The fabulous discovery that proved the existence of mythical ships described by Heródoto in the 5th century BC.

In the 5th century BC the Greek philosopher and historian Herodotus traveled to Egypt and recounted what he had seen in his book "History", the first historical chronicle of the Old Age.

In the second of the nine books that make up his work, Herodotus describes huge cargo ships that he saw sailing on the Nile.

He stated that the Egyptians called them "baris" and had dedicated 23 lines of his "History" to the description of the construction of these boats, which were completely revolutionary at the time.

"They cut boards two cubits long and arranged them like bricks," he described, referring to pieces of about 100 cm.

"They put the planks into strong and long points, when they built their boat in this way, they tighten the beams, there is a rudder that goes through two holes in the keel," he explained.

"The mast is made of acacia and the candles are papyrus," he explained.

However, there has never been any archaeological evidence of the existence of these large ships and the Baris have come to be considered a myth.

2500 years later, a group of archaeologists confirmed that the Greek sage was telling the truth.

The team of the European Institute of Underwater Archeology has found a boat that fits the description of a bari during a marine search at the place where The port of the ancient town of Thonis-Heracleion, near the Nile Delta, was believed to be located.

Boat 17

The remains of the ship were found in 2003, but at that time it was simply clbadified as "ship 17".

It was a detailed study of these remains that confirmed that it was now the mythical ship described by Heródoto.

"Herodotus was right, he describes what we see," said Damian Robinson, director of the Maritime Archeology Center at Oxford University, to the British newspaper The Guardian, which published the results. of the investigation.

It is estimated that the bari found dates from 664 to 332 BC. and it is one of the first large-scale Egyptian commercial vessels found in the world.

Originally, it would have measured about 28 meters – a large size for the time – and it is thought that it could carry 150 tons.

The boat has been preserved "fabulously", according to experts, thanks to the Nile clay deposited on the remains to preserve them. Nearly 70% of the hull survived.

Confused

Robinson said that until now, Herodotus' description of the Baris had sowed confusion among the experts.

"It's one of those enigmatic pieces, and academics are discussing its exact meaning since we started thinking about boats academically," he said.

In particular, the details underlined by the Greek historian about the "long internal ribs" of the bari have caused confusion.

"Nobody really knew what it meant … this kind of structure had never been seen archaeologically before," he said.

"Then we discovered this form of construction on this ship and it's absolutely what Herodotus said."

Unique

The experts could understand why Herodotus was fascinated by these boats in his time.

"When boards come together to form the hull (of a boat), they are usually connected by notch and pin joints that hold one board to the next," Robinson explained.

"(In the case of the Baris), we have a very unique form of construction, which can not be seen anywhere else," he said.

Alexander Belov, underwater archaeologist at the Egyptian Studies Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and one of those who discovered the bari, wrote a book on the discovery, entitled " Ship 17, a baron of Thonis-Heracleion ".

Belov thinks that the description of Herodotus corresponds so well to the ship discovered that it may have been made in the same shipyard visited by the philosopher and the historian.

Bari – or Barco 17 – was only one of 70 boats discovered by the experts of the European Institute of Underwater Archeology when they dug in Abukir Bay, in the Mediterranean, off from the Egyptian coast.

Archaeologists believe that this ship was used to transport goods on the Nile between Egypt, Greece and Persia.