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The Sarcophagus of Alexander the Great?

Author(s): Andrew ChuggSource: Greece & Rome, Second Series, Vol. 49, No. 1 (Apr., 2002), pp. 8-26Published by: Cambridge University Presson behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/826879.

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Greece & Rome, Vol. 49, No. 1, April 2002

THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDERTHE GREAT?

By ANDREW CHUGG

Vivant Denon, Edward Daniel Clarke, and theTomb of AlexanderIn 1798 Napoleon Bonaparteled a French expedition in the conquest ofEgypt. His troops were landed on the beaches on the 1stand 2ndJulyandthe general speedily assaulted and captured nearby Alexandria. At thattime the great Hellenistic city had shrunkto a population of barely 6000,most of whom lived on an isthmus of land that had been formed by theaccumulation of sand and siltagainstthe ancient Heptastadion causeway,which once joinedthe mainlandwith the sometime islandof Pharos,now apeninsula. Behind this 'new town' the circuit of the massive walls of themedieval old city was still largely complete, though ruinous in manyplaces. The areathey enclosed was, however, largelydesertedexcept for ahandful of ancient monuments and a few dilapidated mosques. Mostprominent among the latter was a building on the north side of theprincipal street and close to the centre of the old city known as theAttarine Mosque (Fig. 1). The French savants who accompaniedNapoleon were especially fascinated by this mosque, which it wassuggested had been built on the site of the late Roman church of StAthanasius, a famous fourth-century Patriarch of the city: five of thetwelve plateson Alexandria n the Antiquitiessection of their monumentalrecord of the country, the Descriptiondel'Egypte, how plans and views ofthismosque and its contents. VivantDenon, a leadingscholarin the team,described these contents glowingly in his subsequent travelogue:In the court, plants which have grown into trees, have forced up the marble pavement.In the center of this court, a little octagon temple incloses a cistern of Egyptianworkmanship,and incomparable beauty, both on account of its form, and of innumer-able hieroglyphics with which it is covered, inside and out. This monument, whichappears to be a sarcophagus of antient Egypt, may perhaps be illustratedby volumes ofdissertations. It would require a month to draw all its parts.1

1 Vivant Denon, Travels n Upperand LowerEgypt (London, 1802); this is the English edition ofthe French original.

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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 9

* ->..- ATTARINEMOSQUE

r~:; ?

Fig. 1: An accurate map of Alexandria in 1800 from the Descriptionde l'Egypte(Etat Moderne, Vol. 2, Plate 84).

Napoleon's fleet was virtuallyannihilated by Nelson in the Battle of theNile whilst it lay at anchor in AboukirBay on 1st August. Napoleon laterescaped back to France. However, the English were content to leave theFrench army marooned for severalyears until their eventual capitulationat Alexandria in 1801. As a condition of the treaty of surrender theFrench were required to hand over the antiquities they had garnered inthe interim. Chief among these were the Rosetta Stone and the 7-tonnesarcophagus (Fig. 2) from the chapel in the courtyard of the AttarineMosque (Fig. 3). Lord Hutchinson, the English commander, arrangedfor Edward Daniel Clarke of Cambridge University to secure theserelics. His account of the recovery of the sarcophagus in Alexandriawasas follows:We had scarcely reached the house in which we were to reside, when a party of themerchants of the place, who had heard the nature of our errand,came to congratulateuson the capture of Alexandria, and to express their anxiety to serve the English. As soonas the room was clear of other visitants, speakingwith great circumspection and in a lowvoice, they asked if our business in Alexandria related to the antiquities collected by theFrench? Upon being answered in the affirmative, and, in proof of it, the copy of the



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10 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?

Fig. 2: The sarcophagus in an engraving from E. D. Clarke, The Tombof Alexander(Cambridge, 1805).Rosetta Stone being produced, the principal of them said, 'Does your Commander inChief know that they have the Tomb of Alexander?' We desired them to describe it;upon which they said it was a beautiful green stone, taken from the mosque of StAthanasius; which, among the inhabitants,had alwaysborne that appellation. Our letterand instructions from Cairo evidently referred to the same monument. 'It is the object,'they continued, 'of our present visit;and we will shew you where they have concealed it.'They then related the measures used by the French; the extraordinary care they hadobserved to prevent any intelligence of it; the indignation shewn by the Mahometans atits removal; the veneration in which they held it; and the traditionfamiliar to all of themrespecting its origin. I conversed afterwards with several of the Mahometans, both Arabsand Turks, on the same subject;not only those who were natives and inhabitants of thecity, but also dervises and pilgrims; persons from Constantinople, Smyrna, and Aleppo,who had visited, or who resided in Alexandria; and they all agreed in one uniformtradition, namely, ITS BEING THE TOMB OF ISCANDER (Alexander), THEFOUNDER OF THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA. We were then told it was in thehold of an hospital ship, in the inner harbour;and being provided with a boat, we therefound it, half filled with filth, and covered with the rags of the sick people on board.2This excerpt is taken from Clarke's treatise entitled The Tomb ofAlexander, which he published in 1805 after he had brought thesarcophagus back to England, where it is still exhibited in the BritishMuseum. In this book Clarke reproduced a drawing by Vivant Denonshowing Moslem pilgrims worshipping the chapel containing the

