Archaeologists have uncovered a remarkably preserved 2,000-year-old Egyptian pleasure barge off the coast of Alexandria, offering a rare glimpse into the type of vessel believed to have been used by Cleopatra herself. Reporting from the Times UK, which detailed the findings, notes that the discovery may help determine how much of Shakespeare’s depiction of the queen’s gilded barge in Antony and Cleopatra stemmed from poetic flourish and how much reflected historical reality.
The wreck, found submerged in the ancient port of Antirhodos Island, is the first known example of a thalamagos, a type of opulent royal excursion boat described by the Greek writer Strabo in the first century BC. The European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, which led the excavation, documented a 23-metre-long vessel with a beam of about seven metres — proportions comparable to a modern superyacht. Researchers say its broad, flat-bottomed hull and distinctive bow and stern design suggest it was built to accommodate a lavish central pavilion, likely decorated to emphasize royal prestige.
Institute specialists believe the barge was propelled exclusively by oars and would have hosted an ornate, cabin-like structure designed for ceremonial or leisurely voyages. Strabo’s writings describe such vessels as richly outfitted and central to Alexandria’s festive culture, carrying revellers who played music, danced, and caroused along the waterways. Newly documented Greek graffiti carved into the timbers dates to the first half of the first century AD, supporting the assessment that the ship was constructed in Alexandria, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.
Franck Goddio, director of the institute, suggested the barge may have held ritual significance. Its resting place lies close to the remains of the temple of Isis on Antirhodos Island, an area devastated around AD 50. Goddio said the vessel may have sunk during the temple’s destruction, preserving it beneath the harbour for nearly two millennia. The find offers an extraordinary opportunity for historians to more accurately imagine Cleopatra’s world — and to reconsider the reality embedded within Shakespeare’s most vivid lines.
