ancient accounts say that for more than
400 years Alexander the Great’s body was
preserved and revered in a great tomb in
the Egyptian city that he founded
Alexandria but at the end of the 4th
century AD a series of religious
revolutions rocked Egypt first the
Christian faith dominated then Islam the
cult of Alexander was driven underground
his great tomb was forgotten or torn
down leaving no clue as to the
whereabouts of his body I think one of
the real possibilities was that he was
protected by people who still believed
in the old religion the old greco-roman
pagan religion many scholars have come
to believe that the time came when
Alexander’s body was transported to a
place of safety dr. Zahi Hawass has
followed the trail to the Bahia Oasis
200 miles from Alexandria here in 1996 a
donkey belonging to a member of his team
literally stumbled upon one of the
greatest finds in Egyptology excavations
soon revealed this area to be a cemetery
some of the burials so rich that this
place is now known as the valley of the
golden mummies
different races different traditions
something drew a huge range of people
here in vast numbers they were Roman
they were Greek they were Bedouin there
were Egyptians they lived together at
Bahia oasis and they were buried
together in this great golden symmetry
what better place to hide the pagan Lord
than amongst us huge burial field of
thousands of others and anonymously so
what drew people to this remote site the
answer may lie in this temple the oldest
structure on the site and though its
construction appears humble its walls
bear the image of Antiquities greatest
warrior the self-proclaimed Pharaoh and
God Alexander this is Alexander the
great standing and holding some offering
here in his hand and we have here Amman
on the other side
he claimed a moon as his father the
temple had become a center away from the
great cities of Egypt for the cult that
believed in Alexander’s divine status
and swype the location of develop the
golden mammoth was in front of the
temple because the people will come an
entrance at the temple and give offering
and if you look you can see the amount
of pottery that exists and this can give
us an idea that the cult of Alexander
the Great continues for a long time
there is evidence to suggest that this
site was a place of worship until 600 AD
is it possible that people were still
worshipping Alexander as a God when
Egypt became Christian there’s no church
in Berea they may well have been using
Alexander’s age-old pagan temple as a
kind of meeting place a congregation
place this suggests that the early Greek
Christians had out strange relationship
with Alexander the Great there are many
more mummies perhaps thousands
unexamined undiscovered beneath this
landscape it’s impossible to rule out
the idea that Alexander’s body lies
among them the only thing that I’m sure
of that the people who are buried here
they wanted to be near Alexander the
Great the tomb of Alexander may never be
found
but what has become clear is that he had
more than one burial it’s somehow
fitting for a man who held so many
titles played so many roles and had so
much power
buried first in Memphis
probably in the Saqqara necropolis it
was certain that he was then transported
to lie in the north in his Alexandrian –
he lay at the heart of the ancient world
it seems possible that even after the
great empires fell his cult endured and
his body remained in secret as an object
of worship until that body is found
people will continue to search for it I
think would be spectacular to be able to
find the man who changed the face of
history what he did for the world was
just absolutely extraordinary
perhaps the tomb hunters are inching
closer to their prize the search
continues unabated 22 centuries after
his death Alexander the Great
still wields irresistible power
400 years Alexander the Great’s body was
preserved and revered in a great tomb in
the Egyptian city that he founded
Alexandria but at the end of the 4th
century AD a series of religious
revolutions rocked Egypt first the
Christian faith dominated then Islam the
cult of Alexander was driven underground
his great tomb was forgotten or torn
down leaving no clue as to the
whereabouts of his body I think one of
the real possibilities was that he was
protected by people who still believed
in the old religion the old greco-roman
pagan religion many scholars have come
to believe that the time came when
Alexander’s body was transported to a
place of safety dr. Zahi Hawass has
followed the trail to the Bahia Oasis
200 miles from Alexandria here in 1996 a
donkey belonging to a member of his team
literally stumbled upon one of the
greatest finds in Egyptology excavations
soon revealed this area to be a cemetery
some of the burials so rich that this
place is now known as the valley of the
golden mummies
different races different traditions
something drew a huge range of people
here in vast numbers they were Roman
they were Greek they were Bedouin there
were Egyptians they lived together at
Bahia oasis and they were buried
together in this great golden symmetry
what better place to hide the pagan Lord
than amongst us huge burial field of
thousands of others and anonymously so
what drew people to this remote site the
answer may lie in this temple the oldest
structure on the site and though its
construction appears humble its walls
bear the image of Antiquities greatest
warrior the self-proclaimed Pharaoh and
God Alexander this is Alexander the
great standing and holding some offering
here in his hand and we have here Amman
on the other side
he claimed a moon as his father the
temple had become a center away from the
great cities of Egypt for the cult that
believed in Alexander’s divine status
and swype the location of develop the
golden mammoth was in front of the
temple because the people will come an
entrance at the temple and give offering
and if you look you can see the amount
of pottery that exists and this can give
us an idea that the cult of Alexander
the Great continues for a long time
there is evidence to suggest that this
site was a place of worship until 600 AD
is it possible that people were still
worshipping Alexander as a God when
Egypt became Christian there’s no church
in Berea they may well have been using
Alexander’s age-old pagan temple as a
kind of meeting place a congregation
place this suggests that the early Greek
Christians had out strange relationship
with Alexander the Great there are many
more mummies perhaps thousands
unexamined undiscovered beneath this
landscape it’s impossible to rule out
the idea that Alexander’s body lies
among them the only thing that I’m sure
of that the people who are buried here
they wanted to be near Alexander the
Great the tomb of Alexander may never be
found
but what has become clear is that he had
more than one burial it’s somehow
fitting for a man who held so many
titles played so many roles and had so
much power
buried first in Memphis
probably in the Saqqara necropolis it
was certain that he was then transported
to lie in the north in his Alexandrian –
he lay at the heart of the ancient world
it seems possible that even after the
great empires fell his cult endured and
his body remained in secret as an object
of worship until that body is found
people will continue to search for it I
think would be spectacular to be able to
find the man who changed the face of
history what he did for the world was
just absolutely extraordinary
perhaps the tomb hunters are inching
closer to their prize the search
continues unabated 22 centuries after
his death Alexander the Great
still wields irresistible power
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