Granite Sphinx Raised From Waters of Alexandria Harbor

A granite sphinx with the head of Cleopatra’s father emerged Wednesday from the choppy waters of Alexandria harbor after 1,600 years underwater.

Divers led by French marine archeologist Franck Goddio winched the superbly preserved sphinx, bolted into a steel frame, onto the deck of the research vessel Princess Dudu.

Goddio, president of the Paris-based European Institute of Underwater Archeology, was presenting the results of a third year of exploration of the sunken royal quarter of this ancient city founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC.

Cleopatra, born in 69 BC, was 17 when her father, Ptolemy XII, died. She was the last in a line of great Egyptian rulers, and when she took her life in 30 BC, Egypt came under direct Roman imperial rule.

The sphinx and other objects plucked from the seabed Wednesday were to be returned there immediately but may eventually be housed in the Alexandria Museum. Egyptian officials said most of the French team’s finds would be left in place.

Gaballah Ali Gaballah, secretary-general of Egypt’s state Supreme Council for Antiquities, said he hoped that the whole site could be turned into an underwater museum, possibly involving installation of glass-walled viewing tunnels.