“Excavations have revealed an enormous religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, over 1,500 objects, busts, statues, gold pieces, an enormous collection of coins depicting Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and Ptolemy,” Martinez told CNN.
Kathleen Martinez has discovered a tunnel that will result in a lost tomb. Loan: Kathleen Martinez-Nazar / Taposiris Magna Project
“Probably the most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels resulting in the Mediterranean Sea and the sunken structures,” she added. The exploration of those underwater structures can be the following step in her seek for the Egyptian queen’s lost tomb – a journey that began in 2005.
“My persistence will not be to be confused with obsession. I like Cleopatra as a historical figure. She was a victim of Roman propaganda geared toward distorting her image, Martinez said.
“She was an informed woman, probably the primary to formally study on the Alexandria Museum, the cultural center of her time,” says Martinez, who said he admired Cleopatra as a student, linguist, mother and philosopher. .
When her husband, Roman general Mark Antony died in her arms in 30 BC, Cleopatra soon took her own life, in keeping with the favored belief that she was bitten by Asp. This moment has been immortalized in art and literature – but greater than two thousand years later, little is understood about where their stays lie.
Elizabeth Taylor appears as Cleopatra and Richard Burton as Mark Antony within the 1963 movie “Cleopatra”. Loan: The fox of the twentieth century
A series of clues led Martinez to imagine that Cleopatra’s tomb could also be within the Temple of Osiris within the ruined city of Taposiris Magna, on the northern coast of Egypt, where the Nile River meets the Mediterranean Sea.
A very powerful of them was the name itself. In keeping with Martinez Cleopatra was considered at one time the “human incarnation of the goddess Isis,” just as Antony was considered the god Orissa, the husband of Isis.
Martinez believes Cleopatra could have buried her husband in a temple to reflect this myth. Of all 20 temples in Alexandria she studied, Martinez said, “no other site, structure, or temple has as many conditions because the Taposiris Magna temple.”
To this point, excavations have uncovered greater than 1,500 ancient objects. Loan: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism
In 2004, Martinez presented her theory to Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist who was then Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities. Its design was approved a 12 months later.
And after years of searching, Martinez feels he’s getting closer.
Excavations thus far have revealed that “the temple was dedicated to Isis” – which, in keeping with Martinez, is one other sign that the lost tomb is nearby – in addition to tunnels under the water.
The seek for the lost tomb led Martinez to the Mediterranean Sea. Loan: Kathleen Martinez-Nazar / Taposiris Magna Project
Now, as Martinez said, she is at “the start of a recent journey” – underwater excavations.
In keeping with an announcement issued by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the Egyptian coast has been stricken by earthquakes over the centuries, causing parts of the Taposiris Magna to collapse and sink under the waves.
That is where Martinez and her team are looking next. Even though it is “too early to know where these tunnels lead,” he does hope.
If the tunnels result in Cleopatra, “it can be crucial discovery of the century,” she said.
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