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While exploring a canal off the Mediterranean coast of Egypt , underwater archaeologists name a sunken temple and a sanctuary brimming with ancient treasures colligate to the god Amun and the goddess Aphrodite , respectively .
The temple , which partially collapsed " during a cataclysmic event " during the mid - 2d century B.C. , was originally built for the god Amun ; it was so important , Pharaoh went to the temple " to receive from the supreme god of the ancient Egyptian pantheon the titles of their mightiness as universal Riley B King , " harmonise to a statement from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology ( IEASM ) .
Underwater archaeologists found numerous artifacts inside the temple, including gold objects, jewelry and a djed-pillar, a symbol of stability made of lapis lazuli.
The now - abandoned ship edifice was once part of the ancient porthole city of Thonis - Heracleion in the Bay of Aboukir ( also called Abū Qīr Bay ) . The former metropolis , now underwater and about 4.3 miles ( 7 kilometers ) from Egypt ’s modern - day sea-coast , was destroyed when a major earthquake and tidal wave caused the ground to liquefy and go down into the Nile delta .
While exploring the temple , archaeologist unearth a identification number of " treasures and secret , " including silver - made ritual instruments , gold jewelry and alabaster containers once used to hold perfumes or greasy ointments known as unguents .
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Also at the site plunger find hole-and-corner structures back up by " well - preserved wooden post and beam " that date to the fifth 100 B.C. , they wrote in the statement . “It is passing moving to discover such delicate object , which survived intact despite the violence and magnitude of the cataclysm,“Franck Goddio , President of the United States of IEASM and a Gallic underwater archeologist who led the excavations , said in the instruction .
East of the temple , archaeologists observe a Greek sanctuary dedicated to Aphrodite , the goddess of love . It , too , contained legion artifacts , including imported bronze and ceramic objects .
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" This illustrates that Greeks who were provide to trade and settle in the metropolis during the prison term of the Pharaohs of the Saïte dynasty [ between 688 B.C. and 525 B.C.]had their sanctuaries to their own god , " the archeologist wrote in the statement .
The sanctuary also held a cache of Greek weapon system , which could indicate that Greek mercenaries were in the realm at one metre " defending the approach to the Kingdom " at the oral cavity of the Nile ’s westernmost , or Canopic , arm , the researchers said in the command .
