New Collection added to the BA Antiquities Museum Website
25 May 2014
In accordance with the digitization policy followed at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, and in order to make accessible the largest number possible of antiquity pieces to researchers and Egyptian antiquity lovers, a new collection of distinctive artifacts—from Nelson’s Island in Alexandria— has been added to the database of the BA Antiquities Museum website. The Museum curators and those responsible for data entry have classified the pieces in a clear way to allow users easy access through simple and advanced search commands. Around 150 pieces have been added, dating back to the Late Period and the Ptolemaic Period. Toward the end of the ancient Egyptian dynasties (26th-30th dynasties), Nelson’s Island was used as a cemetery by the residents of Canopus and Heracleion (two major cities a few kilometers away from the Island, currently submerged in the Abu Qir Bay). Toward the end of the 4th century BCE, the Greeks built on the Island itself a settlement to serve as a military garrison base. Nelson’s Island enjoyed a strategic geographical position that allowed it to control navigation in Heracleion, which was the biggest port in Egypt before the establishment of Alexandria.