Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 BCE at thirty-two years old, ruler of the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. He was buried with a tremendous ceremony. Then, somewhere in the long collapse of antiquity, his tomb disappeared entirely.
Ancient sources tell us that his body was taken to Alexandria, Egypt, where a grand mausoleum called the Soma was built in his honor. For centuries, it was one of the most visited monuments in the world. Julius Caesar wept there, and Augustus laid a garland on the sarcophagus. The last confirmed visit was by the Roman emperor Caracalla in 215 CE. After that, silence.
What happened remains unknown. Alexandria was repeatedly ravaged by earthquakes, fires, and religious upheaval in late antiquity. Much of the ancient city now lies beneath the modern one or is submerged beneath the harbor. Over two hundred searches have been conducted since the nineteenth century. None have found it.
The leading theories place the tomb beneath a mosque in central Alexandria, at the remote Siwa Oasis, where Alexander consulted the Oracle of Amun, or quietly returned to the royal burial grounds of Macedonia. None have been proven.
For art historians, the stakes are enormous. The Soma was a major artistic monument, and whatever funerary objects it contained, armor, painted panels, and royal seals, could transform our understanding of Hellenistic art at its height.
Somewhere beneath one of the world’s most crowded modern cities, or beneath its harbor waters, the most famous man of the ancient world is still waiting to be found.
About the Author
Morgan Avery Mucha is a junior year art history student specializing in Ancient Greek art, with a focus on visual culture and material/ religious practice. She can read and write Ancient (Attic) Greek and has written for her academic blog, Art Abloom, for three years, engaging with classical art, archaeology, and historical interpretation.
Read more on the Honors Blog.
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