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WhenAlexander the Greatdied in 323 B.C. , 13 class after building one of the world ’s largest Empire , he left what would become one of the biggest unsolved mystery inarchaeology .
Researchers have heatedly debatedwhere Alexander the Great is forget , with theories ranging from his homeland in Macedonia ( now Greece ) to Egypt .
Alexander the great died in 323 B.C. and his body was eventually moved to Alexandria, Egypt. But the location of his tomb was lost centuries ago.
Like the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant , the tomb has take on a mythical position that has trance many archaeologist over the years .
" As long as his tomb is n’t found , he survive on in a quasi - mystical oblivion , always spark new ideas and theories and controversies,“Nicholas Saunders , a professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and author of the volume " The Life of Alexander the corking " ( Brighter Child , 2006 ) , told Live Science in an e-mail .
Hundreds have hunt for the tomb , to no avail .
Alexander the great died in 323 B.C. and his body was eventually moved to Alexandria, Egypt. But the location of his tomb was lost centuries ago.
" I remember in 1963 when I was a student at Alexandria University , there was a Greek man who was doing archeological site near the [ train ] station,“Zahi Hawass , an archaeologist , Egyptologist and Egypt ’s former minister of ancientness , separate Live Science . " I used to go and see his excavations . He found nothing , but he stayed five age , searching . "
But have archaeologist made any progress on finding the tomb?Calliope Limneos - Papakosta , director and founder of the Hellenic Research Institute of Alexandrian Civilization , who is presently excavating in Alexandria , Egypt , opine she ’s close .
The grave may be hidden beneath the street of modern - mean solar day Alexandria , at the crossroad of two ancient thoroughfares , she said . An intriguing Hellenic statue and other signs of ancient quarter from the good catamenia point to a very bright fix .
A painting of Alexander the Great on his deathbed.
" I am at the crossroads , and I trust that I have more possibilities to find the tomb than anybody else , " Limneos - Papakosta told Live Science .
Why finding the tomb is so difficult
One reason the grave still has n’t been found is because Alexander ’s dead body was move , and so he was buried more than once .
In addition , historic records of the grave are scarce and were often written hundreds of years after the outcome they describe . Each of those source had a political order of business or bias , saidPaul Cartledge , a prof emeritus of Greek finish at the University of Cambridge .
" So , you have to take everything with a large pinch of salt , " Cartledge , source of " Alexander the Great " ( Overlook Press , 2004 ) , recount Live Science .
The statue of Alexander the Great found by Limneos-Papakosta.
Compounding the difficulty is that there are no clear images of the tomb that could guide archeologic searches , Saunders added .
Finally , the modern city of Alexandria was for the most part built over the original .
" Modern Alexandria , specially the downtown domain , was built wholly above ancient monument , " Hawass say . " The dramaturgy was find while they were building theater . And catacombs were also found . "
A map of ancient Alexandria drawn in 1889. The coastline of the modern-day city has changed significantly.
To find oneself the tomb , archaeologists would have to dig up places where people live and work today , which is challenging without unassailable grounds that something important lies beneath .
What we know about Alexander’s death and burial
We cognize fromhistorians like Plutarchthat , at age 32 , Alexander expire sometime between the eve of June 10 and the morning of June 11 , 323 B.C. , inBabylon(modern - day Iraq).His cause of demise is controversial , with some proposing he pall of disease such as typhus or malaria or fromdrinking poisoned wine , and others reason he wasassassinated . ( A few people even think he wasdeclared beat prematurely . )
bear on : How did Alexander the Great die ?
Regardless of what killed Alexander , his body was mummified . Ptolemy I Soter , a Macedonian Greek general who was Alexander ’s close friend and escort , was implemental in moving the body .
The waterfront of modern-day Alexandria. New buildings have been constructed on top of ancient sites for centuries.
" His clay was taken en path via the Middle East through what is now Iraq to what ’s now Syria , " Cartledge said . From there , over two years , it would locomote almost 1,000 miles ( 1,600 km ) to Egypt .
Ptolemy had an agenda : Alexander had left no open political heir ( although his wife Roxana was significant with his Word and he may have had an outlaw inheritor ) , and build a grave for Alexander was a room to cement Ptolemy ’s position as the lawful heir to the Macedonian king , Cartledge say .
Alexander ’s body was then send to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor , Egypt , where many of the New Kingdom Pharaoh were inter , while the newly ground metropolis of Alexandria was being built .
" In 305 B.C. , 18 years after he died , Alexander ’s cadaver was bring to Alexandria , by which prison term there ’s a royal court , a palace and a museum , " Cartledge said . " Having Alexander buried there would have been the icing on the patty " for the nascent urban center .
A few decennium later , account by Greek geographerStrabosuggest Ptolemy IV Philopator , the fourth pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt and the groovy - grandson of Ptolemy I , move Alexander ’s dead body to its net document resting place : Soma , Alexandria ’s swell mausoleum , according to the book " Alexander ’s grave : The Two Thousand Year Obsession to get the Lost Conqueror " ( Basic Books , 2006 ) .
Related:2nd - century Alexander the Great statue with lion’s - mane hair style unearthed in Turkey
It was still there around 300 years later , when the first Roman emperor , Augustus ( prevail 27 B.C. to A.D. 14 ) , claver Alexandria .
" He was despairing to view the remains of Alexander , " Cartledge said . " Apparently it was so seeable that when he flex down , he knocked the corpse ’s nozzle off . "
After that , the diachronic record makes no reference to the tomb for hundreds of years . " It disappears from reference around A.D. 500 , " Cartledge suppose .
