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“Horus, the strong ruler, he who seizes the lands of the foreigners, beloved of Amun and the chosen one of Ra - meryamun setepenra Aleksandros“.

Alexander the Great’s image was replicated all over Egypt in both monumental statuary and delicate relief, he appeared in the company of the Egyptian gods wearing traditional Egyptian dress including the rams horns of Amun as worn by pharaohs including Amenhotep III before him.

Although the cause of his death is still a mystery, Alexander the Great, the Macedonian King and great conqueror, died at the age of 33, on June 10, 323 BC in Babylon (modern Iraq).

In 331 BC he left Egypt for Babylon and on his way back to Macedonia he became ill, with fever. It may have been from malaria or perhaps of being poisoned, but with in a few days he died suddenly, without designating a successor.

On his deathbed he asked for his generals and gave his ring to Perdikkas, who was appointed regent of the empire until Alexander’s queen, Roxane, gave birth to their child. This child, Alexander IV inherited his father’s Empire only briefly, for he and his mother were assassinated by Cassander, who assumed the throne my marrying Thessaloniki, Alexander the Great’s sister. In the wake of Alexander’s death and with the endless conflicts among his successors, his body played a symbolic role which influenced the power struggles of these men and eventually led to the fall of the Macedonian Empire.

Yes the cause of his death was a puzzle but the real enigma was the actual disappearance of Alexander the Great’s mummified body and tomb! No one can claim to have seen this tomb after the end of the 4th century and locating the place where Alexander is buried seems to have become an impossible mission for archeologists.

Perdikkas, is thought to have commissioned a magnificent funerary cart for the soul purpose of transporting the mummified remains of Alexander the Great back to Aigai, the old Macedonian capital, for burial. The body was placed in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus which was then encased in a second gold casket and covered with a purple robe. Alexander’s coffin was placed, together with his armor, in a richly decorated gold carriage which had a vaulted roof supported by an Ionic peristyle.

By which time Ptolemy Lagos, one of Alexander’s generals, had secured the wealthy territory of Egypt for himself, attacked the funerary procession carrying Alexander’s body and redirecting it to Memphis in Egypt, where Alexander was initially buried. It was later moved by Ptolemy II Philadelphos, the son of the first Ptolemy, to Alexandria. After an elaborate ceremony, the body was laid to rest in a Mausoleum called Soma or Sema, an ancient Greek word meaning “dead Body”.

Alexander the Greats tomb was in public display for almost 600 years and was visited by many important personalities such as the Roman emperors Augustus and Julius Ceasar, as well as common tourists. Although Alexander was laid to rest in a golden sarcophagus, King Ptolemy IX replaced it by one made of glass, as he melted down the gold one in order to strike emergency gold coinage.

The tomb was eventually closed to the public by Septimus Severus (early third century AD) out of concern for its safety on account of the hoards of tourists who came to visit the site. By the 4th century, the location of Alexander’s tomb was lost. The oblivion lasted until the 19th century, when the Egyptian astronomer Mahmud el-Falaki attempted to locate the tomb. According to El-Falaki the tomb would have been located under the mosque of Prophet Daniel, where he was not allowed to dig. But most archaeologist are convinced that he was buried in Alexandria, the city that he founded in Egypt.

Others have tried to find the tomb, but to no avail! In 1737 a Danish sea captain by the name of Norden visited the city and tried but failed to locate the tomb. James Bruce came in 1768, but his efforts were also in vain. At the end of the 18th century, Sestrini visited the city looking for the Alexander the Great’s tomb, but he was shown the Attarine mosque.

Until today no one can be sure where the tomb of one of the greatest men who changed history lies, but besides Alexandria, there have been claims that he rests in Asia, Macedonia, and the Siwa Oasis. There has even been a wild allegation that Alexander the Great could be buried “down under” in Broome in Western Australia!

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
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Egypt Tours

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The Temple of the Oracle of Amun at Siwa has attracted many a visitor over the history of ancient civilizations, the most prominent being Alexander the Great. It is said that he reached the temple by following birds across the desert. Alexander the Great came in 331 BC to consult the Oracle of Amun in order to seek confirmation that he was the son of the gods (Zeus and Amun) and consequently the legitimate Pharaoh of Egypt and of course of the other lands he conquered. He continued to correspond with the Oracle of Amun until his death through messengers when he needed answers to important questions.

In the ancient world, people were more than superstitious, so manifestations of the gods or Oracles were greatly revered. They were regularly consulted before important decisions as they were able to see into the future. Oracles existed in Egypt well before the Temple of the Oracle at Siwa, which was built during the 26^th Dynasty. The Oracle of Siwa was reputed to have existed well before the temple and continued to flourish well into the Greek and Roman periods.

The area is known to have been inhabited since the 10^th millennium BC, but it was during the 26^th Dynasty that it gained fame when a necropolis was established, and Siwa at the time was given the name Sekht-am or Palm Land.

Greeks that settled at Cyrene (in modern day Libya) made contact with the oasis at the time and Romans later used it as a place of banishment. The first European to visit the temple was the British William George Browne in 1792, and in 1819 the oasis was officially added by Muhammad Ali Pasha (Egypt’s ruler at the time) to modern Egypt. Siwa was the site of some fighting during World War I and World War II.

In fact, until the battles which took place around the oasis in World War II, it was hardly governed by Egypt, and for the previous thirteen centuries it remained mostly a Berber (Zenatiya) community. Siwans continue to have their own culture and customs and they speak a Berber language, called Siwi, rather than Arabic. Because of their geographical isolation the people have remained relatively unchanged. Women still wear traditional costumes and silver jewelers and Siwa remains one of the best places to buy traditional local handicrafts. Interestingly, each October there is a three-day festival during which Siwans must settle all of their past year’s disputes.

The Siwa Oasis lying 60 feet below sea level and is located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, 560 km from Cairo and 50 km east of the Libyan border. It is one of Egypt’s isolated settlements, inhabited by 23,000 people descendants from the ethnic Berbers of North Africa.

There are approximately 1,000 sweet water springs that are know to have medical properties. But the most striking feature of the Siwan landscape is the presence of several salt lakes, which diminish in size during the summer; this sets it apart from any other oases of Egypt.

Besides its old ruin Temple of Amun, springs and salt lakes, other sites of interest include Cleopatra’s Bath, the old town of Shali, Gebel Dakrur and Gebel El-Mawta (the Mountain of the Dead). In 2007 there was the discovery of what may be the world’s oldest human footprint, dating back 3 million years. Although the revelations of the oracle which has attracted so many, fell into disrepute under the Roman occupation of Egypt, Siwa still lures people who seek peace, beauty and serenity.

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
Egypt Tours

Copyright © EgyptHasItAll.com

About the Author:
Gawhara Hanem
—————————————————————–
Egypt Tours