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WonderArchaeology fact

A port from the age of Cleopatra was found in 2025 under the Mediterranean off Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria in Egypt, with polished floors, columns and anchors still on the seabed.

Egypt, 2025

HistoryArchaeology

The story behind the card

Taposiris Magna is an ancient temple town about 45 km west of Alexandria. Its temple was dedicated to Isis, the goddess Cleopatra VII identified herself with. For about twenty years the Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martínez has searched there for the tomb of Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Her team has found hundreds of burials, coins bearing Cleopatra's image and, in 2022, a 1,305-metre tunnel cut through the rock. Following that tunnel towards the sea led to the underwater harbour. Its remains date from the Ptolemaic period, when Cleopatra's Greek-speaking dynasty ruled Egypt, and show the town was a working port in her time. Her tomb has never been found.

Türkçe oku
Kleopatra çağından kalma bir liman, 2025'te Mısır'da, İskenderiye'nin batısındaki Taposiris Magna açıklarında Akdeniz'in dibinde bulundu. Cilalı zeminler, sütunlar ve çapalar hâlâ deniz tabanında duruyor.
Mısır, 2025

Taposiris Magna, İskenderiye'nin yaklaşık 45 kilometre batısında antik bir tapınak kentidir. Tapınağı, VII. Kleopatra'nın kendisini özdeşleştirdiği tanrıça İsis'e adanmıştı. Dominikli arkeolog Kathleen Martínez yaklaşık yirmi yıldır burada Kleopatra ile Marcus Antonius'un mezarını arıyor. Ekibi yüzlerce mezar, üzerinde Kleopatra'nın yüzü bulunan sikkeler ve 2022'de kayaya oyulmuş 1.305 metrelik bir tünel buldu. Tüneli denize doğru izleyen ekip, sualtındaki limana ulaştı. Kalıntılar, Kleopatra'nın Yunanca konuşan hanedanının Mısır'ı yönettiği Ptolemaioslar dönemine ait ve kentin onun zamanında işleyen bir liman olduğunu gösteriyor. Kleopatra'nın mezarı ise hâlâ bulunamadı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Taposiris Magna
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