Retrieved the 2,500-year-old Greek ship at the Sicilian coast

According to archaeologists, an ancient Greek ship was picked up on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy. This is the largest ship and retains the best condition ever.

The ship, which is nearly 70 feet long (21 meters), 21 feet (6.5 meters) wide and 2,500 years old, is the largest detected ship designed according to the style described by the epic Homer (Greece). . It is believed that it dates back several centuries.

The outer shell of the first built ship, the inner ship frame was added later. The hull planks are joined together with ropes, tar and turpentine used as adhesives to prevent water.

Carlo Beltrame - Université professor of marine archeology and Ca 'Foscari in Venice - said the ship was discovered near the town of Gela, which is one of the most important artifacts found in the Mediterranean Sea.

Beltrame said: 'Greek wooden ships were previously discovered in Italy, France, Spain and Turkey. But the ship discovered at Gela is the newest and best-preserved ship. '

After 25 centuries

The Italian coast rescue team helped archaeologists drag the ship to the surface last month.

People used a floating crane to lift the main part of the ship, a length of 36 feet (11 meters), and then drag it to the mainland. The rest is then washed in clean water to remove salt from the wood.

Rosalba Panvini, head of the Sicilian Cultural Heritage and leader of the ship salvage plan, said: 'This is a small merchant ship, perhaps it is used to travel on short distances along the coast. and stop often to unload goods'.

The remainder of the 2,500-year-old Greek ship was picked up in Sicily, Italy on July 28, 2008. The ship is nearly 70 feet long (21 meters), 21 feet wide (6.5 meters) and 2,500 years old is a child. The largest detected vessel was designed according to the style described by the epic Homer (Greece).It is believed that it dates back several centuries.The ship's remnant will be transferred to Portsmouth, United Kingdom to recover before it is brought back to Gela town in Sicily.Here the authorities hope to implement the ship's exhibition program in a planned new marine museum.(Photo: EPA / HO)

The salvaged artifacts include cups, the pots have 2 straps with names of two straps, oil lamps, pottery, straw baskets. They revealed some information about the ship's journey before it was wrecked.

Panvini said: 'The ship stopped in Athens, then the Peloponnese. It continued sailing to the southern coast of Greece, across the Strait of Otranto, and marched along the Italian coast and headed for Sicily. '

The ship reached the destination, Gela, then a Greek colony. When traveling about half a mile (800 meters) perhaps a storm made the ship wobble. The ballast shattered the hull, causing the ship to sink into the water, where it lay on the muddy seabed for 25 centuries.

In 1988 two divers discovered the ruins of the ship and informed the Sicilian Cultural Heritage Department.

It takes up to 20 years to salvage the entire ship. It will be sent to Portsmouth, England to recover before returning to Gela. Authorities hope to implement the exhibition program in a planned new marine museum.

Wooden ship

Beltrame of Università Ca 'Foscari said that the ship ' belongs to the ancient Greek ship generation ' is the missing link in the development of maritime engineering.

'The ship is a combination of dreaming and mortise attachment techniques - this is a very different technique that is very popular in later shipbuilding technology , ' Beltrame said of the joints in which one limb Convex form is fitted into a concave-shaped part.

Roberto Petriaggi of the Italian Central Institute of Restoration says that Greeks are not the only people in the shipbuilding area by piecing together parts.

He said: 'Technical knowledge spread throughout the Mediterranean. We found evidence that the Egyptians and the Phoenicians - Punic also used this method. '