The Tomb of Alexander?

         SIWA OASIS, Egypt (Reuter) - Archeologists searching in 

Egypt for the tomb of Alexander the Great said Wednesday they

had uncovered an underground passage leading to his final

resting place.

         But they announced a one-month break from their excavations,

leaving historians in suspense as to whether they really have

found the burial site of the all-conquering Macedonian king --

and solved one of the ancient world's enduring mysteries.

         Liana Souvaltzi, head of the Greek team exploring the

sprawling and leafy oasis of Siwa in Egypt's western desert,

said she hoped they would get back to work again at the end of

the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which began Wednesday.

         She showed journalists visiting the site at al-Maraqi, about

10 miles west of Siwa town, a concealed crypt leading down from

the entrance of the smaller of two excavated buildings.

         A passageway, impenetrable until it is cleared of mud and

water, led on to the actual burial chamber, she said. "I cannot

say how many metres (yards) down it is. We have to follow the

signs and estimate what is the length and direction we have to

follow."

         She said the larger building -- about 150 feet long and 60

feet wide, with a long corridor leading to two ante-chambers and

a "burial chamber" -- was an elaborate decoy designed to

mislead potential grave robbers.

         "It is a unique discovery. Finding his tomb was always the

dream of everybody. But now we know where he is buried and we

have all the details," Souvaltzi told reporters at the site

where, despite skeptisism from many experts, she insists

Alexander the Great was buried.

         Until now most historians had said his grave is somewhere in

the Egyptian port city he founded and which was named after him

-- Alexandria.

         Al-Maraqi, surrounded by eerie-looking pink outcrops of

rock, lies on the outer edge of the oasis where Alexander was

proclaimed a god in 332 B.C., just before he launched a highly

successful strike against the Persian king Darius.

         Souvaltzi said there was overwhelming evidence for her view,

including stone tablets her team uncovered which appear to show

that Alexander's deputy Ptolemy I carried his mummified body

back to al-Maraqi after he died in Babylon in a military

campaign, and that the Roman emperor Trajan came to make

offerings to the "one and unique" Alexander after his death.

         She said that the al-Maraqi site had typical Macedonian

designs, such as oak leaf insignia at the top of columns, and

said Alexander himself requested that he be buried there.

         "Everyone is free to believe what he likes but we have

archeological proof. The tablets were found here, the tomb is

here, everything is here. In Alexandria, nothing," she said.

         Souvaltzi, 47, who studied archeology at Athens University,

heads a team which includes her husband Manos, an epigraphist

who interprets the ancient inscriptions on the tablets and says

he has financed their five years' work in Siwa.

         Liana Souvaltzi, an unashamed fan of the military leader

whose conquests spread Greek influence across the eastern

Mediterranean and deep into Asia, said Alexander was "a

universal personality and a man of vision."

         "If he hadn't died so young -- and from our second

inscription we have information that Alexander was poisoned --

the destiny of the whole world would have been different. He was

going to unite the whole world," she said.

         Asked why she choose in 1989 to start digging at al-Maraqi,

she said she paid more attention to her instinct and interest in

local traditions than in received historical wisdom.

         "As an archeologist you have to respect local legends --

they have a legend here about a famous king being buried with

all his weapons and swords."

         "They also have legends the place is holy," she said

adding Alexander was revered as a deity in Siwa for 1,000 years

after his death in 323 B.C. aged just 33.

         "How did I come just to this place? This place is named

Maraqi, but this word is not Egyptian, it is not Siwan. It comes

from the Greek word 'mirakion'," referring to a man who died

when he was still very young, she said.

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NEWSBRIEFS	Volume 50 Number 1 January/February 1997

 Subject: Re: Alexander and poison (fwd)

 Date: Fri, 10 Feb 1995 09:31:56 -0500 (EST)

 Subject: Re: Alexander and poison
 

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Siwa inscription naming Alexander and poison is a fraud. It does not exist. The Greek delegates from the Ministry of Culture saw a dedicatory inscription written on an architrave of a building from the reign of Trajan. It named Artemidoros, eparch of Egypt. There was no Alexander and no tomb. 