2 E. D. Clarke, The TombofAlexander,a dissertation n thesarcophagusromAlexandriaand now intheBritish Museum (Cambridge, 1805).



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Fig. 3: Elevation, section and plan of the Attarine Mosque from the Descriptiondel'Egypte(Antiquitds, Vol. 5, Plate 38) showing the sarcophagus within the small chapelin the courtyard.



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12 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?Rft,?n?:;i~l. ..... . .-~?:~NOR,

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Fig. 4: The small chapel in the courtyard of the Attarine Mosque beingvenerated by Moslems circa 1798, based on a drawing by Vivant Denon fromE. D. Clarke, The Tombof Alexander(Cambridge, 1805).sarcophagus (Fig. 4). He also discussed a large variety of ancient andmodern accounts regarding Alexander's tomb in Alexandria, but hescarcely managed to add any furthersignificant evidence to authenticatethe use of the sarcophagus for Alexander's corpse. Nevertheless he didsucceed in showing that this same relic had been worshipped in theAttarine Mosque throughout the eighteenth century by quoting theaccounts of earlier European visitors.3

Decipherment, Obscurity, and an Abortive ResurrectionIn 1822 J.-F. Champollion used the trilingual inscription on the Rosettastone to decipherhieroglyphics. It soon became clearthat the Alexandriansarcophagusis inscribedwith sections from the ancient Egyptian 'Book ofWhat is in the Underworld' liberally interspersed with the cartouches ofthe Pharaoh Nectanebo II, for whom it was undoubtedly made. Notsurprisingly this revelation was seen as completely undermining the

3 Richard Pococke, Description of the East (London, 1743), i.4; A. Van Egmont and JohnHeyman, Travelsthroughpart of Europe,Asia Minor, ... (London, 1759), ii.133; Eyles Irwin,Seriesof Adventures, (London, 1780), 367; C. S. Sonnini, Travelsin Upperand LowerEgypt (London,1800), i.67; W. G. Browne, Travelsin Africa, Egypt and Syria (London, 1799), 6.



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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 13associationof the sarcophaguswith Alexanderand most modernworkshavecited ts attributionsasufficient eason o dismiss hepossibility f aconnection with the MacedonianKing. Nonetheless P. M. Fraser,perhapsthe leading sceptic, has admittedthat 'the presence of thismightysarcophagusn Alexandrias surprising'.4In the mid-twentiethcenturya solitarychallengewas made to thesceptical orthodoxy.In 1948 A. J. B. Wace publisheda flawed,butneverthelessntriguing, rgumenthatthesarcophagusmighthave comefrom Alexander's omb afterall.5Essentially,his case rested on threepillars:

(i) NectaneboIIwas the last Pharaohof the 30thdynastyandthefinalnativePharaohof Egypt.He wasdefeatedby a Persian nvasion n343 B.C. and according o Diodorus he eventually led south toEthiopiain about 341 B.C.6 He probablydied in exile, so it isunlikely hathe everoccupiedhis sarcophagus.Apart rom a nativeuprising n about 338-6 B.C., Persianrule continued or the nextdecade until Alexander'sarrival n 332 B.C. It is likelythat thesarcophagusstill lay unused when PtolemybroughtAlexander'scorpse back to Egypt in 321 B.C., since it would have beensacrilegiouso entomba lessermortal n a pharaonic arcophagus.(ii) Nectanebo II has a prominentrole in a legendaryaccount ofAlexander's career, now known as the AlexanderRomanceorsometimes Pseudo-Callisthenes',incesomemanuscriptsmplaus-ibly attributed t to Alexander's court historianCallisthenes.Itappears o have been compiledin Alexandrian the thirdcenturyA.D. froman agglomeration f earlier toriesaboutthe King.TheRomanceells how Nectaneboemployedmagicalpowers o takeonthe persona of Ammon, thus seducing Olympiasand fatheringAlexanderon her.' Scholarshave been moved to try to explainwhat could have inspired such an extraordinary egend. Forexample, Philippe Derchain,8has suggested that the story wasdisseminatedby the earlyPtolemies o legitimizeMacedonianrulein Egypt.However,Wacepointedout thatthe use of Nectanebo's

P4 . M. Fraser, PtolemaicAlexandria(Oxford, 1972), Section 2 of Note 86 to Chapter 1.A. J. B. Wace, FaroukI University,Bulletinof theFaculty ofArts 4 (Alexandria, 1948), 1-11.6 Diodorus Siculus 16.51.Richard Stoneman (translator), The Greek Alexander Romance (London, 1991), Book I,Sections 1-12.

