Underwater archaeologists led by Franck Goddio have recovered the timbers of a 2,000-year-old vessel off Alexandria that may be a Ptolemaic thalamagos, or pleasure barge. The preserved planks measure roughly 90 ft (28 m), suggesting an original boat of about 115 ft by 22 ft (35 × 7 m). Found near the submerged Temple of Isis on Antirhodos, the craft could have served elite leisure or ritual roles such as the navigatio Iside, but experts warn scientific confirmation is still pending.
2,000-Year-Old Wreck Off Alexandria May Be a Ptolemaic 'Pleasure Barge' Linked To Isis Rituals
A diver with one of the timbers from the newfound wreck. The plank is scrawled with unreadable graffiti in Greek letters that have been dated to the first half of the first century. | Credit: Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation
Underwater archaeologists diving off the coast of Alexandria have uncovered the 2,000-year-old remains of a large vessel that French archaeologist Franck Goddio suggests could be a lavish Ptolemaic "pleasure barge" or thalamagos.
Discovery And Context
Goddio's team recovered well-preserved timbers in October from the submerged ruins of a Temple of Isis on the island of Antirhodos, within Alexandria's ancient Portus Magnus (Great Harbor). The recovered planks span roughly 90 feet (28 meters). Based on the surviving timbers, researchers estimate the original craft measured about 115 feet (35 m) long and 22 feet (7 m) wide.
The researchers have made a 3D model of the wreck from precise digital photographs. | Credit: Christoph Gerigk ©Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation
What Is A Thalamagos?
The term thalamagos (also spelled thalamegos) is a Greek word meaning "cabin carrier." Ancient writers describe such vessels as floating palaces used by Ptolemaic elites — decorated central cabins rowed by oarsmen and used for feasting and display. No intact example has previously been excavated, so the new find could be especially important if confirmed.
"… they hold feasts in cabin-boats in which they enter the thick of the cyami (Egyptian lotuses that grow in fresh water) and the shade of the leaves," — the Greek geographer Strabo on Ptolemaic pleasure barges.
Ritual Or Leisure?
The wreck was found adjacent to the Temple of Isis on Antirhodos, a setting that raises the possibility of a ceremonial function. Goddio and colleagues propose the vessel might have participated in the navigatio Iside, a Roman-era naval procession in Alexandria that carried a richly decorated mock boat (the Navigium) as an offering and symbol of the gods' solar barque. If so, the barge could have taken part in annual rituals that traveled from the Portus Magnus to the sanctuary of Osiris at Canopus via the Canopic Channel.
A map of the Great Harbor at Alexandria showing (in red) the areas excavated by the researchers. Antirhodos was southwest of the harbor's center. It sank, along with many other parts of the ancient harbor, between the fourth and the eighth centuries. | Credit: Franck Goddio ©IEASM
Dating And Damage
The temple at Antirhodos was likely destroyed in an earthquake around A.D. 50, and the island itself subsided between the fourth and eighth centuries. Exactly how this vessel came to rest near the temple remains unclear: it might have been used for everyday canal travel, elite leisure on Alexandria's waterways, or become trapped during the site's destruction.
Expert Caution And Next Steps
Timmy Gambin, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Malta, called the find "spectacular" but emphasized that scientific confirmation is still needed to identify the craft definitively as a thalamagos or to determine its precise function. The excavation and analysis are at an early stage, and further conservation, dendrochronology, and contextual study will be required to date the timbers more precisely and interpret the vessel's role.
Why It Matters: If verified, this would be the first archaeological evidence of the floating palaces described in ancient sources, offering fresh insight into Ptolemaic elite life, religious ceremony, and riverine craftbuilding in early Roman Egypt.
