The claim of divers stumbling upon a single “enigmatic Anubis statue” is a fictional narrative. While a single statue of the jackal-headed god is a plausible find, major archaeological discoveries are almost never a result of a chance encounter. Instead, they are the product of extensive, planned expeditions.

However, divers have made a stunning discovery of an entire underwater world. In the early 2000s, an archaeological team led by Franck Goddio discovered the remains of the sunken cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt. This wasn’t a single statue but a treasure trove of colossal artifacts, including statues of pharaohs and gods like the god Hapi. These statues, some standing over five meters tall, were found in the silt of the Mediterranean seabed, where they had been resting for over a thousand years.

The most famous statue of Anubis was not found underwater, but in a sealed tomb. In 1922, archaeologists discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun, which contained a pristine Anubis shrine. This statue, a stunning example of funerary art, was placed in the tomb to guard the pharaoh’s canopic chest. These real-world discoveries, whether from sunken cities or sealed tombs, prove that the truth of archaeology is far more stunning than any myth.