Ancient ports and sunken Atlantis. The world's oldest seaport was found in Egypt Ports of the west coast of France
They describe the structure of the state, the daily life of the pyramid builders, and the process of transporting building materials from the port to Giza. The ancient documents are very well preserved: the length of some sheets reaches a whole meter. The discovery finally refutes naive stories about the use of mysterious technologies inaccessible to modern man. In addition, the archive contained accounting records - tables displaying daily or monthly supplies of food from different places, including the Nile Delta. They mainly transported bread and beer for the port workers. Since the harbor is located far from Giza, it was most likely that ships loaded with copper and minerals from which construction tools were made came into it.
Pierre Tallet believes that the open port gives an idea of how Cheops ruled, ordered and organized his subordinates almost 5 thousand years ago. The pharaoh was not only a great pyramid builder, but also a merchant, because the ancient Egyptians traded in all the coastal cities of the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Ancient Egypt is inextricably linked with ship craft; sailing boats could sail up to 80 kilometers a day and were used not only for trade, but also for military operations.
Talle told Haaretz that the buildings were likely storage areas for food and materials for workers, overnight accommodations for sailors, and administrative centers that were responsible for running the port. Near them, 99 stone anchors were excavated with red inscriptions - the names of the ships; some anchors even had preserved ropes tied to them. Impressive organization for such an ancient era!
However, modern Egyptologists doubt the “black legends about Cheops” and believe that Herodotus overestimated the required number of pyramid builders. According to Pierre Tallet, recent calculations have shown that in fact 5 thousand people are needed for construction, or, if we take into account the people who delivered raw materials to Giza, no more than 15 thousand people. Another misconception is that the Egyptians were treated like slaves at the construction site. In reality, they were free artisans who served under the royal administration, and, judging by the records on the papyri found, they were quite privileged persons.
Chapter “Ports” of the subsection “Architecture of the Roman Empire” of the section “Architecture of Ancient Rome” from the book “General History of Architecture. Volume II. Architecture of the Ancient World (Greece and Rome)” edited by B.P. Mikhailova.
During the era of empire, there was a further increase in the volume of maritime trade in the Mediterranean. The number of ships and their tonnage is increasing, as well as the amount of maritime transport. This process naturally requires the construction of new ports and the reconstruction of old ones. In the first centuries AD. giant ports arise, such as Ostia, Carthage, Alexandria.
All ports, including those using natural harbors, had artificial structures of various types: breakwaters, breakwaters, dams, lighthouses, etc. Small ports had one basin for parking, unloading or loading ships, the largest ports had several.
The simplest type of port (the ports of Trajan at Centumcelli and Tarracina in Italy and the port at Caesarea in Palestine) with one basin could have a different structure. They tried to use a bay or lagoon as a basin for the port (for example, the port of Claudia in Ostia, Fig. 165), equipped with a number of artificial structures. In those cases when economic or other needs forced the construction of a port in a place where there were no bays, an artificial bay was created, protected from the sea by breakwaters. Sometimes the pier ran in a long strip along the shore, separating the port from the sea. More often, however, ports were built with two piers and a narrow passage between them.
In the II century. AD very popular were ports whose basin had a round or polygonal shape in plan (for example, the port of Trajan in Ostia). The convenience of this type was the long length of the berths, which allowed a large number of ships to moor at the same time.
Ports with not one, but several basins were widespread. Going back to the type of Hellenistic port, where one basin was intended for trade and the other for military ships, they largely lost their military function during the imperial era. All the largest ports of the empire, as well as many others (Tire, Sidon, Cyzicus) belonged to this type. Sometimes a system was used that combined sea and river ports (Ostia, Antioch in Syria). To improve navigation conditions in such cases, canals were often built.
Much attention was paid to the construction of lighthouses. The canal connecting the port with the sea was often divided into two branches by a natural or artificial island on which the lighthouse was located. One of the branches in this case was intended for entry, and the other for exit of ships.
The port was considered not only as a utilitarian structure, but also as a monumental ensemble. The entrance where the tall lighthouse towers were erected stood out especially. Porticos were usually built along the berths, triumphal arches were erected on the piers, and temples of sea deities were erected in the depths of the complex of port facilities.
In August, another archaeological sensation was announced on television. An ancient Greek port was discovered at the mouth of the Don River near the Donskoy farmstead in the Azov region.
Let's get ahead of ourselves. At the site of the supposed ancient port, research was carried out for two weeks with the help of scuba divers. What exactly they found and what conclusions the archaeologists made remains a mystery.
Random finds
Ships and barges sail in this place, raising waves, which in turn wash interesting ceramics and ancient coins ashore. Studying random finds on the shore, archaeologists suggested that there could well have been an ancient Greek port here. Good location, the depth of the river allows vessels with large displacement to pass.
After geophysical exploration, interesting deviations were discovered at the mouth of the river, indicating that there are fragments of previously unknown structures under water. That is why they initially decided to explore the place with the help of scuba divers.
The result of the first research
Divers arrived from Moscow to explore the bottom, and interesting, labor-intensive work began on collecting objects from the bottom. Indeed, numerous ruins of buildings, ceramics and a Scythian cheekpiece, originally mistaken for a door handle, were discovered.
More precise research results are not yet known. Perhaps in order not to attract the attention of black archaeologists to an interesting find.
