Discovering the ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

In 2000, the pioneering underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio made one of the greatest ever submerged discoveries. He found evidence that the remains he had found off the coast of Egypt were from Thonis-Heracleion, an ancient Egyptian port lost without trace. Before the foundation of Alexandria, it had flourished at the mouth of the Nile between the 6th to 2nd centuries BC, a city twice the size of Pompeii. He tells Josephine McDermott about the incredible artefacts he has found including the moment he realised he was at the foot of a five-metre tall statue of a pharaoh. (Photo: The pharaoh statue discovered off the coast of Egypt. Credit: Christoph Gerigk, Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service.
0:04.7	Join me as I serve up personal conversations
0:07.1	with my sensational guests.
0:08.9	Do a leap, interviews, Tim Cook.
0:11.2	Technology doesn't want to be good or bad.
0:15.0	It's in the hands of the Creator.
0:16.7	It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room.
0:20.6	If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes, you're
0:24.7	doing the wrong thing.
0:25.9	Julie, at your service.
0:27.8	Listen to all episodes on BBC Sales. You're listening to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Josephine
0:40.6	McDermott. Today we're going back to the 5th century BC. Well not quite, but we'll find out how
0:47.2	23 years ago a French explorer Frank Godio became the first human to set eyes on a city lost for 2,000 years.
0:56.5	Tonis Heraklion was once the biggest Egyptian port on the Mediterranean coast,
1:01.6	an international hub where Feraraohs came to be crowned and thousands of people lived.
1:07.0	I would say it's an underwater Pompeii.
1:10.0	The area of that city is twice the area of campaign. It was a kind of an ancient Venice.
1:19.0	Frank Godio and his team know this city, the geography of it like the back of their hands.
1:25.6	Every street statue, landmark, place of worship, row of houses, but it's not been seen for millennia. To go there and experience it, a quick crash course
1:36.6	in archaeological diving. They don't wear flippers on their feet in case they disturb any artifacts,
1:42.4	and instead of the brushes
1:43.4	archaeologists would use on land to clean away soil they use a curious machine.
	...

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