Ashraf Abdel-Raouf

13 February 1966, Egypt

Has worked with Franck Goddio since 1996.

Ashraf received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Alexandria University, Archaeology Department in 1988, and his Master’s Degree in Egyptology in 1996 from Tanta University. He began working at the Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria in 1994. He also worked with the Polish Project in Kom-El-Dikka. In 1997, he joined the Department of Underwater Archaeology, when it was founded. Besides working on Franck’s projects in Egypt, he has also worked on numerous other underwater projects, for example, with INA and CEA.

He hopes the pollution levels in the ocean can be reduced to a minimum, so that people from all over the world can come to Alexandria to see the marvellous submerged cities and ports of Alexandria, Menouthis, and Heracleion, and more yet to be found!

Ashraf’s favorite personal finds are the head of Octavius /Ceasarium (???), that he found in the submerged Royal Port of Alexandria, and the head of Serapis, that he found in the submerged city of Menouthis.

His favorite artifact found by someone else on the team is the “Naos of the Decade”, which shows ancient Egyptian astronomy. The first piece of the Naos was found in 1770 by Sonini, and resides in the Louvre; the second piece was found in 1942 by Omar Toussoun, and resides in the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria; the third and last piece was found in 2000 --- it took 230 years to find the complete Naos!