Real-Life Atlantis Found? How the ‘Lost’ Egyptian City That Sunk 1,000 Years Ago Compares to Mythical Place

Egypt has its version of Atlantis, Heracleion - the city that sunk into the Mediterranean Sea 1,000 years ago. Several precious finds were discovered at the bottom of the sea where the city's remains were found.

Egypt's Real-Life Atlantis - Heracleion

Heracleion is a long-lost ancient port city in Egypt that was most likely established in the 8th century BC. Before it completely submerged into the Mediterranean Sea in the 8th century AD, it experienced a variety of natural disasters, most likely earthquakes and tsunamis.

The remains are currently two miles off the Egyptian shore, submerged in the Mediterranean close to the ancient city of Alexandria. Before Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC, Heracleion served as Egypt's principal Mediterranean port for many years.

The most recent excavation, carried out in July of this year, focused on the south canal of the buried city, which contains the ruins of a significant temple to the Egyptian god of the air, Amun. About 1,000 years before the entire town was destroyed, large pieces of stone from the temple crumbled during a "cataclysmic event" dating to the middle of the second century BC, according to Goddio.

At the temple site, they discovered silver ritual objects, gold jewelry, and delicate alabaster receptacles that were probably used for perfumes. Two ceremonial plates made of silver, highly prized in ancient Egypt, were used for libations for the gods.

Goddio found the finds "previous" and "moving." According to him, it was the evidence of the sanctuary's affluence and the religious devotion of the city's erstwhile residents.

Heracleion has been dubbed Egypt's Atlantis. However, unlike Heracleion, many people don't believe the legendary island Atlantis existed.

ALSO READ: Long Lost Medieval Church Submerged 700 Years Ago in Sunken Town Unearthed

Atlantis: The Fabled Sunken Island

Atlantis is one of the most enduring old stories about the most famous mythical location. An advanced civilization that overreached in its greed and aroused the wrath of the gods, who vanquished it from the face of the planet in one day and one night, is the subject of the intriguing narrative about Atlantis, which is immortalized by its narrator, Plato.

One may be excused for trying to locate this island on a map after hearing the legend of Atlantis, its hubris, and its demise. After all, we know where it is - west of the Pillars of Hercules or the Strait of Gibraltar, as it is called today. This places the island in the Atlantic Ocean, or "Atlants thálassa," as the Greeks called it.

Atlantis is, first and foremost, a myth, notwithstanding the efforts of numerous generations of explorers and (pseudo) scientists to locate it.

Plato's student Aristotle primarily scorned the Atlantis mythology as pure fiction. However, a geographer, Strabo, thought about the possibility that part of the narrative was true and that a natural cataclysm caused Atlantis' demise.

There were also speculations that the story was Plato's warning about the dangers of democracy and that the tragic story of Atlantis referred to the city-state of Helike, located on the shores of northern Peloponnese, which had a major regional power.

Its sailors explored the Mediterranean and founded colonies in Asia Minor and Southern Italy. The city's main deity was Poseidon, whose image appeared on coins and whose temple was second only to the sanctuary at Delphi. Helike mirrored Atlantis' sad demise when a powerful earthquake struck it and threw the entire city into the depths of the ocean. To make the story interesting, the incident reportedly happened during Plato's lifetime.