Underwater archaeologists working among the submerged remains of ancient Alexandria have discovered a bronze signet ring engraved with an image identified as the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The ring was recovered from Antirhodos, an island that once formed part of Alexandria’s royal quarter inside the ancient Portus Magnus, or Great Harbour. Much of this monumental waterfront now lies beneath the Mediterranean.
Egyptian antiquities authorities say the discovery represents the first known depiction of the famous Pharos lighthouse engraved on a signet ring.
A Lighthouse Preserved in Bronze
The small bronze object carries an engraved representation of a multi-level structure identified as the Lighthouse of Alexandria.
Researchers have noted similarities between the image and representations of the lighthouse appearing on Roman coins dating from around the second century AD. However, archaeologists have not yet announced a firm date for the ring itself.
The discovery was made during underwater excavations being carried out by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology in collaboration with Egypt’s General Department of Underwater Archaeology.
The wider excavation season has also produced pottery, amphorae, lamps, vessels and glass objects spanning centuries of Alexandria’s history.
According to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, systematic exploration of Alexandria’s submerged Eastern Harbour has revealed the layout of the ancient harbour system together with Antirhodos, the Timonium peninsula and remains believed to belong to royal palaces and temples.
Found Inside Alexandria’s Lost Royal Quarter
The location of the ring could prove almost as interesting as the object itself.
Antirhodos stood within Alexandria’s royal district and contained a palace described by the Greek geographer Strabo when he visited Egypt during the first century BC.
Underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio, who has investigated Alexandria and other submerged Egyptian sites for decades, said the context of the discovery raises the possibility that the palace continued to perform administrative functions long after its original royal use.
One possibility being considered is that activities associated with the management of the lighthouse may have taken place there.
That interpretation remains a hypothesis. Nevertheless, finding a seal bearing the Pharos image within an administrative and royal complex provides archaeologists with an intriguing connection between two of ancient Alexandria’s most important sites.
One of the Ancient World’s Great Landmarks
Construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria began during the Ptolemaic period, and the monument became both a navigational aid and one of the defining symbols of the city.
Standing on the island of Pharos at the entrance to Alexandria’s harbour, the lighthouse survived for well over a millennium before earthquakes progressively damaged the structure.
Its precise appearance has long been reconstructed using written descriptions, ancient images, coins and archaeological remains.
Separate archaeological work continues at the submerged lighthouse site near Qaitbay Fort. The Centre d’Études Alexandrines is using archaeological evidence, ancient sources and digital modelling to develop a detailed scientific reconstruction of the Pharos.
The newly discovered ring provides another piece of iconographic evidence, this time on an object small enough to have been worn or carried by an individual in ancient Alexandria.
Alexandria Beneath the Mediterranean
Alexandria’s Eastern Harbour preserves extensive remains of the ancient city beneath the sea.
Modern archaeological investigation has mapped former shorelines, harbour installations, temples and parts of the royal quarter that disappeared beneath the Mediterranean through a combination of subsidence, earthquakes and other geological processes.
The current archaeological programme is examining several important areas of the submerged city, including the Temple of Isis, the palace and western mound of Antirhodos, remains associated with an obelisk and the Timonium, traditionally associated with Mark Antony.
The discovery of the bronze ring adds an unusually personal object to that much larger archaeological landscape.
Instead of another monumental block, column or submerged structure, it preserves an image of one of antiquity’s most famous buildings on an object once handled or worn by somebody living in the city whose royal waterfront now lies beneath the Mediterranean.
For underwater archaeologists, the significance may ultimately extend beyond the image engraved into its surface.
Its discovery within the submerged palace complex could help researchers better understand how Antirhodos was used during later periods of Alexandria’s history and whether there was any administrative relationship between the royal quarter and the lighthouse that dominated the entrance to its harbour.