8 Philippe Derchain (ed. Pierre Grimal), Hellenismand the Rise of Rome (London, 1968), 208.



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14 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?sarcophagus or Alexander'sbody would have provideda con-ducive stimulus or the legend.

(iii) Finally,Wace proposedthat an Egyptiantown called Rhakotis,whichhadpre-existedon thesiteof Alexandria, adincorporatedmajorpharaonicnecropolis,whichincludedthe intended omb ofNectanebo andcontainedhis sarcophagus.The firsttwo of thesepointsare well made and of somesignificanceorthe issue, but the argument alls down badlyon the third. In the firstplace,thereappears o be no real evidencefor a majornecropolisof the30th dynastyat Alexandria.Nor is thereany persuasivearchaeologicalevidence for a very significant Egyptian port on the site prior toAlexandria's oundation.'Conversely, herearereportsby the ancientwriters,which indicate hat the site wasoccupiedby nothingmore thana few Egyptian ishingvillages,whenAlexanderarrived."1inally, hereis overwhelming vidence hat Alexander's nitialentombmentn Egyptwas not locatedat Alexandria.

The Memphite Tomb of AlexanderAelian, Strabo,and Diodorus all state that Alexanderwas entombedatAlexandriawhen his body was divertedto Egypt by Ptolemy, butPausanias,Curtius,and the AlexanderRomancendicatethat the Kingwas nitiallyaidtorestatMemphisandonly atermovedtoAlexandria.11In particular,Pausanias tatesexplicitly hat it was Ptolemy'sson andsuccessor,Philadelphus,who was responsible or the transfer o Alex-andria.The questions decided nfavourof aMemphiteentombmentbyanentryon a Ptolemaic hronology culptedon the islandofParos,whilstit was ruled by Philadelphus, in 263-2 B.C. The Parian Marble12unambiguouslyassertsthat 'Alexanderwas laid to rest in Memphis'under heyear321-20 B.C.It alsogivestheyearofPhiladelphus'irthas309-8 B.C.,but makesno mentionofanytransfer o Alexandria pto the

9 The remains of a sea wallto the north and west of the island of Pharos are sometimes identifiedas pharaonic, but their date is actually very uncertain.1O The main Alexander historiansimply that the site was empty in speakingof the markingof thestreet plan with barley - Arrian, Anabasis 3.2; Diodorus 17.52; Plutarch, Life of Alexander 26;Curtius 4.8.1-6; the AlexanderRomance (probably compiled in Alexandria) speaks explicitly oftwelve Egyptian villages on the site, stating that Rhakotis was the largest of them (Section 31 of

Book I); Strabo 17.1.6, states that Rhakotis had been a KW"[r, which is an unwalled village orcountry town.11Aelian, Varia Historia 12.64; Diodorus Siculus 18.28.3; Strabo, Geography17.1.8; Pausanias1.6.3; Curtius 10.10.20; Stoneman (n. 7 above), Book III, 34.12 Jacoby, FGrH 239.



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N THEMEMPHITENECROPOLIS OF Isi cowscLTEMPLEFSNORTH NECTANEBONILE FLOODSAQQARA PLAIN300m

TO MEMPHSBULL AVENUE FSPHIIXES

TEMPLE FSARAPIEIONEMCarNECTANEBOIOFSTArUES

DJOSERPYRAMID

Fig. 5: The Sarapieion and the Temples of Nectanebo II in the Memphite necropolisat Saqqara.last surviving entries around 300 B.C. At the time it was sculpted, thebody almost certainly lay at Alexandria, so the sculptor would haveperplexed his intended readership had he omitted to mention a transferpriorto 300 B.C. It is therefore overwhelmingly probablethat Pausanias'account is true and that the Memphite entombment lasted 30 or 40 yearswith the relocation eventually taking place around 290-80 B.C.13

Where then was Nectanebo's sarcophagus likely to have been whenAlexander was 'laid to rest at Memphis'? The location of his intendedtomb is not known. However, under the 30th dynasty Memphis was thecapitaland it retained this status some years into the rule of Ptolemy, untilit was eventually superseded by Alexandria. There is also a substantial30th-dynasty cemetery in the Memphite necropolis at Saqqara.14Thiscemetery is adjacentto the Avenue of Sphinxes (see Fig. 5) leading from

13 Fraser n. 4 above),has argued or an earlytransfero Alexandria n the basisof Curtius'remark hatthe transferookplace'aftera fewyears',but 30 or 40 yearsarefew on a timescaleofcenturies, o the remarks really oo vagueto haveanyevidential alue.

