Egypt’s government announced on Tuesday the discovery of what it called “the remains of an entire Roman city”. The site, in Luxor, in the south of the country, dates back to the first centuries of the Christian era.
In a statement, the country’s Ministry of Antiquities highlighted that the excavations found “an entire residential town from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, on the banks of the [rio] Nile, near the temple of Luxor”, about 500 kilometers south of Cairo.
In the so-called “extension of Thebes”, the ancient capital of Ancient Egypt, the existence of metallurgical workshops was still found, with various utensils and Roman copper and bronze coins, announced Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in the country. He added that excavations at the site are continuing.
In 2021, an archaeological mission discovered the “greatest ancient city in Egypt”, over 3,000 years old, on the west bank of Luxor, where the well-known Valley of the Kings is located.
In recent months, the African country has revealed to the world a series of other important discoveries, mainly in the necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.
Less than two weeks ago, also in Luxor, a tomb was found, probably belonging to a royal wife of the 18th Dynasty, that of Akhenaten and Tutankhamun, dating back to 3,500 years. However, for some experts, this statement is more political and economic than scientific.
Last Thursday (18), in an article in PLoS ONE magazine, the discovery of mummies of ten adult crocodiles, recently unearthed from a tomb in Qubbat al-Hawa, on the west bank of the Nile River, was reported. The animals were possibly killed more than 2,500 years ago and preserved in a ritual, probably in honor of Sobek, the fertility deity worshiped at the time.
Egypt, a country of 104 million inhabitants, is experiencing a serious economic crisis, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, and is betting on advertisements like these to reactivate tourism. The local government has a target of attracting 30 million visitors a year by 2028, compared to 13 million before the health crisis.
The tourism sector employs 2 million people in Egypt and is responsible for more than 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, but it has continued to decline since the Arab Spring protests in 2011.
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