A Buddha statuette has been discovered at an ancient Egyptian site near the Red Sea, revealing the important trade ties between the Roman Empire and India, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities said Thursday.
American and Polish archaeologists discovered this statue in Berenike, an ancient port city in the southeast, now Medinet el Haras. The 71-centimeter statuette, dating from the Roman era, depicts Buddha in a robe, devoid of his limbs on the right side, a halo surrounding his head in reference to the rays of the sun, according to the photo released by the ministry.
Egypt was then “at the heart of the trade route linking the Roman Empire to many parts of the ancient world”, said Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, ships arriving in particular from India, loaded with spices, jewelry, textiles or ivory.
Egypt regularly announces archaeological discoveries, with some experts often seeing them as more of a tourist promotion tool than of historical interest. The country is trying to recover its crucial tourism sector, which suffered greatly from political instability after the 2011 revolution, then from the Covid-19 health crisis and finally from the war between Ukraine and Russia, two supplier countries. tourists to Egypt.