14 E.g.Ian Shawand PaulNicholson,TheBritishMuseumDictionary fAncientEgypt London,1995), 252 under Saqqara'.



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16 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?the sanctuaryof the living Apis bull nearMemphis in the Nile flood plainup into the Memphite Sarapieioncomplex." Nectanebo added a templeto this complex and also to the Sacred Animal Necropolis adjoiningtheSanctuaryof the Mother Cows of the Apis Bulls.'6 He also inauguratedhis reign by officiating at the funeral of the Apis bull at this sanctuary,17just as Alexander subsequently showed his respect for Egyptian sensi-bilities by sacrificingto the Apis.8"Given the special significance of Apisbull worship for Nectanebo, it is possible he intended to associate histomb with his Sarapieion temple.Late Period pharaohs in general tended to be buried in tombs in thecourtyardsof major temple complexes, typicallyin a vault beneath a cult-chapel. Examples are the 26th-dynasty tombs at Saisandthose of the 29thdynasty at Mendes. This type of tomb was one element of a Late Periodrevival of Old Kingdom styles and traditions.19The Sarapieion hasindependently been a favourite candidate for the location of the Mem-phite tomb of Alexander, because it was the most prominent temple atSaqqaraat this time and because the Ptolemies set up arather ncongruoussemi-circle of eleven marble statues of Greek sages and poets before theentrance of the Nectanebo temple (Fig. 6). Dorothy Thompson hasspeculatedthatthey may have 'guardeda shrine of some importance- thesite once perhaps of Alexander's tomb'.20 If so, then the shrine almostcertainly lay within the Nectanebo temple, as can be seen from AugusteMariette's detailed plan (Fig. 7).21 Some authoritiesprefer to date thesesculpturesto the late thirdcenturyB.C. many decades after the transferofAlexander's tomb.22However, the analysisof this group byJ.-P. Lauer &Ch. Picard23 uggested that the era of the firstPtolemy is most probable,mainly because one of the statues may be Demetrios of Phaleron,24 he

15 The sphinxes are believed to have been created under Nectanebo I; two others found at theentrance to the Nectanebo temple are attributed to Nectanebo II.16 Jean-Philippe Lauer, Saqqara, The Royal Cemeteryof Memphis, Excavationsand Discoveriessince 1850 (New York, 1976), 18 and 220.17 Nicolas Grimal, A Historyof AncientEgypt (English paperback edition, Oxford, 1994), 379.1s Arrian,Anabasis 3.1.4.19 B. G. Trigger, B. J. Kemp, D. O'Connor and A. B. Lloyd, Ancient Egypt:A Social History(Cambridge, 1983), 321.20 Dorothy Thompson, Memphisunder the Ptolemies(Princeton, 1988), 212.21 Ulrich Wilcken, 'Die griechischen Denkmdilervom Dromos des Serapeums von Memphis',JDAI 32, 1917, pp. 149-203.22 E.g. F. Matz, 'Review ofJ.-P. Lauer & Ch. Picard;Les statues Ptolemaiques du Sarapieionde

Memphis', Gnomon29, 84-93; Fraser(n. 4 above), Note 512 to Chapter 5, says an earlydate is notimpossible, but prefers a later one, as does Dorothy Thompson (n. 20 above).23 J.-P. Lauer & Ch. Picard, Les statuesPtoldmaiques u Sarapieionde Memphis (Paris, 1955).24 So too Ulrich Wilcken, based on Demetrios' association with the foundation of the Sarapiscultand the herm of Sarapis on which this figure leans.



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1. PINDAR 2. DEMETRIOS? 3. PROTAGORAS 4. PLATO 5. HERACLITUS? 6. HOMER?..... ,.'.2 .' , ,-h -": ..... "" / ,'

7. ? 8. ?7,

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Fig. 6: Ptolemaic statues of 11 Greek poets and sages arranged in a semicircle at theend of the Avenue of Sphinxes adjacent to the Nectanebo temple - drawings fromAuguste Mariette ed. Gaston Maspero, Le S&rapeumeMemphis,AppendedAtlas (Paris,1882) - photo of the excavations in 1851 taken from the mound partially covering theNectanebo temple.



