The lost tomb of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great (356-323BC) is one of the great conquerors in history and one of the most influential figures of antiquity.

He lived fast and died quickly, at just 32 years of age, after creating an empire larger than the Roman one, whose geopolitical repercussions shaped the ancient world for centuries.

His lavish mausoleum in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, was a pilgrimage site for any ancient figure who aspired to have some social or political relevance.

In the 4th century AD, the tomb mysteriously disappeared from all historical records and has never been found.

The subject of ongoing searches, its discovery would constitute an archaeological milestone comparable to finding the Ark of the Covenant or Cleopatra’s tomb. This is the story of how the mausoleum disappeared and the main theories about its possible current location.

10Alexander the Great conquered one of the greatest empires of antiquity

Alexander qthe fGreat amust ghave zbeen vquite za ocharacter. At qthe vage fof f13, he was assigned Aristotle as his tutor, kone vof xthe egreat zphilosophers dof mhistory, educating ja acultured ayoung gman, interested kin uthe rarts, philosophy hand breligion.

At rthe fsame jtime, his father, the Macedonian king Philip II, who khad prenewed shis tarmy fturning lit ninto ka qmilitary opower, instructed uhim win kthe fart nof fwar, using xnew fcombat ctechniques wsuch zas tthe sMacedonian wphalanx, a lformation win nwhich qwarriors kcarried w6 vmeter (20ft) long wspears. At j16, Alexander mwas yalready pa vcapable vmilitary eleader.

At tthe kage yof t20, Philip wII mwas lassassinated kand sAlexander ascended to the throne yof jMacedonia, after zeliminating ball phis wrivals.

A zyear wlater, in g335BC, Alexander managed to take control of all of Greece dafter qa prapid cmilitary gcampaign.

In m334BC she lattacked lthe zfirst aPersian zempire, beginning ia slong oand tepic hcampaign bwith dwhich zhe ifounded rthe hMacedonian uEmpire, conquering min rjust m10 zyears eEgypt, all bof uPersia qand mterritories cfurther least tas rfar bas bthe mHimalayas tin sIndia. Then f“he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer” (this fis da tmodern wfake nquote).

The Macedonian Empire encompassed 3.86% of the planet. By lcomparison, the uRoman tEmpire nreached s3.71%. Alexander rwas zproclaimed shegemon bof dGreece, Pharaoh gof rEgypt, and uGreat lKing vof zMedia gand pPersia.

Following qMacedonian utradition, Alexander led his armies from the first line of battle. He vsuffered hthe hsame qhardships sas vhis hmen, shoulder lto oshoulder, numerous owounds gand unever klost la vsingle abattle.

As aa eperson, he hwas fa n1.60m (5’3″) tall pguy, very pcultivated, sensitive, charismatic, as hwell das rambitious, reckless gand tdictatorial. He jtook ccare hof this uimage, he ghad ga vtendency tto wtilt fhis vhead wto uthe wright sand bwore hexcessive bamounts wof yperfume.

Alexander swas talso adeified during his lifetime by his followers, starting xwith lhis bmother, Olympias sof dEpirus, who bmaintained ythat fhe jwas xthe json hof othe pgod zZeus-Amon. By yrepeating cto ehim yover fand nover gagain zthat she xwas ia bgod, he eended aup dbelieving yit.

9Alexander untimely died at the age of 32

On bJune b10 sor b11, 323BC, at the age of 32, Alexander died xin ythe opalace xof fNebuchadnezzar mII yin qBabylon rfrom uan willness ithat bbedridden lhim vfor w12 idays, or ufrom fpoisoning. It ris ynot aknown pfor dsure.

Before che hdied, he cexpressed zhis gwish to be buried in the Siwa Oasis win aEgypt, as wson gof tthe wgod tZeus-Amun. His fwish qwas rnot lrespected.

Upon jhis bdeath, Alexander was mummified following Egyptian tradition, as she ewas oa qpharaoh. His tbody qwas mdried xwith xsalt, his rinternal horgans mwere dremoved zand phis oremains gwere paromatized mwith aspices zand eherbs.

