An international team of researchers has unearthed a stone Buddha statue in the ancient port city of Berenice in Southeast Egypt.
The 71cm tall statue, which most likely dates back to the 2nd century, was discovered by archaeologists from a Polish-American mission that has been excavating at a temple complex in Berenice since 1994.
With part of its right side and its right leg missing, the statue portrays a standing Buddha with a halo around his head and a lotus flower by his side.
Head of Egypt's supreme antiquities council Mostafa al-Waziri underscored that the artifact has "important indications over the presence of trade ties between Egypt and India during the Roman era."
Marius Goyazda, a Polish researcher involved in the archaeological mission, for his part, suggested that the statue was made of stone that could have been extracted from a region south of Istanbul.
According to him, wealthy merchants from India had the statue carved locally and dedicated to the nearby temple.
Berenice was founded in 275 B.C. by Egyptian King Ptolemy II who named it after his mother. The city was one of the key transit points for long-distance trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, turning into a prosperous center during the Roman era.