Liana Souvaltzi

[Arif]

Whatever happened to Liana Souvaltzi & her search for ATG's tomb at Siwah ? Her search was discredited as far as i remember.

[susan]

I think they decided that her translations were optimistic at best , and that it was the grave of a Roman. I'm sending an email to the Director of Tourism at Siwah to ask, but it may be some time before I get a reply !
Susan

[aen]

Arif,I had a look at the site she was excavating in a tiny little village out to the west of Siwah, called Miraqi. Essentially there were two areas of interest: the remnants of a temple (undoubtedly Hellenic in origin); and the covered workshop area Liana had set up. At the time, the dig had been brought to a halt so everything was under lock and key. However, with a little effort . . . After nosing around, I arrived at the conclusion that if any Macdonian had been interred all the way down there, it was most likely the individual in question was one of Ptolemy's officials. Perhaps Alexander appointed someone to the area before his departure from Egypt (Miraqi and the surrounding area was apparently very fertile at that time), but for various reasons, I doubt it.As for Liana; I think she overplayed her cards when she made that big announcement, and a lot of Egyptian officials who enthusiastically went along with her ended up with much egg on face. Consequently they weren't exactly tripping over themselves to get her to come back. Nor was her cause helped by the rumours she had employed psychics to direct her to this site in the first place.When I was there the dig had been shut down for some months, and the only person keen to see it reopen was a firey belligerent local, who concluded our conversation by brandishing a rifle around the place and requesting that I and my pals remove ourselves post haste. Sometimes you just have to do what the man says.Tirra Lirra.

[jan]

:-)Nothing worse than a bad psychic!:-)