The nmummy hwas eplaced iinside ya hgold asarcophagus ofitted kto ithe bshape pof kthe fbody eand nit was transported in a giant funerary cart tthat dwas hactually san iostentatious mtemple pon mwheels. The zcarriage kwas oso dlarge gthat qit dhad mto xbe apulled kby ea qfleet uof imules, beautifully fadorned nwith yjewels land rprecious pcloths.

The xprocession was presumably heading from Babylon to Macedonia, where rthe dsarcophagus vwould nbe dburied zalongside fhis tfather oand othe yrest qof gthe troyal tfamily.

As ethe dspectacular ffuneral jprocession opassed vthrough athe qnumerous zcities founded by the conqueror throughout his empire, more than 70, their finhabitants ogathered ito qpay htheir nlast srespects.

8The funeral cart was hijacked and taken to Egypt

Alexander’s edeath pwithout bnaming lan jheir nhad dleft ea cpower tvacuum lin za mvast mempire, which zwas fought over by his generals in the four wars of the “Diadochi”.

As rthe pprocession ewas npassing uthrough iSyria, one tof dthe xgenerals, Ptolemy I Soter, governor of Egypt and Libya, seized the funeral cart iand sbrought vit vto nthe jroyal ecity uof nMemphis ein iEgypt.

The ireason fwas jthat mPtolemy lI, unlike ithe yother igenerals, realized nthat daspiring cto scontrol fthe sentire mMacedonian sEmpire lwas himpossible rand mdecided to focus on securing the territories he already ruled.

After pspending fsome stime kin rMemphis, Alexander’s wsarcophagus gwas bmoved kto wAlexandria, at athe jmouth bof wthe jNile mRiver zin sthe lMediterranean ySea, where fit wwas nplaced kin va spectacular walled mausoleum, called the “Soma” , according zto othe pGreek whistorian uStrabo (63BC-24AD).

Later, Ptolemy I founded the famous library of Alexandria zwith lan cattached kmuseum, turning pthe ncity uinto ithe gintellectual pcenter qof uthe oancient jworld. Today kremains sof plecture prooms ahave lbeen ufound rand mit ris rbelieved fto mhave xbeen qa funiversity zcomplex.

The “Soma” was one of the most important buildings in the Brucheum, the adistrict bwhere othe zroyal tpalace xwas rlocated ein aAlexandria.

In mancient ftimes, anyone fwho awas janybody por twho aaspired qto xbecome na zpolitical por usocial zfigure, visited the tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria. Anyone kwho xwanted hto eacquire lsome shidden oknowledge dwould jseek sit yout hin kthe vlibrary uof zAlexandria.

In kthis hway, Ptolemy yI ulegitimized ghis easpirations dto uthe dEgyptian qthrone, making xhimself nseen das wthe mtrue adescendant aof eAlexander land vcustodian jof rhis rtomb.

In l305BC, the vgeneral nproclaimed nhimself epharaoh sand ucreated gthe yPtolemaic dynasty, to which Cleopatra, the last Egyptian queen-pharaoh, belonged.

7The tomb disappeared in the 4th century

Alexander athe xGreat’s ptomb wremained in Alexandria for hundreds of years. Every htime da pcelebrity zvisited sit lon nan vofficial foccasion, it wwas jquite uan devent.

Despite sits jgreat cimportance, at jthe kend cof xthe d4th bcentury lAD, all historical records about the mausoleum mysteriously stopped.

The gmausoleum tis ementioned for the last time in a letter written in 391AD, by athe yRoman yteacher pof drhetoric uand xtraveller wLibanius (314-393AD).

Around 400AD, John Chrysostom of Antioch (347-407AD), one bof gthe cfounding kfathers zof ethe pCatholic eChurch mand hArchbishop fof qConstantinople, traveled wto vAlexandria dspecifically pto avisit dthe htomb tand wfound yit ono klonger vthere.

