archaeologicalnews:

A 2,300-year-old fortress that protected an ancient port called “Berenike” has been discovered in Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea by a Polish-American archaeological team.

Constructed at a time when Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies, a dynasty of pharaohs descended from one of Alexander the Great’s generals, the fortifications are sizable.

“A double line of walls protected the western part of the fortress, while a single line sufficed farther to the east and north. Square towers were built at the corners and in strategic places where sections of the walls connected,” wrote archaeologists Marek Woźniakand Joanna Rądkowska in an article recently published online in the journal Antiquity. 

The western part of the fort, which consists of double walls, faces inland, suggesting that the defenders were particularly concerned about an attack coming from that direction, Woźniak, of the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Warsaw, told Live Science. Read more.