Egyptian archaeologists have recently discovered an ancient Achaemenid fortress located 30 kilometers to the east of the Suez Canal.

The castle was found along with another ancient fortress dating back to the 18th and 19th dynasties of the Pharaohs and located at Tel Habwa on the ancient Horus War Road, the website for The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies reported.

Historical evidence shows that Necho II, a king of the 26th dynasty of Egypt, was the earliest precursor of the Suez Canal.

The canal, however, was completed by the Persian monarch Darius the Great to connect the Nile River and the Red Sea, Egypt and Persia.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the completed canal was wide enough for two triremes (ancient warships) to pass each other with oars extended and required four days to traverse.

To commemorate his achievement, the Persian king set up a number of granite stelae on the Nile bank including one near Kabret, 130 kilometers from the Suez.

Darius the Great's Inscription reads, "Saith King Darius: I am a Persian. Setting out from Persia, I conquered Egypt. I ordered this canal dug from the river called the Nile that flows in Egypt, to the sea that begins in Persia. When the canal had been dug as I ordered, ships went from Egypt through this canal to Persia, even as I intended."

TE/HGH/AA