Archaeologists Unearth Roman City in Egypt
Egyptian archaeologists have recovered a 2,000-year-old Roman city in the Nile Delta, complete with the remains of an ancient winery, reports said.
Egypt's antiquities chief Gaballah Ali Gaballah was quoted by Reuters as saying that “this city dates back to about the first century AD, when the Romans came to Egypt after beating Cleopatra in 30 BC, who is one of Egypt's most famous queens."
The team made the discovery in Kom Nagierea, near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, said the CBS news.
"A rectangular-shaped building was also unearthed and it turned out that it was part of a winery," Gaballah said. Some of the red brick structure was covered by a layer of alabaster.
"This is the area of Egypt where they grew wine even 2,000 years ago," he said.
Four months ago, a new study revealed that Nile flooding, not earthquakes sank two ancient cities that had been discovered just off Egypt's Mediterranean coast.
The cities of Canopus and Herakleion were found in about eight meters of water in Abu Qir Bay, east of Alexandria, in a discovery announced last year. They had thrived during Greek and Byzantine times, and were later the setting of conflicts between Christianity and pagan religions.
Then during the 8th century AD, they suddenly disappeared – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)