Big gaps in the timeline
What find to the grave during the large crack in the historical track record has been a source of fevered hypothesis and even outright confederacy hypothesis ever since . These time spans also make it difficult to focus on specific theories about the grave ’s current location .
Saunders thinks these interludes in the timeline are strange .
" It was only some 300 years after Alexander ’s death that we get an account [ of the grave ] , " while most record get from 600 years later , Saunders told Live Science in an email . " So , what happened in the intervening period ? Why the silence ? "
For hundreds of years , the grave was a " very well - known pilgrimage center across the ancient Mediterranean world , " he added , so at the time , the " position was not a secret . "
So it ’s possible that no one put out to describe the tomb ’s positioning because everyone knew where it was . There also may have been a rivalry between Christians flocking to Christ ’s tomb and pagans worshipping at Alexander ’s tomb . So once Christianity had the upper hand , Church fathers may have " made sure traces of the tomb were removed / damage / destroy so that Christ ’s grave could then become the preeminent pilgrim’s journey center of the ancient world , " Saunders said .
" Alexander is bury in Alexandria , and we are sure about that because in the first century A.D. , we have information about visitors to the tomb , including Roman emperor like Julius Caesar . "
Limneos - Papakosta thinks the site ’s location may have been lost during the Alexandrian Crusade in 1365 , which strip the city , though no historical phonograph record suggest the tomb or actual body was destroy , she said . However , one possibility is tied to theworship cult that arose around Alexander the Great . While it on the face of it died out K of years ago , there may have been people leave alone in Alexandria who , during the campaign , still felt call to protect Alexander ’s corpse from the incoming reformer , who would have despise the worship of heathen gods .
" I believe that the priesthood around the cult of Alexander protected the tomb , " Limneos - Papakosta say . " He was considered a god , and they endeavor to protect him when they realise that death was coming by Christians . I believe that they hid his body and sarcophagus . "
Because Alexander ’s last known resting place was in Alexandria , most researcher fit in that his grave is in all probability shroud somewhere in the Egyptian city .
" Alexander is buried in Alexandria , and we are sure about that because in the first century A.D. , we have data about visitors to the tomb , include Roman emperors likeJulius Caesar , " Limneos - Papakosta told Live Science . " So , we have intercourse that the tomb was there . "
But incisively where in Alexandria is the inquiry .
Shallalat Gardens
Limneos - Papakosta has one theory . During a 2009 excavation , she discovered a carving of Alexander , according to anarticle she wrote for Newsweek .
" It was our last day at the site , and we were quick to cease the time of year , " she allege . " But then we found the sculpture . It was kind of a miracle . "
Topographical maps and ancient sources suggest the area where the statue was find is close to where his tomb was once located , Limneos - Papakosta said , and her team has been hollow in the area ever since . Now , she thinks she ’s getting close , narrow it down to the Shallalat Garden country of modern - daylight Alexandria , located near the Alexandria National Museum , which hold the remnant of the city ’s walls . Ancient source suggest the royal quarters were in this location during antiquity , she said , yet they had never been excavated , she said .
The dig site is next to a former ancient convergence note by second - 100 Grecian author Achilles Tatius , who describes the grave ’s fix .
" He wrote that it was a few hundred meters west of the intersection of Alexandria ’s two master broad street , " she pronounce . Thanks to the current excavation , " we already knew of one of the tolerant street [ know as Canopic Street ] , but now we get it on of the 2nd , Royal Street . "
Under the sea
But others suppose Limneos - Papakosta is on the wrong track .
Cartledge , for his part , speculates that the body must have been put up inside a large mausoleum that was part of a royal complex . And he thinks the royal quarter were located in a different location than Papakosta - Limneos does .
" A mausoleum conveys the feeling that it ’s a very square body structure that should be locatable , " Cartledge pronounce . " The one in Rome , Augustus ' mausoleum , is completely seeable . Why is n’t the mausoleum of Alexander seeable ? The simple answer is that the Brucheum of Alexandria , where the royal twenty-five percent were , abutted the ocean , " Cartledge said . ( The Brucheum was a particular fourth of Alexandria . )
But sea levels have risen several meters since the time of Alexander , historical maps suggest , so large swaths of the diachronic city , including the majestic quarters , probably sit underwater .
In late years , loon have explore the city ’s coastline and find pieces that could belong to ancient structures .
But even if a mausoleum is find , there ’s no guaranty a body would be inside . " Unless he was in a coffin that preserved his body , he will never be find , " Cartledge said . " My guess is that his body could ’ve been eaten by a shark . "
Mazarita district
Saunders thinks the grave is still on dry land , likely beneath the bustling streets of the modern Mazarita district , an area that was once the ancient urban center ’s hub and housed its palaces .
" Unless and until newfangled construction projects need destruction and clearance to a thick level , it is unlikely to be discovered , " Saunders read . " For me , it is all but inconceivable it could be anywhere else . "
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Hawass does n’t have one land site in judgement , but he ’s affirmative that the tomb will be found one day .
" Can we say that the tomb can be discovered ? " Hawass said . " Yes . "
But it in all likelihood wo n’t be find by archaeologists who are searching for it . The theater , catacombs and many of ancient Alexandria ’s monument were found by chance event , thanks to innovative twist .
" The tomb will never be happen upon by student — at all , " Hawass said . " I really believe that by accident one twenty-four hour period , the grave of Alexander the Great will be discover . "
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