Egyptian god of the flood of the Nile - and some religious artifacts . However, the research is only at the beginning. According to the marine archaeologist Frank Goddio (70 years old, Moroccan with French mother and Italian father) it will take 200 more years to truly discover and understand Heracleion.
Are you already thinking about how to visit it? Unfortunately, I doubt it will be possible. The archaeological site is protected by Unesco and most of the city will remain immersed in the waters of the Mediterranean. Don't worry, however, you can think about exploring Heracleion thanks to the interactive map created by the European Institute for Underwater Acheology. Here you will find the reconstruction of the map of the city of Thonis-Heracleion and many photographs taken by the archaeologists. The interactive reconstruction provides information in English and Chinese only.
In short, maybe we will never set foot in this one alleged submerged Atlantis but at least we can get a pretty clear idea of what are the hidden treasures in the waters of the Mediterranean.
Archaeologist Frank Goddio Heracleion Thonis Thonis-Heracleion Heracleion: the interactive map of Atlantis submerged at sea 1200 years ago
