🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Abu Mena
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
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The catalogue
159 places to sift through. Narrow by kind, country, period or how firmly each one is established — contested and pseudoarchaeological claims are labelled here, never hidden.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Archaeological wonder
Late Roman to Early Byzantine 4th–7th c. CE, peak 5th–6th c. · Coptic Christian / Byzantine Egyptian
Desert pilgrimage city of Saint Menas, 4th–7th c., now endangered by water table rise.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Ptolemaic to Late Antique (c. 300 BCE – 365 CE submerged) · Ptolemaic Greek / Roman
Cleopatra's palace island in Alexandria Eastern Harbour — Ptolemaic royal isle now 6 m down with sphinx and granite palaces.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Predynastic to Medieval (3500 BCE–10th c CE; peak Old Kingdom and Persian-Jewish) · Ancient Egyptian / Jewish-Aramaic / Nubian
1.8-km cataract island with Khnum temples, nilometer 90 steps and Elephantine Aramaic Jewish papyri archive.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Predynastic to Old Kingdom (Naqada I–III to 2686 BCE; peak Naqada III) · Egyptian (Predynastic Naqada II–III / Early Dynastic)
Predynastic megacity 3500 BCE 5 ha yielding Narmer Palette, earliest 12 m mudbrick fort, HK6 elephant burial and painted Tomb 100.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Roman to Early Islamic (130–800 CE) · Roman / Greek / Egyptian
130 CE Hadrian-planned city for Antinous with 300-m hippodrome, triumphal arch and North Cemetery mummy portraits.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Classical to Byzantine (570 BCE – 785 CE) · Egyptian Greek / Roman / Byzantine
Ptolemaic wine port on Lake Mareotis feeding Alexandria — jetties now reed-submerged –1 to –2 m at Hawariya.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (270 BCE – 350 CE) · Ptolemaic Egyptian / Sobek priesthood
Island temple harbour of Soknopaiou Nesos — 28 m quay at Dromos end, now 2.8 m silted basin on Dime plateau.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (3rd c. BCE – 5th c. CE) · Graeco-Roman Egyptian (Ptolemaic cleruchs, Roman veterans)
Central granary insula of Karanis — twin vaulted granaries at Kom Aushim buried 3–6 m with papyrus jar.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (310 BCE – 400 CE) · Ptolemaic / Graeco-Roman Egyptian, Sobek priesthood
Central temple-harbour of Tebtunis — Sobek temple and canal bridge at Umm el-Baragat buried 4–7 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (275 BCE – 550 CE) · Ptolemaic Greek / Roman Egyptian / Nabataean trade diaspora
Northern lagoon basin of Berenike — rock-cut mole at 0.8–2.2 m behind mangrove spit in Foul Bay.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Late Roman (275 BCE – 500 CE) · Greco-Roman Fayum
Western granary quarter of Karanis 1–3 m buried west of main tell — vaulted horrea 30×15 m and canal sluice at –2 m.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
New Kingdom Amarna Period (1353–1332 BCE) · Egyptian (Atenist reform)
Akhenaten's 1346 BCE desert sun capital – 12 km planned city and 382 Amarna Letters, abandoned after one reign.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Late Period to Persian (664 – 525 BCE) · Saite Egyptian / East Greek mercenary Ionian–Carian
664 BCE Saite Greek mercenary fort at Pelusium gateway — casemate walls half in Pelusiac sebkha –1 to –3 m with Greek pottery.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
New Kingdom 19th–20th Dyn (1279–1070 BCE) · Egyptian New Kingdom imperial
Ramesses II's 10 km² vanished capital – 460 chariot stables and glass factories buried under Delta fields.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Late Period to Ptolemaic–Roman (620 BCE – 4th c. CE) · Saqite Egyptian / Milesian-Samian-Aeginetan Greek
Panhellenic Delta emporion 620 BCE — Psamtik Greek colony whose 300 m Canopic harbour channel now 8 m under Nile silt with lagoon quay.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Predynastic to Ptolemaic to Late Antique · Egyptian (Lower Egyptian Delta)
Delta metropolis and cult centre of ram god Banebdjedet (Greek Mendes), capital of 16th Nome and briefly capital of 29th Dynasty (Nepherites I, c.399–380 BCE) under Persian-period independence.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Old Kingdom to Late Antiquity (4th Dyn – 4th c. CE) · Egyptian (Delta Libyan dynasties)
Bastet cat-goddess capital – island red-granite temple and 100,000 cat mummies on 14 m tell.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Ancient city
Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) · Bronze Age urban
El-Lahun — Senwosret II Ancillary Town (Kahun, Fayum) in Fayum, El-Lahun, Egypt is a Bronze Age to Classical (3000 BCE–500 CE) ancient city attributed to B…
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Early Dynastic to Late Antique (3500 BCE – 400 CE) · Egyptian Saite / Persian / Greek mercenary / Ptolemaic
Saite 26th Dyn capital 664 BCE — Neith enclosure 700x600 m with walls 20 m thick and harbour 600x300 m now sebkha at +2 m under 8 m silt.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Late Antique (274 BCE – 250 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman
Central basin of Myos Hormos at Quseir al-Qadim — 90 m coral quay at –1.2 m and 120 m silted lagoon.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Early Arab (300 BCE – 800 CE) · Ptolemaic / Byzantine
Southern vineyard of Marea — 4 presses and saqiya canal 4.5 m linking to harbour, now 1.8 m silted south chora.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Submerged site
Hellenistic to Late Antique (275 BCE – 550 CE) · Ptolemaic / Roman
Northern lagoon harbour of Berenike Troglodytica — 70 m fort mole at –1.5 m and fort wall.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Byzantine (300 BCE – 500 CE) · Ptolemaic Greek / Roman Egyptian
Eastern lake harbour of Karanis at Kom Aushim — 55 m granary pier at –0.5 m on Moeris shore.
🇪🇬 Egypt · Buried city
Ptolemaic to Roman (300 BCE – 250 CE) · Ptolemaic Egyptian / Roman
Eastern isthmus harbour of Soknopaiou Nesos at Dime — 50 m causeway quay at –1 m and isthmus basin.