<P> No archaeological evidence has been found that confirms the crossing of the Red Sea ever took place . Zahi Hawass, an Egyptian archaeologist and formerly Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, said of the Exodus and Passover story, the Israelite's' biblical flight from Egypt and the 40 years of wandering the desert in search of the Promised Land: "Really, it's a myth...Sometimes as archaeologists we have to say that never happened because there is no historical evidence ." </P> <P> Other researchers have claimed that the parting of the Red Sea and the Biblical plagues were natural events caused by a single natural disaster, a huge volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Santorini in the 16th century BC . </P> <P> The theme of Moses crossing the Red Sea was taken up by the panegyrists of Constantine the Great and applied to the battle of the Milvian Bridge (312). The theme enjoyed a vogue during the fourth century on carved sarcophagi: at least twenty - nine have survived in full or in fragments . Eusebius of Caesarea cast Maxentius, drowned in the Tiber, in the role of Pharaoh, both in his Ecclesiastical History and in his eulogistic Life of Constantine . </P>

Map of where the israelites crossed the red sea