writer and Valerio Manfredi surveyor identifies the grave with the remains of a warrior of a tomb in Alexandria - His whereabouts are a mystery to archaeologists
JACINTO ANTONIO - Barcelona - 08/03/2011
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/tumba/Alejandro/Magno/elpepicul/20110308elpepicul_1/Tes
Hundreds of archaeologists, adventurers, amateurs, charlatans, fanatics, visionaries and searched for the tomb raiders Alexander the Great, the legendary soma whose exact location is one of the great mysteries of history. Among those who have unsuccessfully scoured the tomb of the great Macedonian set from the very Schliemann, discoverer of Troy, to the unclassifiable Stelios Komoutsos, Alexandrian Elite coffee waiter, who from 1956 until his death in 1991 passionately sought the tomb on the basis of a spurious book secrecy was have (shortly before his death he tried to sell it in exchange for a small life and a Mercedes, nobody paid any attention).
Some claimed to have found: Ambrose Schilizzi, dragoman of the Russian consulate in Alexandria and guide in his spare time, he left the captivating story of how he envisioned a door after rotten in the cellar of the mosque of Nabi Daniel in Alexandria, one of the locations have been identified as probable, the body of a man sitting on a throne inside a glass case, wearing a golden crown and scrolls around him ... How could such a dream image?: Alejandro, stayed intact under the great city of antiquity which gave its name, surrounded by treasures and secrets.
are not times to find lost tombs in Egypt. But there are always books. And now Valerio Manfredi (Modena, 1943), which as a novelist, author of Alexandros links being a renowned scholar of antiquity (his specialty is precisely the topography of the classical world), has just published a fascinating essay on the search King's tomb: The tomb of Alexander. The enigma (Grijalbo, 2011).
The book, which is in addition to Nicholas J. Saunders on the same subject (Planeta, 2007), not just a journey through the history of the tomb, his disappearance and attempts to locate but includes a very plausible hypothesis is really where the landmark monument of antiquity, or what remains of it. Embalmed body of Alexander the Great had better forget: Manfredi certainly emphasizes that was destroyed during the turbulent rise of Christianity in Alexandria when he kicked the Serapeum and murdered Hypatia, "a relic of paganism. It is very likely believes that the mummy of the conqueror was thrown to the dogs.
As to his grave, Manfredi explained to this newspaper: "I am convinced that all remaining blocks are known as the tomb of alabaster in the Latin Cemetery in Alexandria." In the early past came to light in this place the remains of a monumental building of extraordinary quality that were forgotten and those that remain four giant monolithic blocks of alabaster, polished on its inner side but not on the outside, making up a camera. Manfredi believes that it is the central structure of a Macedonian tomb and originally, how are you, was covered by a mound of earth.
Alexander's tomb would be like that attributed to his father, Philip II at Vergina, the ancient Macedonian royal necropolis, discovered by Manolis Andronikos in 1977. Manfredi brandished as evidence of Lucan story in which he imagines Caesar's visit to the site and then lowered a camera groundwater. The Latin writer also mentions a artificial hill. Lucan was the nephew of Seneca, who wrote a work known (loss) on the shrines and tombs of ancient Egypt in which insurance was referred to the tomb of Alexander. "For who but for Alexander would be the only Macedonian tomb we found in Alexandria?" Said Manfredi. Because of Vergina, the construction of Alexandria would be unremarkable in appearance, which would explain why so few have kept descriptions.
Theme "settled, then? "In a trial like this is to offer a well-founded hypothesis, we have no reason to doubt although not 100% sure. In support of that theory is not never been able to find any other compatible with what could be the tomb of Alexander. "Macedonian tombs, he notes, had no markings which makes it impossible epigraphic confirmation:" That is also an argument ex silentio. "
Alexander's sarcophagus was not found." Strabo wrote that Ptolemy XII had them cast the original gold to pay their mercenaries and relocated to Alexander in one of alabaster. It is logical that used the material from the tomb he had at hand. The alabaster sarcophagus also had to be destroyed. "And the king's armor? Suetonius wrote that Caligula made lead to Rome, perhaps I could find! Manfredi laughs. "All precious things are lost, who want something of yours should remain as the Spartans, who had simple wooden bracelets with their names so that when he fell in battle no one would be tempted to remove them and could identify them."
In his book, Manfredi also offers a hypothesis about the death of young, beautiful and ravaged conqueror. "In all probably died of acute pancreatitis, as argued by several specialists in medicine. The sudden and very strong pain, like a lance, which indicate the ancient sources point to it. So as devastating infection and high fever. The condition was the result of unprecedented disorder that Alejandro was delivered over 16 years .
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