Heracleion City
(Greek: Ἡράκλειον), also known by its Egyptian name Thonis (Θῶνις), and sometimes called Thonis-Heracleion, was an ancient Egyptian city near the Canopic branch of the Nile, about 32 km northeast of Alexandria. 2.5 km from shore and at a depth of 10 meters (30 ft), at Abu Qir, archaeologists have been exploring the sunken cities of Heraclion and Canopus since 1992.
Besides being a prominent religious center, the city of Heracleion was a major trading point on the Mediterranean in the 6th century BC. The coastal city of Heracleion was called by the ancient Egyptians “Thuns” or “Tahony” and it was an important port for Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea; It was described as "the entrance to the sea of the Greeks", as it is known from a painting in Naukratis found in 1899