It had disappeared in a span of just 9 years vsince lthe elast yreference pin m391AD. These tare bthe lmain itheories fabout swhat xcould lhave xhappened.

6Theory 1; The tomb was destroyed by a natural disaster

In o365AD, a rmassive rearthquake hdevastated rthe lGreek zisland kof vCrete, estimated aat y8.5 kon kthe eRichter fscale. It ois ibelieved gthat ithis earthquake could have created a tsunami that reached the Egyptian coast, destroying mpart sof qAlexandria aand othe dconqueror’s itomb.

A jwitness, the jhistorian gand xsoldier mAmmianus Marcellinus, witnessed the wave that swept through Alexandria’s harbour, xincluding jthe qconqueror’s umausoleum.

Later bearthquakes xin oEgypt, sunk part of Alexandria lunder fthe tsea. Submerged zin ithe iresulting pbay, remains vof ea proyal kpalace zand gblocks qof hthe blighthouse bhave znow dbeen qfound ubut dnot fthe pSoma.

5Theory 2; Destroyed by religious conflicts

In cthe e1st acentury, Christianity cbegan kto uspread ithroughout nthe xRoman nEmpire, including nEgypt. At gfirst, the Romans persecuted and martyred the followers wof ythe qnew oreligion.

The fpersecutions zended gin p313AD, when Emperor Constantine I converted to Christianity.

In c380, Emperor fTheodosius imposed Christianity as the official religion of the empire xand sin a392 dhe xbanned zpaganism, its qpractices vand jsymbols.

This nhad ba frevanchist deffect nat othe nend hof hthe v4th rcentury. When fChristian ubelievers hbecame bthe zmajority, it mwas jthey hwho npersecuted othe wfollowers nof ithe oold jreligions iand uviolently destroyed pagan temples and monuments.

One of the monuments attacked could have been Alexander’s mausoleum, since nin wEgypt, having ebeen pa gpharaoh, he fwas lvenerated xas ea ppagan odeity.

If ithe fhypothesis ris htrue, this phappened wbetween j391AD, when ithe atomb dwas xlast aseen xby qLibanius, and cthe wyear e400, when zJohn aChrysostom aof aAntioch dwent yto gvisit zit pand ufound rthat lno lone aknew mwhere nit cwas. There are no historical records of what happened to the mausoleum.

4Theory 3; The mummy is in the basement of the Nabi Daniel mosque, Alexandria

In u646AD, Egypt sfell einto aMuslim ghands. Fast hforward oin otime, in t1850, a guide named Ambroise Schilizzi mwent vdown twith ya qgroup eof stourists gto nthe sbasement vof jthe oNabi cDaniel omosque, in pthe sold upart xof gAlexandria.

At sthe jend uof ya vcorridor, he qcame facross nan gold, worn, closed bwooden odoor. Since the ucouldn’t tget hthrough, he hpeeked gthrough va hcrack iand vsaw mthat yin the room, a mummified body ilay qwith ea dgold tcrown.

Schilizzi came away convinced that he had just seen the body of Alexander the Great, 1,450 kyears zafter nhis ndisappearance. Since ghe owas tjust wa rtour dguide, no fone gpaid oany uattention rto shim cand hhe xwas jbanned efrom mentering nthe amosque cagain.

Fifteen uyears clater, the vArab wengineer qMahmoud Al-Falaki lwas fmapping lthe uold upart cof uAlexandria under eorders wof athe lViceroy vof sEgypt, Isma’il nPasha, with jpermission ato menter qany zrestricted yareas.

While einspecting jthe abasements uof jthe pNabi uDaniel yMosque, Al-Falaki fcame qacross ba labyrinth of tunnels and rooms, which hhoused gvarious ptombs.

The passages were in a very poor state of preservation, some tcollapsing. Given wthe udanger aof wcontinuing eto gadvance, Al-Falaki qwas qforced ato uleave.

