The Royal Palace of Cleopatra
In 1998, the legendary royal palace of Cleopatra was discovered in Alexandria, highlighting the Pharaonic nature of the city. These remnants were salvaged from beneath the waves of the Mediterranean Sea, where they had rested for over 1600 years. Following several years of mapping and researching the area, remarkable artifacts emerged, including a Sphinx statue and an important religious sculpture for the first time in nearly 2000 years. The Sphinx was among two statues flanking another sculpture located at the entrance of a small temple within the royal palace precinct on the island of Antirhodos in East Alexandria.
The excavation of these statues culminated a five-year exploration of the royal palace area, during which researchers elucidated the architectural design of the royal quarter of the Ptolemaic kings, who reigned for approximately 300 years. This work also facilitated the identification of the palace and temple features through references from ancient writers, some of whom required corrections in their historical accounts. As a result of these archaeological discoveries, the Pharaonic character of ancient Alexandria and its royal enclave has become unmistakably clear.
The Tomb of King Tutankhamun
The Tomb of Tutankhamun, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, is arguably the most famous archaeological discovery of all time. Discovered in 1922 by a team led by Howard Carter, this find generated significant media attention and sparked numerous rumors suggesting that opening the tomb unleashed a curse. Nonetheless, the tomb was filled with remarkable treasures, including the iconic death mask of King Tutankhamun, a masterpiece of Egyptian art adorned with a spell from the Book of the Dead, which the ancient Egyptians used as a guide for the afterlife.
The sarcophagus of Tutankhamun contained three nested coffins, with the outer two crafted from wood and gilded alongside semi-precious stones such as lapis lazuli and turquoise. The innermost sarcophagus was made of pure gold; however, when it was first unearthed, it was not the shiny spectacle that visitors see in the Egyptian Museum today. It was encrusted with a thick black layer that extended from the hands down to the ankles.
Tutankhamun ascended to the throne at the tender age of nine during the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom. His remarkable story might have been lost to history had his relatively intact tomb not been discovered. The tomb holds a vast array of artifacts that provide unique insights into this fascinating period of Egyptian history.
Tomb 5
Tomb 5 in the Valley of the Kings is recognized as the largest tomb discovered in the valley to date. Although the entrance had been known for a long time, it previously garnered little attention due to its small size, until its extent was uncovered by Kent Weeks, a professor from the American University in Cairo, in 1995.
The entrance is located near the marker for tomb 5, leading down a staircase into two small chambers, followed by a larger columned hall that offered access to a T-shaped corridor extending alongside a hill. Within this space, tens of thousands of artifacts were discovered, though most had suffered damage due to past floods in the Valley of the Kings. Nevertheless, pottery artifacts provided valuable information regarding chronological sequences, trade movements, and funerary practices.
In addition to pottery, various types of funerary equipment were found, intended for use by the deceased in the afterlife. Preserved internal organs were placed in canopic jars, formed into four distinct groups that safeguarded the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines, stored within stone and wooden boxes. The carved inscriptions on the jars were embellished with blue paint and bore the names and titles of the children of Ramses II.