Head-to-Head with

a Submerged Sphinx

In Egyptian mythology, the sphinx is a figure having the body of a lion and the head of a man, a form that remains enigmatic to us. This particular statue highlights the melding of earlier Egyptian Dynastic pharaonic influences with those of the Greeks who ruled Egypt from the time of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. to Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C. This statue, 1.4 m long and 0.75 m high with the body resting on a narrow pedestal, is one of several discovered in the late 1990s with other monumental material and debris of Greek, Roman, and younger origin. The sphinx is made of diorite derived from Upper Egypt. It was found in sand near the now-submerged island of Antirhodos in the southeastern sector of the Eastern Harbour off Alexandria, Egypt. The face, as yet unidentified, is believed to be that of a late Ptolemy, or possibly one of the early Roman rulers following the reign of Cleopatra.

Why is the sphinx and associated anthropogenic debris, along with the Royal Quarters and other large structures of the once most famous harbor in the Mediterranean, now at a depth of approximately 5 m below mean sea level? This is at least 4 m deeper than would be expected by submergence of the harbor floor by progressive sea-level rise during the Holocene. The statue lies at this depth as a result of failure and rapid lowering of the Holocene sediment substrate that underlies human-built features in the Eastern Harbour. Likely triggers include several powerful earthquakes that have rocked the region since Alexander's rule. Also of serious consideration are effects of powerful tsunamis, such as the one documented in 365 A.D. that caused numerous deaths and much damage to the city of Alexandria. The large wave generated by that destructive event is believed to have extensively scoured the harbor floor and this, in turn, resulted in the major hiatus discovered in Holocene sediment sections of this depositional basin (described in the article by J.—D. Stanley and M. P. Bernasconi in this issue of the journal).

Cover photograph generously provided by Franck Goddio, the Hilti Foundation, and Periplus. The photograph was taken by members of the F. Goddio and Institute Européen d'Archéologie Sous-Marine (Paris) expeditions to Alexandria, Egypt; for additional information see F. Goddio, A. Bernand, E. Bernand, I. Darwish, Z. Kiss and J. Yoyotte, 1998. Aledxandria, the Submerged Royal Quarters. (p. 42), London: Periplus. Above text by Jean-Daniel Stanley, Geoarchaeology Program, E-205-NMNH, Smithsonian Instiution, Washington, D.C. 20560 USA.