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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 19there.26An obvious explanation for the subsequent appearance of thesarcophagus in Alexandria is therefore that it accompanied Alexander'sbody, when Philadelphusbrought it to his capitalprobablyin the seconddecade of the third century B.C.Among reputable authorities Fraserin particularhas doubted whetherPtolemy would have considered using a sarcophagus made for Necta-nebo and emblazoned with his cartouches for his Memphite tomb ofAlexander.27 However, there are several lines of argument whichsupport the opposite view:

(i) Ptolemy could hardly have made any open preparations forAlexander's tomb prior to his hijack of the catafalque in Syria,since such preparationsmight have alerted the Regent Perdiccas asto his intentions. He would therefore have been driven by circum-stances to improvise a Memphite tomb from availablematerial.(ii) Ptolemy was keen to ingratiatehimself with the native Egyptians atthe time he brought Alexander's body back to Egypt in order tobolster his position in the civil wars that were about to break out.There is a clear example of this policy at work in an inscription setup by Ptolemy and known as the Satrap Stele. In this case Ptolemyseeks to associate himself with the mysterious pseudo-pharaoh,Khabbash,28 eader of the Egyptian rebellion against the Persians inabout 338-6 B.C. Use of the sarcophagus of the preceding pharaohfor Alexander would potentially have helped to fix the associationin the minds of the native population.(iii) If a scholar such as Philippe Derchain has found it credible thatPtolemy should have spread a rumour that Nectanebo had beenAlexander's father, then it is a much smallerstep to believe Ptolemywould have used the vacant sarcophagus.(iv) There is an enormous amount of literary and archaeological evi-dence that the Ptolemies were very active in the re-use of pharaonicmaterialto embellish Alexandriaand its temples and shrines. Largenumbers of obelisks and sphinxes from Heliopolis have been foundin the harbour area.Cleopatra'sneedles areobelisks from Heliopolis,

26 Sebbenytos is a secondarypossibility, since this was the native city of Nectanebo I, the founderof the 30th dynasty.27 Fraser, (n. 4 above), Section 2 of Note 86 to Chapter 1.28 E.g. '. ..The land in its full extent which had been given by the king, the lord of the two lands,the image of Tanen, chosen by Ptah, son of the Sun, Khabbash living forever, the donation thereofhas been renewed by this great Viceroy of Egypt, Ptolemy, to the gods of Pe and Tepforever. . .'(311 B.C.); see also Alan K. Bowman, Egypt after the Pharaohs (softcover edition,London, 1986), Chapter 2, p. 22.



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20 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?which may have been broughtto Alexandriaby Cleopatra,butwere setup byAugustus.Plinyhasrecorded hatPhiladelphus sedan uninscribedobeliskquarriedby Nectanebo in a shrine to hissister-wifeArsinoe.29

These observations tronglyrefute the idea that Ptolemywould haveharbouredany aesthetic,religious,or culturalprejudicesagainstusingan emptypharaonic arcophagusor Alexander.It is possible that Ptolemy took over a tomb site preparedforNectanebo togetherwith his sarcophagus, ither at the Sarapieionorelsewhere.As we haveseen,a site associatedwith theNectanebo emplein the Sarapieion omplexhas the attraction f directlyconnecting hesarcophaguswithpreviouslyunrelated cademic peculation oncerningthe locationof the Memphite omb of Alexander.Alternatively, siteinMemphisproperremains easible. nparticularthere are some hints of an associationbetweenAlexander'sMemphitetomb andthegodAmmon.Forexample,Alexanderwore he ram'shornsof AmmononPtolemy'selephant-scalpetradrachms nd he is reportedtohaverequestedhathisbodyshouldbe taken oAmmonortheTempleof Ammon on his deathbed.3on fact an Imensthotieion r Temple ofAmmon and Thoth (SunandMoon godsrespectively)s mentionedasbeinglocated n the Hellenionor GreekQuarterof Memphis,31o thisprovidesanotherpossiblecontextfor theMemphite omb.

Leo Africanus and the Domus Alexandri MagniArethereanyrecordsof thesarcophagushatassociatet withAlexander'stomb priorto Napoleon'sinvasion of Egypt?The variouseighteenth-century ravelogues,whichmention he AttarineMosqueand tscontents,aremutedonthispoint.However, here s agroupof sixteenth-andearlyseventeenth-centuryccountsbeginningwith theDescriptionfAfricabyLeoAfricanus,whichreporta tomb of Alexandern thecity:It shouldnotbeomitted,hat n themiddleofthecityamongstheruinsmaybe seenalittlehousein theform of a chapel, n which s a tomb much honouredby theMahometans;since t is assertedhatwithin t is keptthecorpseof AlexanderheGreat,grandprophet

29 Pliny, Natural History36.14.67.30 Curtius10.5.4;Justin12.15.7.31 British Museum Catalogue, Papyrus 50; Claire Pr&aux, L'EconomieRoyale des Lagides(Brussels,1939),298-9.



