Archaeologists Discover 4,300-Foot-Long Tunnel Under Ancient Egyptian Temple (2 Viewers)

[Cold Ethyl]

Archaeologists Discover 4,300-Foot-Long Tunnel Under Ancient Egyptian Temple​

Researchers have been digging near the Taposiris Magna Temple in hopes of finding Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb

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The Taposiris Magna Temple west of the ancient city of Alexandria Koantao via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an underground tunnel at Taposiris Magna, a temple dedicated to Osiris, the god of death.
Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist with the University of San Domingo, located the 6.5-foot-tall, 4,300-foot-long tunnel roughly 43 feet underground at the temple, which is situated west of the ancient city of Alexandria. She also found two Ptolemaic-era alabaster statues and several ceramic vessels and pots, reports Artnet’s Sarah Cascone.

History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places Smithsonian Magazine

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shared the find in a statement last week and described the tunnel as a “geometric miracle.”

Part of the tunnel is submerged underwater, which could be the result of several earthquakes that struck the region between 320 and 1303 C.E. Archaeologists suspect that those natural disasters caused the temple to collapse.

The tunnel is “an exact replica of Eupalinos Tunnel in Greece, which is considered as one of the most important engineering achievements of antiquity,” Martinez tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus. The Tunnel of Eupalinos, located on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea, was an aqueduct that carried water for more than 1,000 years.

During previous excavations at the site, archaeologists found a variety of other artifacts, including coins featuring the names and images of Cleopatra VII and Alexander the Great. They’ve also found figurines, statues of the goddess Isis, a mummy with a gold tongue and a cemetery full of Greco-Roman-style mummies.

Cleopatra—who ruled Ptolemaic Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C.E.—and her longtime lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, died by suicide in 30 B.C.E. Historians believe they are likely buried together, but they don’t know where.

Martinez, a criminal lawyer turned archaeologist, has believed for many years that the ancient queen was buried at the Taposiris Magna Temple. After successfully petitioning the Egyptian government to conduct research in the area, she began digging—and though she hasn’t found Cleopatra’s tomb yet, she’s made many other important discoveries over the past 15 or so years, including the tunnel.

She is continuing her attempt to locate the ancient queen’s long-lost tomb, and she thinks she’s getting closer. As she told the Heritage Key blog in 2009, “If there’s one percent of a chance that the last queen of Egypt could be buried there, it is my duty to search for her.”

Archaeologists Discover 4,300-Foot-Long Tunnel Under Ancient Egyptian Temple

Researchers have been digging near the Taposiris Magna Temple in hopes of finding Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[SPHINCTERPUNCH]

Archaeologists Discover 4,300-Foot-Long Tunnel Under Ancient Egyptian Temple​

Researchers have been digging near the Taposiris Magna Temple in hopes of finding Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb

---

The Taposiris Magna Temple west of the ancient city of Alexandria Koantao via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 3.0
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an underground tunnel at Taposiris Magna, a temple dedicated to Osiris, the god of death.
Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist with the University of San Domingo, located the 6.5-foot-tall, 4,300-foot-long tunnel roughly 43 feet underground at the temple, which is situated west of the ancient city of Alexandria. She also found two Ptolemaic-era alabaster statues and several ceramic vessels and pots, reports Artnet’s Sarah Cascone.

History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places Smithsonian Magazine

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shared the find in a statement last week and described the tunnel as a “geometric miracle.”

Part of the tunnel is submerged underwater, which could be the result of several earthquakes that struck the region between 320 and 1303 C.E. Archaeologists suspect that those natural disasters caused the temple to collapse.

The tunnel is “an exact replica of Eupalinos Tunnel in Greece, which is considered as one of the most important engineering achievements of antiquity,” Martinez tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus. The Tunnel of Eupalinos, located on the Greek island of Samos in the eastern Aegean Sea, was an aqueduct that carried water for more than 1,000 years.

During previous excavations at the site, archaeologists found a variety of other artifacts, including coins featuring the names and images of Cleopatra VII and Alexander the Great. They’ve also found figurines, statues of the goddess Isis, a mummy with a gold tongue and a cemetery full of Greco-Roman-style mummies.

Cleopatra—who ruled Ptolemaic Egypt from 51 to 30 B.C.E.—and her longtime lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, died by suicide in 30 B.C.E. Historians believe they are likely buried together, but they don’t know where.

Martinez, a criminal lawyer turned archaeologist, has believed for many years that the ancient queen was buried at the Taposiris Magna Temple. After successfully petitioning the Egyptian government to conduct research in the area, she began digging—and though she hasn’t found Cleopatra’s tomb yet, she’s made many other important discoveries over the past 15 or so years, including the tunnel.

She is continuing her attempt to locate the ancient queen’s long-lost tomb, and she thinks she’s getting closer. As she told the Heritage Key blog in 2009, “If there’s one percent of a chance that the last queen of Egypt could be buried there, it is my duty to search for her.”

Archaeologists Discover 4,300-Foot-Long Tunnel Under Ancient Egyptian Temple

Researchers have been digging near the Taposiris Magna Temple in hopes of finding Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb

www.smithsonianmag.com

View attachment 631686View attachment 631687View attachment 631688View attachment 631689

Instead,they found Cleopatra's long lost "Exit Stage Right" passage!!! SEE YA!!!
🤣🤣🤣...SP

 

[Inhaler]

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

 

[M.O.DENGLER]

Cool af.

 

[SPHINCTERPUNCH]

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

Heh heh heh!🤣🤣🤣...SP

 

[wiggins]

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

And she rooted that Italian bloke Tony...

"Let Rome in Tiber melt and the wide arch
Of the ranged empire fall. Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay. Our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man. The nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
And such a twain can do ‘t, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless."

 

[DokraOwl]

Hope the scientists find Cleopatra's tomb and when they open it Cleopatra's mummy wakes up and kills them - and it's all recorded on film. And when Cleopatra's mummy is done killing them she then gets into a pyramid-shaped UFO and flies away into outer space.

 

[McM]

I found the part with the golden tongues interesting.

"The gilding of the organ was meant to allow the dead to speak before the court of the god Osiris, the lord of the underworld and the judge of the dead."

 

[Guipago]

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

It gets better! Before she hooked up with Ceaser she was married to her younger brother & used the Romans to oust that brother who was getting a bit bossy & contradicting Cleopatra's rule, she was an interesting girl that Cleopatra & I hope Kathleen Martinez finds her.

 

[wiggins]

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

She wore Caesars sword phillipane, he ploughed her, she cropt...

 

[Barf_fart]

This is cool. I love when people find old underground shit. Bunkers, tunnels, caves - it's always interesting to see what people were up to under the surface.

 

[HG]

She wore Caesars sword phillipane, he ploughed her, she cropt...

you are a clever guy - tell me your age - i know you are in oz...

whats your background?...

 

[ASU-85]

Love it 😍.

 

[Zargon the great]

Incest was very common

I didn't know till recently that Cleopatra wasn't even Egyptian, she was Macedonian. And her parents were brother and sister. Scumbags.

Incest was a common practice for Royal families in the ancient world. Tutankhamun was married to his sister.