CAIRO: Underwater archaeologists announced on Monday they had discovered the 2,000-year-old wreck of an ancient Egyptian pleasure boat off the coast of Alexandria.

Divers found the vessel’s hull, which was more than 35 metres (115 feet) long and some seven metres wide, submerged in the port of the island of Antirhodos, the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology (IEASM) said in a statement.

There was Greek graffiti on the vessel that “could date from the first half of the first century AD” and “supports the hypothesis that the ship was built in Alexandria”.

The boat “would have had a luxuriously decorated cabin and appears to have been propelled solely by oars,” the Alexandria-based institute added.

Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria in 331 BC. A series of earthquakes and tidal waves that struck its coast submerged the island of Antirhodos, which was discovered in 1996.

Over the years, divers have recovered statues, coins, and other treasures there, with some on display at the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2025