The Lost Egyptian City at the Bottom of the Ocean

At the British Museum we also went to see an exhibition called "Sunken Cities: Egypts Lost World". 

Two cities of ancient Egypt have been discovered recently.  They were lost because they were at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea and water levels rose and the cities were flooded.  The exhibition was full of many of the things they had found from the city.  But they have only found about 5% of what is there.  So 95% of the cities remain sunken under the ocean. The cities were called Canopus and Thonis-Heracleion.

The first thing we did was have a look at some objects at a hands-on desk.  Some were seals similar to the ones in the Greek exhibit which we learned about last year.  (They are used to mark property to show who owns it).  There were also some amulets that Mummies would be buried with to protect them in the afterlife. 

This was the statue of the God Hapi who stood at the edge of the city of Thonis-Heracleion.  The thing that the statue is holding is a tray which offerings put on.  This statue was to welcome ships to the port.

This was a tablet with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.  I recognised some of the letters from when I learned about them last year.  I recognised a Pharohs name because it was inside a cartouche (a special oval shape which Pharohs' names would always be carved inside to protect them from evil spirits in the afterlife).  You can read more about this in my blog post from last year about visiting the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archeology here.

This is a cabinet full of eating utensils and tableware.  My favourite was a spoon that had been entirely covered in coral.

Next I was able draw a picture of something that I saw in the exhibit and I decided to draw the coral spoon.

Something I found interesting was that the cities were Egyptian but lots of Greeks started to visit as they were big trading ports.  So you can see lots of Egyptian and Greek relics and sometimes where the two cultures combine.  This is a map of the city.  I noticed that Temples for Greek Gods were allowed to be built right next to Temples for Egyptian Gods.  It made me think about today and how some people are angry about Mosques being built near Christian Churches.  I wondered if the ancient Egyptians could accept and live in harmony with others beliefs back then, why can't we do it today? 

At this point Mum saw a sign that said no photos - WHOOPS!  So we couldn't take any more, but we saw tons of other amazing relics and learnt lots of cool facts about life and also the beliefs and myths of the Ancient Egyptian Era.  

Here we are on our way home - but as you can see London traffic was a bit crazy that day so it took quite a long time.