Alexander The Greats Tomb?

gunny · Post by **gunny** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 7:56 am

IT Would Seem That The Number Of People That Participated In The Transfer Of Alexander To His Final Tomb Would Have Left Some Data?

Grumpage · Post by **Grumpage** » Sat Sep 13, 2008 2:12 am

I don't suppose you would care to elaborate on this intriguing titbit

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 12:27 pm

Good subject.
I just did a quick search on this.
I will need to dig more.
There seems to be four places with the claim.
None of them provable.
And all tied up in the politics of the day.

Grumpage · Post by **Grumpage** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:57 am

Yes. I know next to nothing about this, except that Alexander's mausoleum disappeared from history at Alexandria in the 3rd or 4th century CE. Seems incredible given his fame.

I wondered if gunny had come across some new stuff that might blow the lid off the mystery.

Perhaps you might solve it kbs

Post by **Minimalist** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:51 pm

If memory serves, didn't most of Alexandria fall into the Med after an earthquake? Marine archaeologists have been trying to identify Cleopatra's palace and the Pharos lighthouse from blocks of stone found on the bottom of the harbor.

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 8:22 am

Minimalist wrote:If memory serves, didn't most of Alexandria fall into the Med after an earthquake? Marine archaeologists have been trying to identify Cleopatra's palace and the Pharos lighthouse from blocks of stone found on the bottom of the harbor.

That's what I remember too: an earthquake, between 310 and 350 AD, destroyed Cleo's palace, the library and the lighthouse (among other stuff). And their remains would now* be underwater in the harbour.
However, looking around I didn't (yet) find any mentions of that particular earthquake in the 4th century, but instead found that muslim travellers/scholars would have described seeing the lighthouse still standing in the 12th century...

Methinks some clearing up is in order.

*to be sure: archeological work IS being done as we speak on the stuff that's on the bottom of that harbour. They've been at it for at least the last decade. I plan on going to see it all in another decade. They should have had enough time by then to make it worthwhile to visit. I hope.

kbs2244 · Post by **kbs2244** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:10 am

If memory serves me correctly, the French guy in charge has some real tight legal control on what and when news is released on the bottom of the harbor finds.
Even Nat Geo got in trouble for their story.
I just hope he lives long enough to avoid a Dead Sea Scrolls debacle.

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 9:19 am

Documentation of earthquake damage in Alexandria dates back to A.D. 365, when a tsunami wiped out the Eastern Port of Alexandria and the queen’s cache. Ancient writings tell of the harbor emptying out to sea, says Daniel Stanley, a coastal geologist at the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the discovery team. The people in town walked out onto the new beach to collect fish, not realizing the water would return in the form of a giant, devastating wave.

http://www.geotimes.org/dec00/bay.html

We may be seeing the results of multiple events.

Not even 30 years later we find them still fighting among themselves...all for the glory of god, of course!

Theophilus of Alexandria, (died 412) was Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt from 385 to 412. He is regarded as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

He was a Coptic Pope at a time of conflict between the newly dominant Christians and the pagan establishment in Alexandria, each supported by a segment of the Alexandrian populace.

In 391, Theophilus (according to Rufinus and Sozomen) discovered a hidden pagan temple. He and his followers mockingly displayed the pagan artifacts to the public which offended the pagans enough to provoke an attack on the Christians. The Christian faction counter-attacked, forcing the pagans to retreat to the Serapeum. A letter was sent by the emperor that Theophilus should grant the offending pagans pardon, but destroy the temple.

The destruction of the Serapeum was seen by many ancient and modern authors as representative of the triumph of Christianity over other religions. When the philosopher Hypatia was lynched by an Alexandrian mob, they acclaimed Theophilus's nephew and successor Cyril as "the new Theophilus, for he had destroyed the last remains of idolatry in the city".[1]

Grumpage · Post by **Grumpage** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 6:07 am

1. The Pharos lighthouse, from one of my sources the following: “The lighthouse was largely destroyed during the Middle Ages, the final blow having been dealt by an earthquake in the fourteenth century. About 1480 CE the Egyptian Sultan Qait Bay used the fallen stone blocks of the lighthouse to build the present day fort.”

2. Concerning the disappearance of Alex’s tomb. The tsunami of 365CE may have finished a job that was already well in hand, if not completed, by other events.

The history of the city suggests that Alex’s tomb and other ‘monuments’ were simply the victim of (a) successive waves of wars and civil unrest (http://www.digital-brilliance.com/kab/alex.htm) (b) degradation through lack of maintenance - Cassius Dio records that when Octavian (first century BCE) visited the tomb he touched the body and a piece of the nose fell off! (c) cultural obsolescence as people just stopped caring

Whatever the explanation it is not surprising that no record of its demise has survived, there was probably no record to begin with. The tomb literally disappeared, or faded slowly, from history.

3. The other bit of the story, of course, is how Alex’s body got to Alexandria in the first place? There seem to be varying accounts. This brings us back to gunny’s posting. Gunny, where are you?