Canopus was a sacred city, beloved by Cleopatra and shaped not only by ancient Egyptians but by Greeks, Romans, and Christians for millennia. And then it was gone...submerged beneath the waves by a series of earthquakes, floods, and rising seawater. Now, thanks to a unique, cutting edge excavation, the lost city of Canopus has been found, startling the archaeological world and revealing new secrets about this bustling, brilliant city and the saints, sinners, pharaohs, and emperors who occupied it.

A routine dive for shipwrecks off the Mediterranean coast at Atlit, Israel turns into the discovery of a lifetime for maritime archaeologist Ehud Galili when he stumbles upon the perfectly preserved remains of a 9,000-year-old settlement, Atlit Yam. Among the findings: a megalithic stone circle, twice as old as Stonehenge. Who were the people who built this remarkable monument? Why did they do it? And what rituals were held here? A remarkable breakthrough in DNA technology may answer these and other questions surrounding this mysterious find.