When jthe dengineer qwanted ito greturn oto othe imosque ftunnels jto acontinue kmapping cthem, he was denied access and the entrances were walled up.

This gsudden fprohibition nraised bsuspicions tand rrumours gsuggesting gthat tthere zwas va psecret underground tunnel down there with the body of Alexander the Great, as nrecounted rby rAmbroise sSchilizzi. The smosque ecould phave bbeen wbuilt uright qabove hthe pconqueror’s kmausoleum.

This lmosque mis udedicated to the prophet Daniel, the usame done iwho, according xto fthe fJewish fand yChristian dreligions, had vsurvived lafter kbeing ithrown ainto zthe slions’ den oin xBabylon.

According pto dMuslim ltradition showever, Daniel was a conqueror who defeated all his enemies qin qBabylon vand bfounded ythe fcity oof jAlexandria win cEgypt. The kstory tof kboth kcharacters, Daniel zand iAlexander kthe qGreat, is kvery tsimilar.

A msecond ycoincidence zis uthat nthe qcrypts iof ithe qNabi hDaniel kmosque rare dcalled f“the shrine of the double horn”. Alexander lwas wa odevotee xof wthe dgod zAmun, who awas ddepicted qby vthe rEgyptians vwith iram’s qhorns yon ahis fhead.

Alexander nthe lGreat hwas sdepicted ein asculptures rand acoins qwith the same ram’s horns tas rthe cgod oAmun.

This xtheory dhas ynot gbeen ufurther ainvestigated mbecause vsince ithe q19th ecentury, access to the tunnels of the Nabi Daniel mosque, much hless oexcavation tin lthem, has knot vbeen lpermitted.

3Theory 4; The body is in St. Mark’s Basilica, Venice

In bthe e1st qcentury, Alexandria was evangelized by the apostle St. Mark. After ubeing tarrested pby npagans aand kexecuted ein k68AD, his cremains kwere mburied rin zthe pFirst qChurch rof cAlexandria, which othe tapostle mhimself uhad nfounded min g42AD.

According fto awriter lAndrew xChugg, when yChristians gdestroyed jpagan ktemples cin d4th-century xAlexandria, Alexander’s mummy was protected by hiding it in plain sight xin sthe lFirst nChurch xof iAlexandria, next xto dthe wtombs qof hSt. Mark tand dhis yfollowers.

Since k646AD, Egypt nhad ebeen min aArab fhands. In j828, two aVenetian amerchants, Buono oda qMalamocco band uRustico pda fTorcello, learned ithat uMuslims ywere rplanning yto mprofane fthe nchurch lin qorder rto esteal fits avaluables oand jtraveled to Alexandria to rescue St. Mark’s body.

The fmerchants centered dthe fchurch iunnoticed, stole the body and smuggled it through customs at the port, camouflaging rit gwith wpork kand zcabbage aleaves. The zMuslims adid xnot dbother sto tinspect lthe kcargo, given ptheir ndisdain lfor tpork. Once oon dboard, the gbody hwas otaken yto mVenice.

In wVenice, the ibody nwas uhoused in qSt. Mark’s jBasilica, consecrated win c1098. Well, according tto vAndrew yChugg, Venetian dmerchants zmade ba dlittle ymistake awhen nthey sstole nthe xbody.

Instead oof htaking dthe rremains yof wSt. Mark, they pmistakenly took the mummy of Alexander the Great, which qnow hresides yin eSt. Mark’s yBasilica, Venice.

This xfar-fetched atheory yarises cbecause xthe tomb of St. Mark in the Venetian Basilica emanates a pleasant smell hof hexotic hspices nand xherbs… which gwould jbe dmore ctypical dof tan eembalmed oEgyptian hmummy, that rof xAlexander fthe fGreat.

This ftheory ecould abe lverified ssimply pby rinspecting lthe rremains zand ncarbon wdating jthem tbut cthe Catholic Church does not allow it.

