“1500-Year-Old Greek Sandals with a Beautiful Message Found in Byzantine Shipwreck Harbor”

There’s gold, precious stones and jewelry, but a pair of 1500-year-old sandals grabs all the attention.

The sandals contain a nice message to the owner: ‘Wear them in health, woman. Wear them in beauty and joy.’

The archaeologists do not know who wrote the message, but the owner of the footwear was probably a Greek woman from the Byzantine Empire, as the text is written in Greek.

Byzantines were fashionable

Most of the finds in the harbor have been dated to circa 553 AD, when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami sank many ships. Apparently the quake was so strong that the ships were buried under a layer of sand, creating oxygen-free spots.

Thanks to this unique situation, organic material, such as the wooden sandals, has not decayed during 1500 years in the water.

In total, the remains of 35 ships have been found.

Many of these were merchant ships that brought fine colored fabrics to Byzantium, where the women—including the owner of the sandals—were known for their pretty, colorful clothes and sandals, which were hipper than hip.