On Thursday the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the discovery of a sunken Ptolemaic harbor about two miles off the ancient Alexandrian coast, a find officials said could guide archaeologists to Cleopatra’s tomb. Hours later National Geographic confirmed it would air THE FINAL SECRET OF CLEOPATRA on 25 September, with streaming on Disney+ and Hulu the following day.
The harbor is now the center of an underwater and land operation directed by Dominican archaeologist Kathleen Martinez and supported by oceanographer Robert Ballard. Lying roughly 12 meters beneath the modern sea surface, the site held stone columns, polished floors, amphorae and dozens of anchors. Researchers linked it to the nearby Temple of Taposiris Magna, 30 miles west of Alexandria.
Martinez argued for more than twenty years that Cleopatra VII’s burial place is within the temple–port complex. In 2022 her team uncovered a 1,300-meter limestone tunnel beneath the temple ruins that contained ceramic vessels from the Ptolemaic dynasty, evidence she viewed as part of a hidden funerary network.
“After 2,000 years, no one has ever been there. We are the first,” said Martinez, according to National Geographic.
Classical writers recorded that Cleopatra, who ruled Egypt from 51 BCE until her death in 30 BCE, was buried with Roman general Mark Antony. Many scholars focused on the sunken royal quarter of Alexandria, but Martinez cited Plutarch’s account of Cleopatra’s identification with Isis and the temple’s dedication to Osiris. “Nobody can tell me that Cleopatra is not at Taposiris Magna,” she said, according to The Economic Times.
Since 2005 the project recovered more than 2,600 artifacts, 27 tombs, ten mummies, three statues, hundreds of human remains and more than 300 coins bearing Cleopatra’s image. Ballard’s team mapped the seabed around the harbor, and geophysical surveys on land are reconstructing the ancient coastline.
The expedition plans further excavations along the tunnel and the adjacent seabed to determine whether Cleopatra’s tomb lies within the temple ruins, inside the subterranean passage or beneath the harbor.
The preparation of this article relied on a news-analysis system.