Using advanced underwater sonar, a team of maritime archaeologists has located a granite altar carved in the shape of a blooming lotus near the sunken ruins of ancient Canopus. The altar is surrounded by thousands of votive lead figurines and small faience jars, which were likely cast into the water during the annual Festival of the Inundation to ensure the Nile's flooding.
The site reveals that the festival was not merely a state-sponsored event but a deeply personal religious practice where individuals made specific petitions to Hapi, the god of the flood. The discovery of the lotus altar, which remains in pristine condition, offers a new understanding of how water-based processions were staged in the late Pharaonic and Ptolemaic periods.