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On 10 April 2001, Franck Goddio presented for the first time his complete map of the sunken quarters of Alexandria, at the occasion of the British Museum’s exhibition ‘Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth’.
In 1996, with the support of the Hilti Foundation, four years after having started research in co-operation with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquity, Goddio discovered the fabled royal quarters which had been lost for more than 1,000 years.
Since then, Goddio and his team of archaeologists, historians, geophysicists and divers, have researched and charted the complete harbour with the remains of palaces, temples and harbours, as well as the famous royal island of Antirhodos. Especially interesting were the many foundations, columns, statues, granite blocks and everyday goods from coins to household items, as well as an ancient shipwreck in the harbour of the sunken island.
From the geophysical data a new map was created, which is significantly different from all other previous maps both ancient and modern. The map provides valuable new information for archaeologists and Egyptologists alike. Franck Goddio comments: "Soon after the first electronic surveys of the harbour, we realized that the topography of the ancient quarters of Alexandria was totally different from what had been assumed until now".
The first map of the topography of the harbour was created in 1866 by Mahmud Bey el-Falaki. This was based on texts by Strabo, Julius Caesar, Flavius Josephus and Pliny the Elder, among others. Subsequent maps of the 19th and 20th centuries have all been largely based on this first map. The old maps assumed that during ancient times, most harbour structures and buildings were only in the eastern part of the present port. But, surprisingly, during Goddio’s work in 2000 foundations and port structures in the western part were discovered as well.
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