Olga Palagia
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Subject: The "Tomb" of Alexander (fwd)
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 08:01:58 -0500 (EST)


        I  thought I'd hiss a word of warning on the "Alexander Tomb" to you all,  in case you haven't seen this item in the New York Times on Monday (p. 8A):

        "CAIRO,  Feb.  5  - A high-level archaeological team from the  Greek Government,  investigating  claims that the tomb of Alexander the Great  had been discovered in Egypt's western desert,  visited the site today and  said that they saw no evidence that the tomb had been found.
        But Liana Souvaltzi,  the archaeologist who announced last week that she had found the tomb outside the oasis of Siwa,  said on Saturday: "I have no reservations.  This is Alexander's tomb.  There is no doubt."
        She  said  the  tomb was built in Macedonian style  and  that  three tablets uncovered at the site provided the archaeological proof.
        One of the tablets, she said, was written by Alexander's lieutenant. Ptolemy I, and affirmed a legend that Alexander had been poisoned.  Another, she  said,  was left by the Roman emperor Trajan,  who she said had paid his respects at the site.
        But the Greek team,  headed by the General Secretary of the Ministry of  Culture,  George Thomas,  said it was unclear if the structure  she  was excavating was even a tomb.
        He  and  members of the team said that the style of the complex  was not,  as Mrs.  Souvaltzi said, Macedonian.  And they said that the fragments of  tablets  they  were shown did not support any of  the  translations  she provided as proof of her discovery.
        The team members also said that the fragment they saw were from  the Roman period, some 300 years after the death of Alexander the Great.
        "We are not sure if the complex is a tomb or temple," said Dr. Yanni Tzedakis,  the  Director of Antiquities for the Greek Government,  "although there  are elements of the Hellenistic period in the  rubble.   It  appears, however, to be from a later period."
        Mrs.  Souvaltzi  has refused to allow the visiting team to read  her report  on the excavations.   She has also refused to brief the team on  her work.   She  gave  no  reason for her refusal to cooperate  with  the  Greek officials.
        "The  fact that the report on the excavations is not being shown  to us  is curious," Dr.  Tzedakis said.   "She should present photos and plans, along with details of the excavations to back up her claim.   This is how it is done in Greece."
        Abdel-Halim   Nureddin,   chairman  of  the   Egyptian   Antiquities Organization,  who  said earlier in the week that he supported the claim  by Mrs. Souvlatzi, now says he is less sure about the find.
        "It is an important discovery," Mr.  Noureddin said, "but we have to be  a bit careful.   We must wait for further study and a reconsideration of the text."
        Mrs. Souvaltzi, who has an archaeological degree from the University of Athens, has been excavating in the area around Siwa, 50 miles east of the Libyan border, for the past four years.
        The inscriptions on the tablets, broken into pieces, were translated by Mrs.  Souvaltzi's husband, who has no formal archaeological training.  He also provides the financing for her research.
        Mrs.  Souvaltzi,  who says she has received mystical guidance in her research,  in part from snakes,  has claimed in the past that this structure was  the tomb of Alexander.   She wrote an article in an Egyptian  magazine, published  by  Cairo  University  three years  ago,  saying  that  the  same structure was the tomb of Alexander.
        The  report  was dismissed at the time by senior  archaeologists  in Egypt and Greece.
        The  Greek team said that the fragments of tablets they  were  shown did not appear to support Mr. Souvaltzi's translations.  They also said that they  did not see the eight-pointed Macedonian star Mrs.  Souvaltzi says she  found on what she describes as the tomb.
        "These  inscriptions have nothing to do with the period  of  Ptolemy I," Mr. Tzedakis said, "and they are very well dated.  We did not see any of  the  words  they  say were inscribed on  the  tablets,  not  Alexander,  not  Ptolemy, not even the word poison."
        Alexander,  King  of Macedonia,  led his armies out of Greece in 334 B.C.  at the age of 22 and conquered an empire that covered much of Asia and the Middle East.  Ancient texts indicate that, after his death in Babylon in 323  B.C.  on a military campaign,  his body was moved to Syria and then  to Egypt.  But his final burial place remains a mystery.
        About 570 B.C., the Pharaoh Amasis built a temple in Siwa to the god Amun.   The  temple oracle was one of the most famous in antiquity  and  was famed for being able to answer difficult question.
        Alexander went to Siwa in 332 B.C.  to see the oracle.   The oracle, according to legend, told Alexander he was divine and the son of Amun.

        Ogden Goelet
        goelet@acfcluster.nyu.edu
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