Archaeologists in Egypt discover tunnel that may lead to Cleopatra’s tomb
The archaeological mission uncovered an ancient tunnel that may lead to Cleopatra’s tomb.
The Dominican-Egyptian archaeological mission of the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo has unearthed a tunnel carved 13 meters below the surface of the earth in the area of the Temple of Taposiris Magna, west of Alexandria.
Taposiris Magna, whose ancient name means tomb of Osiris, is a town that was founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus between 280 and 270 BC.
The height of the discovered tunnel is about 2 meters, with a length of 1,305 meters. Two alabaster-made heads were also found near the temple — one for a person from the Ptolemaic period, the last dynasty to rule Egypt (from 305 to 30 BC), and the other is likely to be a statue of the Sphinx, according to a statement by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The initial studies indicate that the architectural design of the tunnel is very similar to the design of the Tunnel of Eupalinos in Greece, a 1,036-meter-long tunnel built in the sixth century BC to serve as an aqueduct. But Kathleen Martinez, head of the mission, revealed it is longer, describing the discovery as an engineering miracle.
