Tomb of Alexander the Great
Following Alexander's death in Babylon, his body was initially buried in Memphis by one of his generals, Ptolemy I Soter, before being transferred to Alexandria, where it was reburied.
[3] According to Quintus Curtius Rufus and Justin, Alexander asked shortly before his death to be interred in the temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwa Oasis.
It is also called the Sema, from the Greek σῆμα meaning "grave sign or marker", by modern historians through the connection of the two concepts and the similarities of the words.
[3] Leo the African, who visited Alexandria as a young man, wrote: "In the midst of the ruins of Alexandria, there still remains a small edifice, built like a chapel, worthy of notice on account of a remarkable tomb held in high honor by the Mahometans; in which sepulchre, they assert, is preserved the body of Alexander the Great ... An immense crowd of strangers come thither, even from distant countries, for the sake of worshipping and doing homage to the tomb, on which they likewise frequently bestow considerable donations".
[15] George Sandys, who visited Alexandria in 1610, was reportedly shown a sepulchre there, venerated as the resting place of Alexander,[16] although it is likely a mere repetition of the description given by Africanus.
[18] In 1850, Ambroise Schilizzi announced the discovery of alleged Alexander's mummy and tomb inside the Nabi Daniel Mosque in Alexandria.
[20] Also based on the ancient historical sources he came to the conclusion that the breastplate, the shield, the helmet and the sword found in tomb II belong to the armor of Alexander the Great.
The claim was put in doubt by the then general secretary of the Greek Ministry of Culture, George Thomas, who said that it was unclear whether the excavated structure is even a tomb.
[24][25][26] In an article in the Egyptology journal Kmt (fall 2020), Chugg showed that a 3rd century BC fragment of a high status Macedonian tomb found embedded in the foundations of St Mark's Basilica in Venice in 1960 is an exact fit as part of a tomb-casing for the Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II[27] in the British Museum, which was long venerated in Alexandria as Alexander's tomb.
[28] The 2014 discovery of a large Alexander-era tomb in Amphipolis in the region of Macedonia, Greece,[29] once again led to speculation about Alexander's final resting place.
[30] Based on findings unearthed at the site, the excavation team argued that the tomb was a memorial dedicated to Alexander's friend Hephaestion.
[31][32] In 2019, a marble statue claimed to be of Alexander found by amateur Greek archaeologist Calliope Limneos-Papakosta in the Shallalat Gardens, which occupy the ancient royal quarter in Alexandria.
[33] In 2021, Egyptian officials claimed they had found Alexander the Great's tomb in Siwa Oasis, an urban area near the Libyan border with Egypt.
