CAIRO (youregypt.com) - A French expedition team has recently recovered underwater artifacts at Abu-Qir bay near Alexandria. The antiquities date back to the 3-5th centuries BC. They belong to the sunken Ptolemaic port city of Heracleion, particularly the temple of Khonsu, also known for the Greeks as Heracles

Culture minister Farouk Hosni has said most of the retrieved antiquities are made of bronze and include a collection of statues and heads of ancient Egyptian deities such as Isis, Anubis and Bastet.

Work has continued for several years now to reveal more secrets about that city and its underwater treasures. Historians cannot determine what exactly brought about such fate to the city, but they estimate it to have occurred in the 7-8th century, most probably as a cause of a natural disaster like an earthquake.

Among the most impressive retrieved antiquities is a 2nd century bust with a cornucopia probably of Nile River Hapi.

Recovered pieces were immediately put to restoration to remove the accumulated salts and effect of seawater for several hundred years.

The French team is headed by Frank Goddio. The team has been working since 1998 studying and mapping the topography of the underwater seabed of Abu Qir bay, and retrieving submerged antiquities extended in the area of the sunken cities of Heracleion and Canopus.
The French team also succeeded to locate wrecks of Napoleon fleet destroyed by Great Britain’s Admiral Nelson at Abu Qir’s Battle of the Nile in 1798.
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More information about the French mission can be found in Frank Goddio's website at: www.underwaterdiscovery.org