2,000-Year-Old Luxurious Pleasure Boat Found Off Alexandria — First Such Vessel Discovered in Egypt

Underwater archaeologists from the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) announced on Monday the discovery of a roughly 2,000-year-old pleasure boat wreck off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.

Divers located the vessel's hull submerged in the port of the island of Antirhodos. The timbers measure more than 115 feet (about 35 metres) in length and roughly 23 feet (about 7 metres) in width. Greek graffiti on the hull may date to the first half of the first century AD, a detail the institute says supports the hypothesis that the ship was built in Alexandria.

The Alexandria-based IEASM added that the vessel likely had a luxuriously decorated cabin and appears to have been propelled solely by oars, indicating it was a high-status pleasure craft rather than a merchant or military ship.

Historical Context and Significance

Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC. Antirhodos, once an island near the royal quarter, was submerged by a series of earthquakes and tidal events and was first identified in 1996. Divers working in the area have previously recovered statues, coins and other artifacts, several of which are displayed at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.

IEASM director Franck Goddio, who published a recent report on Antirhodos and its Temple of Isis based on decades of underwater exploration, described the find as unprecedented for Egypt. In his words:

Goddio called the discovery extremely exciting and noted that while ancient authors like Strabo and iconography such as the Palestrina mosaic described similar boats, an actual, intact example had never before been found in Egypt.

What This Could Reveal

Researchers say further study of the wreck could shed light on elite leisure, religious practices, craftsmanship and the waterways of Roman Egypt. The site may also be linked to the ancient city of Canopus, an important center during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.

Threats and Other Discoveries

Alexandria is rich in archaeological remains but highly vulnerable to climate change and land subsidence; the metropolitan area is sinking by more than three millimetres per year. Even under optimistic United Nations projections, as much as one third of Alexandria could be underwater or otherwise uninhabitable by 2050.

The bay has yielded multiple shipwrecks over the years, including remains from Napoleon's fleet destroyed in the 1798 Battle of the Nile. Earlier in the year, IEASM recovered a well-preserved smaller boat of about 20 feet (6 metres) in Alexandria's eastern harbor, and in August teams retrieved ancient statues, Roman coins and other artifacts from the Mediterranean off Alexandria. Recent inland finds include 225 funerary figurines recovered from a tomb in Tanis.

IEASM says careful conservation and study of the new pleasure boat will begin soon and promises to offer a rare, tangible glimpse into elite life on Egypt's waterways nearly two millennia ago.