Mahdia shipwreck

[2][3] In a series of underwater campaigns, numerous items were recovered and placed on display at the Musée National du Bardo, Tunis.

The greater part of the sculptures were salvaged between 1907 and 1913 by French archaeologist Alfred Merlin, at that time Director of Antiquities in the Protectorate of Tunisia.

A storm presumably drove the ship onto the north African coast en route from Piraeus, the port of Athens, to Italy, as it was carrying Greek works of art intended for Roman purchasers, marble and bronze sculptures, high-quality furniture fittings, decorative items, and architectural elements.

It has been generally thought that the marble columns were removed and shipped by order of Lucius Cornelius Sulla after his sacking of Athens in 86 BC.

The site also contained lead objects, including anchors, tubes, and plates,[9] and ingots that, according to their isotope-composition, seem to come from the Sierra de Cartagena in Spain.