A 2,000-year-old luxury river barge found beside Cleopatra’s palace is the oldest superyacht ever discovered

Superyachts might seem like a modern invention, but divers recently found a 2,000-year-old luxury barge near Cleopatra’s palace that might be the oldest superyacht ever found.

This remarkable vessel was found by the Institut Européen d’Archéologie Sous-Marine (IEASM) off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt, sunk in the port of the island Antirhodos.

The island formed part of Cleopatra’s palace district, which means it makes perfect sense for this former luxury ship to be found here.

Despite spending 2,000 years beneath the water, divers found that this remarkable vessel was actually very well preserved.

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How the incredible oldest superyacht was found

Divers had been exploring the harbor when they came across the incredible vessel.

Essentially, the superyacht had been parked right in Cleopatra’s backyard and is what’s known as a thalamagos, or houseboat.

Incredibly, it is the first of its kind to be discovered, despite historians’ attempts to find one for centuries – before this discovery, ancient texts and mosaics were the only reminders of these boats’ existence.

At the bottom of the sea for over 2,000 years, the timber of its hull had been remarkably well preserved.

Divers even found Greek graffiti cut into the ship.

That helped them date it to the first half of the first century AD, which places its sinking just after the death of Cleopatra, but within living memory of her reign in Egypt.

Is this Cleopatra’s personal superyacht?

Many will be keen to know if this vessel actually did belong to Cleopatra herself.

At the time of writing, archaeologists are wary of claiming this is her own barge, although it’s certainly from the time of her rule, and its discovery is hugely important.

Amazingly, the barge was only seven meters below the water’s surface.

After its discovery, the team recorded the hull with 3D photogrammetry allowed us to get an overall view of the incredible vessel.

Per UNESCO guidelines, however, the vessel won’t be raised, and it will remain on the seabed.

Now, though, there will be plenty of research conducted to find out more about this amazing superyacht.

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