The British Museum has announced a brand new exhibition that will explore two cities of Ancient Egypt which are now submerged under water and have only been rediscovered recently.
Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds will vanish beneath the waters into the depths to bring the lost cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, which lay at the mouth of the Nile.
Thonis-Heracleion was named after the Greek hero Heracles and was one of Egypt’s most important commercial centres for trade with the Mediterranean world and along with Canopus was an important centre for the worship of the Egyptian gods.
This blockbuster exhibition will feature objects that range from colossal statues to delicate gold jewellery – all telling stories of political power, popular belief, myth, gods and kings.
Preserved and undiscovered for over a thousand years, it has only been in the last twenty years that the world-renowned archeologist Franck Goddio and his team have managed to excavate some spectacular objects using the latest technology.
These new discoveries will be displayed alongside other fascinating objects that will be lent from other Egyptian museums for the first time in the UK.
The exhibition is an opportunity for visitors to explore the story behind the relationship between the major ancient civilisations of Egypt and Greece.
Sunken Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds will be on display at the British Museum from the 19th May to the 27th November 2016. Tickets for the exhibition cost £16.50, with members and under 16’s able to see the exhibition for free.