Sunken royal palace with Cleopatra link yields rare find tied to long-lost wonder of ancient world
Archaeologists recently announced the discovery of an ancient ring in a submerged harbor linked to Cleopatra — and it sheds light on a long-lost wonder of the ancient world.
The discovery was made in the submerged royal harbor of Alexandria, Egypt, and announced this month by the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology.
The ring — called a "perfect object" by an expert in the field — was found at the site of a royal palace on the submerged island of Antirhodos, part of Alexandria's ancient royal quarters linked to Cleopatra VII, Mark Antony and Julius Caesar .
7,000-YEAR-OLD BONES UNCOVERED AT CONSTRUCTION SITE IN STARTLING FIND The bronze ring depicts the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, officials said.
The ring is the first known signet ring — a type of ring used to stamp seals — featuring the landmark.
Built in the third century B.C., the lighthouse guided ships for centuries before earthquakes destroyed it over several centuries — with its final collapse occurring around the 14th century .
The age of the ring is unclear, but it "features iconography similar to that found on some 2nd century A.D. coins," the Oct.
7 release said.
DIVERS UNCOVER HUNDREDS OF ANCIENT RELICS NEAR SHIPWRECK UNTOUCHED FOR 2,100 YEARS Pictures released by officials show a small, weathered ring with a rough, gold-colored surface and a faint engraving of the ancient lighthouse.
Franck Goddio, president of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology and leader of the excavation team, emphasized the significance of where the ring was found.
"The discovery of the ring-signet is even more important as it has been excavated in the legendary palace of the Island of Antirhodos, that once was a center of power," Goddio said in a press release.
DIVERS UNCOVER ANCIENT TREASURES LINKED TO ROMAN GIANT WHO HELPED SHAPE AMERICAN HISTORY The underwater excavation is "really kind of painstaking work," Alexandra F.
Morris, an ancient history lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, told Fox News Digital.
"Everything has to be found, recorded and lifted by divers," she said.
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