Archaeological Find Of The Century?

[poliphilo]

The Greeks have announced that they've found a huge tomb in Macedonia which if it isn't the tomb of Alexander the Great has to be that of someone who died at around the same time and was at least as important as he was. It has sphinxes, frescoed walls- and they're going to be opening the tomb chamber at the end of this month....

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

"It looks like the tomb of a prominent Macedonian of that era," said a second culture ministry official. Alexander the Great died in Babylonia, in modern Iraq, and his actual burial place is not known.

Eh? Didn't Ptolemy take his body to Alexandria?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm very far from being an expert but I understand that our records for Alexander are hardly reliable.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

That's what the literary sources say, and it's probably true, but as Dorothy King has pointed out, if that was an unplanned hijack, it is possible that a large tomb had already been constructed for Alexander in Macedonia before it happened.

My cynicism regarding Alexander's tomb is pretty high after a life-time of watching its 'discovery' being announced more or less every year (much like Cleopatra's), and I'm certainly not renouncing it just yet, but this evidently is an important tomb, whoever it belongs to. Again, as Dorothy says, it's the largest ever discovered in Greece, and it also looks a lot like it might be the proto-type for Augustus' Mausoleum in Rome, which indicates its status in the ancient world. If it's not Alexander's, it must belong to one of the Macedonian kings.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Whatever it is, it's exciting. There's something remarkable there.

Knocks Richard III's car park grave into a cocked hat.

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Richard III's car park grave has fascinations of a wholly other sort.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true.

I'm glad they've got the go-ahead to bury him in Leicester cathedral. York has plenty of attractions already, whereas Leicester- a fine old city- had nothing- until now- to bring in the tourists.

I like the design for the tomb.

[charliemc.livejournal.com]

It's quite exciting, whomever is buried there.

Love the Richard III mention! Hahaha! (Not many people seem to know that...)