Amazing pictures of underwater city lost centuries ago

The ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion disappeared beneath the Mediterranean around 1,200 years ago.

Many had believed it to be a legend until it was discovered during a survey of the north coast of Egypt in 2000. Its ruins sit in Abu Qir Bay, currently 2.5 km off the coast.

According to the Mirror, archaeologists have been discovering more about the city sine the find, and have now located the wreckages of more than 64 ships, gold coins, giant 16-foot statues, and slabs of stone inscribed in both ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian.

According to Wikipedia, Heracleion was an ancient Egyptian city near Alexandria Its legendary beginnings go back to as early as the 12th century BC, and it is mentioned by ancient Greek historians.

Its importance grew especially during the waning days of the Pharaohs - the late period, when it was Egypt's main port for international trade and collection of taxes.

In fact, according to the Daily Telegraph, the city was the main customs hub through which all trade from Greece and elsewhere in the Mediterranean entered Egypt.

Back in 2013, Dr Damian Robinson, director of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Oxford, who is part of the team working on the site, said: "It is a major city we are excavating.

"The site has amazing preservation. We are now starting to look at some of the more interesting areas within it to try to understand life there."

He added: "We have hundreds of small statues of gods and we are trying to find where the temples to these gods were in the city.

"The ships are really interesting as it is the biggest number of ancient ships found in one place and we have found over 700 ancient anchors so far."