The tomb of Alexander the Great: where is it, what is known about it and why is it being sought in Alexandria?

Alexander the Great has transcended history as one of the greatest conquerors and strategists, who managed to form an empire that covered a good part of Europe and Asia under his command. He and his armies conquered large territories of the time such as Egypt and defeated the Persian Empire. His greatest rival Darius III of Persia tried to interrupt his path face-to-face on the frontlines but was without success.

Alexander the Great was a young and brief emperor, and after his death his empire began to crumble almost immediately. Many facets of his life, great battles and conquests are well-known, but there are many unknowns surrounding his death. Firstly, the reason for his death, the most widespread version of which is that of an illness that led to his death. Another great unsolved mystery that has obsessed great historians and archaeologists to this day is where the emperor’s remains rest.

Where was the tomb of Alexander the Great?

After his death in Babylon in 323 BC, the body of Alexander the Great was prepared to be transferred to his native Macedonia. However, Ptolemy I, bodyguard, commander and friend of the emperor who accompanied him on his great conquests, stopped this trip by retaining the corpse in Egypt, a territory over which he had established himself as the new king, thus seeking to legitimize his power before the Egyptian people.

Historical sources report that the body of Alexander the Great was then transferred to Memphis, the ancient capital of pharaonic Egypt, and although it is officially unknown where the tomb was located, it is said that it could have been in the sarcophagus intended for Nectanebo II, the last Egyptian pharaoh of the XXX Dynasty.

What is known about the tomb of Alexander the Great?

After his stay in Memphis, Ptolemy II, son of Ptolemy I, had the tomb of Alexander the Great moved to Alexandria, the city founded by the emperor in reference to his own name, which has great historical and cultural importance in Egypt. Alexander was revered there as a god to whom the faithful visited and paid tribute, becoming an object of worship to the point of having his own priests.

The tomb of Alexander the Great suffered the consequences of the eventful history of Alexandria, a city hit by earthquakes and tsunamis in addition to having been the center of battles and wars, factors that, together with the passage of time, ended up destroying and burying the remains of the ancient city, leaving them lost and forgotten, including the emperor’s tomb.

Why is the emperor's tomb sought in Alexandria?

Despite the conjectures and theories about the future of the tomb, its location, possible transfers or its destruction, the most established theories are those that say that the remains of Alexander the Great remained in Alexandria, that is where the last most reliable references are obtained and why they continue to be searched for in the city.

After centuries and centuries of frustrated attempts, archaeologists and historians continue working to find the tomb of Alexander the Great. In recent years there has been some slight evidence that Alexandria remains the best place for these investigators to focus their search. Calliope Limneos-Papakosta, a Greek archaeologist who has dedicated much of her career to the search for the tomb, discovered while excavating in the heart of Alexandria, where the royal quarter of the ancient city would probably have resided, a statue of the Roman era that bore the distinctive marks of the Macedonian emperor.

These types of findings, eventual and which could be unimportant at first glance, are more than just a halo of hope for those who focus their efforts on solving one of the greatest mysteries of humanity, they are probably evidence that research is going well and, who knows, perhaps we are getting closer to discovering the tomb of Alexander the Great.