Archaeologists' hypothesis
The main argument in favor of the ancient Greek port is the navigability of the place. According to scientists, there was shallow water near Azak itself, which means that large ships could not approach the shore. That is, the ancient port served as a harbor for large ships, and from here, on small ships and boats, merchants delivered their goods to Azak.
Interesting site materials
Heraklion is a city of legends, a sunken port city located 6.5 kilometers from the coastline. The city was founded around the eighth century BC and disappeared into the depths of the Mediterranean Sea in the eighth century AD.
Before the founding of Alexandria in 331 BC. the city saw glorious times as the main seaport at the mouth of the Nile, welcoming ships heading to Egypt
Its inhabitants, thanks to contacts with foreign merchants and sailors who often visited the city on their way to Egypt, were educated people. The main temple of the city was dedicated to the god Amun.
In the first century BC. A strong earthquake occurred, which razed houses to the ground, sank ships in the harbor, killed most of the city's inhabitants, forcing the rest to flee, leaving all their valuable property.
For two millennia, the ruins of the city, hidden from prying eyes by silt deposits and ten meters of water, lay 3 kilometers from the coast of Alexandria in Abukir Bay.
But last summer, French archaeologist Frank Gaudiot announced that he had discovered the remains of a city that he believes belongs to Heraklion: a black granite slab or stele inscribed with the word "Heraclion", the remains of ten ships in the former harbor, and thousands of others items including jewelry, coins, vases and personal items.
The inscription on the base of the stele certifies that this slab was to be erected at "Herakleion-Thonis". This is the first clear evidence that the discovered city is the still semi-mythical Heraklion.
One of the first to be found was the great temple of Heraklion.
The remains of thick stone walls mark the boundary of his territory. Near the destroyed walls, archaeologists found three huge statues made of pink granite, which were presumably destroyed during the earthquake. Two statues depict a still unknown pharaoh and his wife. The third statue is Hapi, the Egyptian god of the Nile flood.
Bronze statue of Osiris
Inside the temple is a monumental tomb made of pink granite, covered with hieroglyphs. Its upper part is still difficult to read, but a preliminary translation of the texts placed on the lower parts shows that this is undoubtedly the Temple of Heraklion. A number of scientists, including Manfred Clauss from the University of Frankfurt, believe that the final deciphering of the inscriptions on the tomb will reveal even more
Cleopatra II in the robes of the goddess Isis
Even more impressive is the two-meter black granite stele - an almost complete copy of the stele found in 1899 in Nocratje. This is the first case of duplication of stelae in Egyptology. The Nokratj Stele, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, bears the text of a decree issued by Pharaoh Noctanebus I, founder of the 30th Dynasty, who came to the throne in November 380 BC. This decree introduced a 10 percent tax on Greek artisans and goods in Nokratj and Thonis, which was to be used for the construction of a temple to the goddess Neith.
The text ends with the words: “And His Majesty said: “Let this be carved on a stele erected at Nokratje, on the bank of the Anu Canal.” The found stele does not differ from the first in any way, except for the last sentence, which says: “And His Majesty said: “Let this be carved on the stele installed at the entrance to the Greek sea at Heraklion-Tonis.”
A colossal red granite statue (5.4 m) of the god Hapi, who adorned the Temple of Heracleion. God of the Nile flood, symbol of abundance and fertility.
Among the finds are gold earrings, bracelets, hairpins, rings, combs, a beautiful Greek goblet covered with glaze, an incense burner, hundreds of coins. They all only have a slightly scratched surface. And this is just the beginning - the main excavations (if this concept can be applied to archaeological work under water) are ahead.
Bronze statue of a 26th Dynasty pharaoh
Divers and explorers have found 64 Egyptian ships built between the eighth and second centuries BC. Many of the ships may have been sunk as they were found perfectly preserved on the seabed. Researchers believe this ship graveyard represents the largest maritime collection of the ancient world.
The age of the port, according to scientists, is 4600 years. Cheops, also known as Khufu, reigned from 2580 to 2550 BC. The harbor was built 180 kilometers south of Suez, in the foothills of the desert mountains.
The port was found near a huge papyrus archive, which is the oldest known to date. These papyri describe the construction of the port that was used by King Cheops to bring in the materials needed to build the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Because The port is located far from Giza, most likely it served for the supply of relatively light copper and minerals used for making tools. And the tools have already been used to build the pyramid.
According to the head of the excavations, Sorbonne professor Pierre Tallet, the very fact of the existence of this harbor gives us an idea of the effectiveness of management and its (Cheops) ability to organize very complex logistics operations almost five thousand years ago.
Archaeologists, in particular, discovered 22 ship anchors covered with limestone in the mooring area, which probably fell from the ships, since no traces of wrecks were found. Several large vessels for storing various things near the anchors were discovered, as well as pottery kilns. Near the pier, scientists found the remains of large stone structures 30 meters long and 8 to 12 meters wide.
Talle believes that these were administrative centers that coordinated the work of the port, and were also used to store materials and food for miners working in the Sinai. Well, as a kind of hotel for sailors.
Between two of these structures, archaeologists found a cache of 99 stone anchors, some of which still have ropes. A significant number have inscriptions in red ink with the name of the vessel. This is a truly impressive level of organization for that time.