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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 21andKing,asmaybe read ntheKoran.Andmany trangersomefromdistant ands oseeandvenerate histomb, eavingat thisspot greatandfrequent lms.32Leo Africanusappears o have visitedAlexandria everal imes betweenabout 1515and 1520.The Spanish ravellerMarmolvisitedAlexandriain 1546 and appearsto have plagiarizedLeo's account:most notablythey both use casa (i.e. house) for the tomb buildingin the oldestsurvivingmanuscripts.33A very similaraccount was also given byGeorgeSandysfollowinghis visit in 1610:There isyettobe seenealittleChappell:within,atombe,muchhonouredandvisitedbytheMahometans,where heybestowtheiralms;supposinghis [Alexander's] odyto lieinthatplace:Himselfe eputedagreatProphet,and nformed hereofbytheirAlcoran.34Clearly hesedescriptions rehighlyreminiscent f the smallbuildingnthe courtyard f the AttarineMosque.However, hisobvious nferencehas been obscuredby a much later legend, which located the tombbeneath he Nabi DanielMosquehalfa kilometre way.This storymaynot be any older than about 1850 when a dragoman romthe Russianembassyclaimed o have seen Alexander'sarcophagusn anold Romancistern,which lies beneathsome Arabtombs in the basement of themosque.35Extensiveexcavationsn the twentiethcenturyhavevirtuallyprovedthis taleto be apocryphal.36 evertheless,manyauthorities tillcite Leo asapossibleearlyreference o the Nabi Danieltomb.However,an importantpiece of evidence,which stronglysuggeststhat Leo's tomb of Alexanderwas indeed the Attarinesarcophagus,appearsuntil now to havebeenoverlooked.Attheexactcentreof Braun&Hogenberg's ovelymapof Alexandria37Fig.8), which wasengravedin about 1573, there is a smalldomedbuildingbeside the minaretof amosque, which is labelled Domus AlexandriMagni or 'House ofAlexander he Great'in English(Fig. 9). It is believedthat Braun &Hogenbergobtained heir nformationrom a Colognemerchantby the

32 Leo Africanus,ed. Ramusio, Descrizionedell'Africa Rome, 1550), f. 89r;Leo Africanus, trans.John Pory, ed. Dr Robert Brown, Descriptionof Africa (London, 1896), vol. iii, 8th book.3 Perrot (translatorinto French), L'Afriquede Marmol (Paris, 1677), Tom. III, liv. xi, c. 14,p. 276.34 George Sandys, Relationof a Journey begun n A.D. 1610 (London, 1617), 112.35 EvaristoBreccia,AlexandreaadAegyptum (Bergamo, 1922), 99; A. M. de Zogheb, Etudessurl'ancienneAlexandrie(Paris, 1910); this theory was first given written form by Mahmoud Bey,

Memoire sur l'antiqueAlexandrie,sesfaubourgset environsdecouverts. . (Copenhagen, 1872).36 Fraser (n. 4 above), Note 88 to Chapter 1; M. Rodziewicz, Les habitationsromainestardivesd'Alexandrie,Centre d'archeologiemediterrandenne e l'Acadimie Polonaise des Sciences (Warsaw,1984); the Nabi Daniel Mosque was built in 1823 by Mohammad Ali over some older Arabtombs.37 George Braun and Frans Hogenberg, Civitates Orbis Terrarum Cologne, 1572-1618).



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Fig. 8: Braun & Hogenberg's map of Alexandria, engraved circa 1573, based oninformation from circa 1530.

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Fig. 9: The DomusAlexandriMagni at the exact centre of Braun & Hogenberg's map.