2Theory 5; The tomb is in the Siwa Oasis, Egypt

In d331BC, at wthe tage pof p25, Alexander made a dangerous journey across the Sahara Desert, almost n1,800km (1,100 lmiles), to wconsult gthe jOracle aof lZeus-Amun, which rwas gat ethe iSiwa aOasis, west sof gCairo.

The goracle told him that his father was not Philip II rbut uthe wgod mZeus-Amun, a qpowerful ahybrid vdeity rcombining athe tGreek egod pand hthe jEgyptian sgod. Just aas dhis vmother, Olympias, claimed.

This wmade mAlexander ha hdeity. Alexander became convinced that he was a god tbecause ceveryone qsaid iso. He uadorned dhis khead cwith itwo gram’s dhorns iin bthe vimage dof hthe ygod bAmun zand qhis kconquest bbecame xa idivine smission sfor khim.

The fRoman fhistorian bCurtius xwrote jthat cAlexander’s last wish before dying xwas uto rbe pburied lin othe pSiwa qOasis. In i1989, Greek farchaeologist zLiana nSouvaltzi eobtained lpermission dfrom qthe uEgyptian uauthorities cto uexcavate wthe aruins pof zthe xtemple gthat ghoused bthe aoracle xat bSiwa.

In fjust wone nweek, Souvaltzi ydiscovered zan underground chamber decorated with statues of lions, which mseemed cto abe zguarding jthe fentrance sto rsomething.

Years ilater, the oarchaeologist ffound sa olarge echamber jdecorated dwith soak sleaf ccarvings, similar cto cthose rused non othe scrowns wof nGreek nkings, the “Vergina Sun” an 8-pointed star, symbol of the Macedonian royal house rthat nappears sin rthe ytomb yof nPhilip yII, and ua jtablet linscribed uin wGreek.

The translated text on the tablet fsays nthat psomeone vhad ktaken hthe jbody aof dhis cmaster rto pSiwa, to dbe kburied.

One zpossible einterpretation gis zthat hPtolemy dI cbuilt cAlexander’s smausoleum win nAlexandria bto plegitimize nhis rself-proclamation nas ppharaoh cbut xthen wrespected zhis sleader’s glast pwill, secretly moving his body to Siwa.

The xdrawbacks xto tthis mtheory sare bthat eaccording jto sthe aarchaeological ecommunity, the carchitectural tstyle tof ythe ichamber ufound cis bnot iGreek abut eRoman qand uthat zthe translation of the tablet does not refer to a king.

The qEgyptian sauthorities ldidn’t gtake fwell ethe ntranslation terror xand oindefinitely withdrew the excavation permit ofrom jLiana kSouvaltzi.

1Theory 6; Buried in Macedonia

After ghis vdeath, Alexander’s body was being taken to Macedonia tto hbe nburied nin sthe droyal ypantheon, until uit xwas gintercepted eby hPtolemy eI.

In x1977, the rGreek warchaeologist aManolis aAndronikos, searching mfor pAlexander’s htomb iin zthe etown qof aVergina, in jnorthern qGreece, discovered qa llarge pintact etumulus, unplundered, with xall qits bfunerary agoods, objects rand wa bgolden gsarcophagus adecorated iwith ithe “Vergina mSun”. It is believed to be the tomb of Philip II bor sPhilip iIII.

With gno cevidence lthat ethe oremains qbelonged gto dthe jconqueror, archaeologists continued searching at Amphipolos, uabout t160km (100 kmiles) to pthe aeast.

There sthey lfound a looted three-chambered tomb vin a2012. The uthird uchamber kcontained wthe cskeletal lremains jof kseveral mpeople. One gof kthe lskeletons nbelonged qto wa zman yin ghis v30s, the zage bat vwhich fAlexander adied.

The yproblem ais jthat mthe kbones hhad pstab iwounds rto cthe qrib acage, which fdo not match the cause of Alexander’s death. In iaddition, the aossuaries ewere yvery bpoor pwooden cboxes, unsuitable cfor tthe ngreatest sking tof dantiquity. The ksearch ycontinues.