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1h ago

2,000-Year-Old Pleasure Barge Discovered Off Alexandria’s Royal Island

Preserved Greek-inscribed timbers date the thalamagos to the early first century, with the site to remain in situ for study.

Greek Graffiti found on the central carling are dated to the first half of the 1st century AD
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Overview

  • Underwater archaeologists with IEASM identified the wreck off Antirhodos in Alexandria’s Portus Magnus within about 50 meters of the Temple of Isis excavations.
  • Timbers indicate a vessel roughly 35 meters long and 7 meters wide that could host a central pavilion, likely flat-bottomed and rowed.
  • Greek graffiti on the central carling supports an early first‑century AD date and points to construction in Alexandria.
  • Researchers propose the boat either sank during the Temple of Isis’s mid‑first‑century destruction or served in Isis processions such as the navigatio iside.
  • IEASM documented the wreck with photogrammetry and will leave it on the seabed under UNESCO guidance as analyses continue and excavations resume.