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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 23name of Conradvon Lyskirchen.He in turn is supposedto have drawneither on older Portugueseplans or upon informationobtainedbyCharlesV's spies, who gatheredcartographic ata on southernMedi-terraneanportsfor the HolyRomanEmperor n around 1530 prepara-tory to his abortive invasions of North Africa.38Certainly the internalevidence of the map would date it to the first half of the sixteenthcentury.39 Although the topography is somewhat distorted in placesand there are a few minor errors, such as transposing the names of thePharos and the Pharillon,overallthe map is quite authentic. In particularthe DomusAlexandriMagni is correctlysituated for the AttarineMosque(cf. the Descriptionde l'Egyptemap in Fig. 1). The Nabi Daniel Mosquewas built at the foot of a hill called Kom el Dikka,which may be identifiedwith the hillock halfway across the city from the AttarineMosque in thetop left of the Braun & Hogenberg view.It is very likely that the Domus Alexandri Magni, Leo's Tomb ofAlexander and the small domed building in the courtyardof the AttarineMosque are one and the same. The traditional association of theNectanebo sarcophagus with Alexander's tomb therefore dates back atleast five centuries. It is probably much older still: in the ninth centuryIbn Abdel Hakim recorded a Mosque of Dulkarnein (i.e. Alexander40)in Alexandria41 and a century later Massoudi (943-4 A.D.) mentionedthe existence of a modest building called the 'Tomb of the Prophet andKing Eskender'.42

38 Constantin von Lyskirchenwas a Hanse merchant located in Cologne, where also Braun andHogenberg worked. He supplied views of many towns in Asia and Africa to Braun and Hogenbergincluding Alexandria.Braun&Hogenberg may have used other sources as well. According to OscarNorwich (ed. J. Stone), Norwich's Maps of Africa, an illustratedand annotatedcarto-bibliography(Norwich, Vermont, 1997), 380: 'in the Hanse merchant Constantin von Lyskirchen of Colognethe editors found a willing agent, who supplied views of the towns of India, Asia, Africa, and Persianever portrayed before.' According to Norwich, 'Lyskirchen obtained these views from themanuscript produced by an unknown Portuguese illustrator.' He goes on to say that 'apart fromthese Portuguese views, some of the African illustrations were taken from military plans concernedwith the expeditions of the Emperor Charles V in 1535 and 1541 to Tunis and Algeria.'Braun's &Hogenberg's plates subsequently passed to Jansson, so the Alexandria map was republished in hisfamous Atlas of 1619.39 It depicts Qaid Bey fortress, built in the 1480's, but shows few buildings on the Pharosisthmus, which started to be developed under the Ottomans in the late sixteenth century.40 Dulkarnein means the 'two-horned lord' in Arabic, which alludes to the representations of

Alexanderwearinga pairof ram's horns or bull's horns on the coins of his successors, especiallythetetradrachms of Lysimachos; Alexander appears in this guise in Surah 18 of the Koran.41 Fraser (n. 4 above), Section 1 of Note 86 to Chapter 1.42 Maqoudi trans. C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Les Prairies d'Or (Paris,1869), t. II, p. 259.



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The Church of St AthanasiusThere is yet one other coincidence between the history of the Somamausoleum of Alexander in Alexandria and the provenance of theNectanebo sarcophagus. The Soma is last mentioned by Herodian,43who wrote in about A.D. 240 concerning Caracalla'svisit in A.D. 215.Alexandriawas peaceful until the early 260's, so it is very likely that thebuilding survived at least until the later part of the third century, whenthe city became embroiled in three successive civil wars. In the early260's the Roman governor was acclaimed as a rival emperor by histroops in a rebellion that was bloodily extinguished following a siege ofthe fortified Bruchium quarter.44In the early 270's Aurelian subduedthe city after a rebellion by Firmus, an Alexandrian supporter ofZenobia, the Queen of Palmyra. Finally, Diocletian crushed a majorrevolt in A.D. 298 by capturingthe city after a long siege and his troopsindulged in an orgy of retribution.45Strabo states that the Soma enclosure was part of the Ptolemaic RoyalQuarter.46The Roman fortress called the Bruchium was formed whenCaracallawalled in the region of the city that had previously containedthe Royal Palaces. Consequently, Ammianus Marcellinus' statementthat Aurelian laid waste to the Bruchium47has been cited as the mostlikely explanation for the destruction of the Soma. However, the issue isvery unclear, since Strabo also says that his Royal Quarter constitutedbetween a quarter and a third of the entire city, whereas the RomanBruchium fortress was barely half that size.48Ammianus also refers to a temple of the Genius of Alexandria in apassage describing the antagonism between the PatriarchGeorgius andthe Alexandrian mob in about A.D. 361:And, among other matters, it was said that [Georgius] maliciouslyinformed Constantiusalso of this, namely, that all the edifices standing on the soil of the said city [Alexandria]had been built by its founder, Alexander, at great public cost, and ought justly to be asource of profit to the treasury.To these evil deeds he added still another, which soonafter drove him headlong to destruction. As he was returningfrom the emperor's court

43 Herodian 4.12 (and the Introduction to the Loeb edition by C. R. Whittaker).44 John Marlowe, The GoldenAge ofAlexandria(London, 1971), Chapter 10, p. 220.45 Stephen Williams, Diocletianand The RomanRecovery(New York, 1985).46 Strabo, Geography17.1.8.47 AmmianusMarcellinus2.16.15.48 The Bruchium eems to have been the areaadjoininghe easterncoastlineof the GreatHarbourhat ayoutside he medievalwalls(see Fig. 1).



