The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2021

⏱️ 55 minutes

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Summary

In his lifetime King Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, forged one of the largest empires in ancient history. But it was what happened to Alexander following his demise – his ‘life after death’ - which resulted in one of the great archaeological mysteries of the ancient Mediterranean. Following his death, aged just 32, his corpse became of prime importance for his former subordinates – a talismanic symbol of legitimacy during the tumultuous period that was the Wars of the Successors. Later still, the body and tomb of this great conqueror – placed right in the centre of ancient Alexandria – retained its importance. From Ptolemaic pharaohs to Roman emperors, Alexander’s tomb became a place of holy pilgrimage for many seeking power and prestige. For several centuries the tomb of this Macedonian ruler was one of the great attractions of the ancient Mediterranean. That was, however, until the end of the 4th century when all mention of this building, and the precious corpse housed within, disappeared. So what happened to Alexander’s tomb? And where might Alexander’s body be buried today? To talk through several theories surrounding one of ancient history’s great archaeological mysteries, Tristan from The Ancients chatted to Dr Chris Naunton.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I have a welcome dance notes history here. Now, every softened, as you know, replay an episode
0:05.7	of Tristan Hughes' excellent podcast, the ancient, the sibling podcast of history here.
0:10.1	And we could not play this one because Tristan, as you'll know, for the true ancient fans
0:14.4	out there, you'll know that he's got an obsession with the aftermath of Alexander
0:17.7	Great's death. He's been on this podcast talking about it. He has gone and done a podcast
0:21.6	with Chris Norton. This is like an all-star cast. Chris Norton is everyone's favourite
0:25.6	Egyptologist and Chris and Chris are talking about Alexander Great. It's where the
0:30.6	Venn diagrams are there, two great passions overlap, Egyptian tombs and Alexander Great's.
0:36.6	And I tell you, fireworks result. This is an episode all about what happened to Alexander
0:41.8	Great's body. Where is it? Where might it be? Or we're going to find Alexander Great's
0:45.0	body in a lifetime. Because then we tell you, I was just kind of jealous of my great-grand
0:48.5	parents generation. They got the whole Tutankham Carmen excitement. But let me say something.
0:53.1	Tutankham Carmen, minor, minor royalty. We're talking, let me say like in 18th century,
1:00.0	we're talking like middle ranking, small German, principate in part of the Holy Roman Empire.
1:06.4	That's Tutankham Carmen. If we find Alexander Great, that's like finding Frederick the Great.
1:10.2	Boom, Frederick the second of Prussia. Bang. I don't know if that parallel works, but I'm
1:13.9	going to go with it. So the idea that Alexander Great might be found in our lifetime, mind-blowing.
1:22.0	Tristan and Chris get into it. You're going to love it. I want to bring this one over to
1:26.0	my feed and just share it because it's proper, proper Egyptology in Alexander Great fandom.
1:31.8	It's good stuff and you can love it. If you want to watch documentaries about Alexander
1:35.3	Great, we've got plenty on history at TV because Tristan is in the office. He gets his little
1:39.3	hands on the commissioning tiller when we're not watching. And before you know, we've got
	...

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