Treasures of Canopo, the Egyptian city that sank 2,000 years ago, have been recovered from the sea.

Canopo was an ancient port city in the Nile Delta , about 25 kilometers from the center of Alexandria , which prospered during the Ptolemaic and later Roman periods. However, about 2,000 years ago—between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD, to be exact—several earthquakes and rising sea levels caused Canopo and the nearby port of Heraklion to be submerged beneath the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

But now, the remains of that mighty city are resurfacing. In Abu Qir Bay, off the coast of Alexandria, several important archaeological remains from Canopus have been discovered, including fragments of pottery vessels, statues, buildings, cisterns, and even a 125-meter-long ancient dock. All these remains reveal the vibrant city that Canopus once was, with its temples, dwellings, and fish farming facilities.

Several of Canopo's treasures have now been extracted from the seabed . The salvage operations, carried out using cranes and divers, are the first to be carried out in Egypt following the criteria of the 2002 UNESCO Convention on Underwater Heritage, according to which only objects that meet certain scientific criteria are brought to the surface, while the rest remain on the seabed as an integral part of the site. In fact, as revealed by Egypt's Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Sherif Fathi , most of the archaeological pieces will remain at the bottom of the Mediterranean.

Many of the sculptures that decorated Canopus lost their heads and feet (the most fragile parts) when they collapsed into the sea. But the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mohamed Ismail , has confirmed that the torsos of many of the statues have remained intact on the seabed for centuries , as evidenced by several of the sculptures that have been torn from the sea. Among the most notable finds are a quartz sphinx with the cartouche of Ramesses II , a granite Ptolemaic statue, and a marble Roman nobleman. The recovered objects provide valuable clues about Egypt's past , spanning from the Ptolemaic era (which lasted around 300 years) to the Roman rule that followed, which lasted for around six centuries.

The pieces recovered from the sea are just a tiny fraction of those still at the bottom of the Mediterranean. The recovered objects will be restored and later displayed at the National Museum of Alexandria, joining the 86 pieces already part of the Secrets of the Sunken City exhibition.

The fate that befell Canopo could soon befall Alexandria , Egypt's second-largest city and home to countless archaeological treasures. Alexandria's coastline is sinking by more than three millimeters a year and is particularly vulnerable to climate change . Even under the United Nations ' most optimistic scenario, by 2050 a third of the city risks being submerged or rendered uninhabitable by rising sea levels.