The world is full of mystery – but perhaps none as mystical as those left behind by ancient civilizations. So, let’s look at unsolved ancient mysteries around the world, from Greece to Egypt and Peru.
Disappearing Statues, Greece
The mythology of ancient Greece has long since inspired a wide range of media, and been a consistent mainstay of pop culture over the centuries. In the modern day, ancient Greek gods and mythology are a popular theme for online casino games like those at Paddy Power bingo, where Age of the Gods bingo riffs on the themes and motifs of the ancient Greek gods and grants lucky players passage into the arena of the gods, showing the consistent curiosity that we have with the ancient Greeks – particularly those mysteries that we don’t understand. And what is more mysterious than the missing statues of ancient Greece?
The Statue of Athena Parthenos – which featured Athena, Medusa, and Nike was crafted by one of the highest-regarded sculptors of the time, Phidias, to dedicate Athens to its namesake goddess. However, this ornamented statue disappeared during the first millennium, seemingly into thin air. If that wasn’t weird enough, the same thing happened to another of Phidias’ statues – the Statue of Zeus – which once sat in the Temple of Zeus at Olympia before going missing in the 400s. Unlike the Statue of Athena, the Statue of Zeus was never replicated, leaving Greece missing one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Thonis-Heracleion, Egypt
Like the Greeks, ancient Egyptian mythology has piqued the interest of pop culture for centuries. In fact, even the ancient Greeks wrote stories of adventurers who explored the cities of ancient Egypt – one of which was Thonis-Heracleion. Thonis-Heracleion was a port city on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt, which played host to a variety of ancient heroes (mythical and historical alike) such as Helen of Troy and Heracles, to name a few.
In the second century BC, however, tragedy struck the Egyptian port, as the center of the city began to collapse. Soon, the entire city was swallowed by the sea! The city was discovered in the 2000s after thousands of years hidden under the waves. There, archaeologists found a wealth of artifacts, according to Egypt Today – but no concrete reason as to how or why the real-life Atlantis sank to the depths.
Nazca Lines, Peru
The Nazca Lines are carved into the ground of coastal Peru, illustrating various lines, geometric shapes, animals, and plants. There are over 800 lines up to 30 miles long, as well as more than 300 intricate designs, and 70 pictorial representations. Some of the most fascinating include a spider, ant, dog, llama, monkey, and ‘The Astronaut’, which are up to 1,2000 feet long.
The lines were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the 1990s, and are said to have been carved between 500BC to 500AD. It is suggested that the shapes could have had ritual astronomic functions. That said, little is known as to why or how the ancient Peruvians etched these shapes into the ground, and what purpose they served – particularly as some can only be seen from the sky, and the designs were made long before the flight was possible.
And there you have it – just a few unsolved mysteries of the ancient world that are waiting to be uncovered.
