Alexandria's sunken royal quarter
In Alexandria's Eastern Harbour lie the remains of the Ptolemaic royal port: the island of Antirhodos with a palace thought to be Cleopatra's, sunk after earthquakes and the tsunami of 365, about 5 metres down; and fallen blocks of the Pharos lighthouse, found on the sea floor in 1994.
Dated events and their evidence
- 250 BCE mainstream
around 250 BCE the island of Antirhodos in the royal harbour is levelled, paved and built on; a marble-floored palace of the 3rd century BCE stands on its esplanade source - 27 BCE mainstream
the geographer Strabo describes a royal house on Antirhodos source - 365 CE mainstream
Antirhodos probably sinks in the 4th century, after earthquakes and the tsunami that followed the earthquake near Crete in 365 source - 1303 CE mainstream
the third of three earthquakes since 956 leaves the lighthouse of Alexandria an abandoned ruin; in 1480 its last stones go into the Citadel of Qaitbay source - 1994 CE mainstream
French archaeologists diving in the Eastern Harbour find remains of the lighthouse on the sea floor source - 1996 CE mainstream
Franck Goddio's underwater survey locates Antirhodos, on the opposite side of the harbour from where Strabo had placed it source
Where
31.2067° N, 29.9003° E
The point is Wikipedia's position for the sunken island of Antirhodos in Alexandria's Eastern Harbour; the lighthouse remains lie near the Qaitbay citadel at the harbour's western tip, about 1.5 km away.
Sources
Each event carries Aion's own evidence grade (mainstream, disputed or speculative). This page repeats what the globe shows for this place.