Tomb of Alexander the Great at Siwa ?

This document collects together interesting snippets of information, about this purported "find" arranged in most recent first order. To return to the Egyptology Home Page click here.

The May/June 1995 issue of Archaeology carried an article by Bob Bianchi debunking the whole story as a well-orchestrated political move by Souvaltzi to fulfill a "prophecy" that, if a Greek secured Alexander's body, Greece would no longer be forced to share the designation of their province of Macedonia with Skopje, a province of the former Yugoslavia! (courtesy Bill Walsh).
13 March 95: Two further postings to the Chicago list. Click here to see them.

10 Feb 95: the following was posted to the Chicago list:

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Siwa inscription naming Alexander and poison is a fraud. It does not exist. The Greek delegates from the Ministry of Culture saw a dedicatory inscription written on an architrave of a building from the reign of Trajan. It named Artemidoros, eparch of Egypt. There was no Alexander and no tomb.

Olga Palagia (oladop@leon.nrcps.ariadne-t.gr)

07/02/95: The plot thickens. Ogden Goelet posted this cautionary article from the New York Times as to whether the tomb is really what people say it is.

06/02/95: Charles E. Jones posted this to the Chicago list:

Liana Souvaltzi reported at the 6th International Congress of Egyptology in Turin in 1991 on a Macedonian tomb in Siwa oasis:

"Discovering a Macedonian Tomb in Siwa Oasis" In: Curto, Silvio et al., [Editors], Sesto Congresso Internazionale di Egittologia: Atti, Volume II (1993), pages 511-514.

Is this the same tomb we're talking about this week?

(end Jones)

Nicole B. Hansen posted the following interesting quote to the Chicago list:

In Cassandra Vivian's 1990 book _Islands of the Blest: A Guide to the Oases and Western Desert of Egypt_, she describes the area where the tomb was found (Maraqi), thus:

"Little remains of the Doric Temple described by travelers in the nineteenth century as a perfect Doric structure. The temple is presently being excavated by a Greek Mission that hopes to find information about Alexander the Great in the rubble. The hypothesis is that Alexander is buried in Siwa, and the temple, being the only existing Greek structure, will offer clues to support the theory. To date no inscriptions or artifacts have been found."-p.283

5 years ago, before finding anything, she believed they would find the tomb! We all know how Schliemann wanted to find Troy...

(end Hansen).

03/02/95: The fullest information so far comes from an AP feature posted on the net, which may be the same as a New York Times article spotted on 2/2/95. Click here to see this.

Erhart Graefe has sent an interesting article on the subject from the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung (in German).

30/1/95: Bruce Williams posted to the Chicago list a Reuter report about a recent intriguing find at Siwa. This was followed by another report posted by Chuck Jones on 1/2/95. Click here to see these reports.

Anton Koornhof (antonij@asiaonline.net) tells me that the excavation is by a team of Greek archaeologists under Liana Souvaltzi. The excavations have apparently been put on hold for a month as Ramadan has started.