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THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT? 25and passed by the splendid temple of the Genius [speciosumGenii templum],attended asusual by a large crowd, he turned his eyes straight at the temple, and said: 'How longshall this tomb [sepulcrum]stand?' On hearing this, many were struck as if by athunderbolt, and fearing that he might try to overthrow that building also, they devisedsecret plots to destroy him in whatever way they could.49D. G. Hogarth thought that this mention of a tomb of the Genius ofAlexandria in a splendid temple might well refer to the Somamausoleum.50 However, Fraser has argued that it is the AgathosDaimon that is meant and that the use of the word sepulcrumisrhetorical."5Alternatively, Christopher Haas52 has claimed that it isthe female personification of the Tyche of Alexandria that is meant.However, there appear to be explicit representations of Alexander inthe guise of the Genius of Alexandria on several Alexandrian cointypes of Hadrian,53which strengthens the view that Georgius is indeedreferring to Alexander's Mausoleum. If so, this building survived untilat least A.D. 361. Given that John Chrysostom asserted thatAlexander's tomb was 'unknown to his own people' a few decadeslater,54 the most likely occasion of the destruction of the Somamausoleum was the earthquake and tidal wave, which devastatedAlexandria in A.D. 365.55 The relevant point here is that Athanasiuswas Patriarch of Alexandria in A.D. 365, which may help to explainhow the sarcophagus ended up in a mosque on the site of a late Romanchurch dedicated to his memory.

Conclusions

The established fact that the sarcophagus was originally sculpted forNectanebo II has for nearly two centuries been assumed to discredit theAlexandrian tradition that it had once contained Alexander's remains.However, as we have seen, this fact actually seems to place thesarcophagus in the right place at the right time in a vacant condition.It also connects the sarcophagus with a previously unrelated line of

49 Ammianus Marcellinus 22.11.7.50 'Report on Prospects for Research in Alexandria',Egypt ExplorationFund 1894-5, n. 3, p. 23.51 (n. 4 above), Note 84 to Chapter 1.52 Alexandriain LateAntiquity (Baltimore, 1997), 287." A. M. Chugg, 'An UnrecognisedRepresentation f Alexander he Greaton Hadrian'sAlexandrianCoinage',TheCelatorournal15.2 (February, 001).5 Homily XXVI on thesecondepistleof St Paul theApostleto the Corinthians,c.A.D. 400.55AmmianusMarcellinus6.10.15-19;Sozomenus,Ecclesiasticalistory .2.



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26 THE SARCOPHAGUS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT?academic reasoning, which has associated the Nectanebo temple at theSarapieion with the Memphite tomb of Alexander. It is therefore moreproperly recognized as the best single reason to believe in the authen-ticityof the tradition.Furthermore,he use of the sarcophagus or theMemphite tomb provides a straightforwardexplanation as to how itfound its way to Alexandria. Even those who have doubted itsauthenticity have conceded that it is otherwise difficult to account forits presence there.In addition it is now possible to make a strong case that it is this samesarcophagus housed within its own little chapel that Leo Africanus sawduring his visits to Alexandria around 1517. This takes the traditionregarding the sarcophagus back at least five centuries and in allprobability it is far older.Starting from the premise that this tomb is a forgery, either theperpetrators were extraordinarily lucky in their choice of a pharaonicsarcophagus which really was available to Ptolemy, when he entombedAlexander at Memphis, or they were able to recognize that this was thesarcophagus made for Nectanebo. For the latterpurpose, they probablyneeded to be able to readhieroglyphics. However, the latesthieroglyphicinscriptions date from the late fourth century A.D.56 Even from asceptical stance it would therefore appear likely that the sarcophaguswas associated with Alexander within a few centuries of the disappear-ance of the Soma mausoleum.The evidence presented in this article falls short of absolute proof(as do nearly all historical arguments). Nevertheless, there appears tobe no substantive contrary evidence and the coincidences are suffi-ciently numerous and striking as to make it difficult to avoid theconclusion that this relic is in all probability the genuine sarcophagusof Alexander the Great.

56 The last known hieroglyphic inscription, on the island of Philae, is dated to August 24thA.D. 394. Presumably the closure of the temples by Theodosius following his decrees 'contrapaganos'of A.D. 391 was the immediate cause of the disappearanceof this form of writing.

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