Roxanne

[Ian]

SuzanneThanks for your information and comments. A number of sources say that the body was useful to Ptolemy and after all, he went to some trouble to get it, so it must have been important. So once he had it in Egypt, how did he use it ? Presumably if the body was so important, then Ptolemy would have wanted the people of Egypt to know that he had it. In the time between Ptolemy going to Egypt and then hijacking the cortege, there would not have been time to build a splendid mausoleum a la Deir El Bahari for example. And yet, I can't see Ptolemy being content with housing Alexander in some mean little hurriedly made tomb, can you ? In Ptolemy I think we have a shrewd, calculating man who did things for specific reasons and planned well ahead. So what did he do with the body to show the people that he had it ?Do you also go along with the view that Ptolemy Soter put the body in a tomb in Memphis and that Ptolemy Philadelphus was the one who moved it to Alexandria ? I'm sure I've read some variations on this....one such variation being that Ptolemy Soter never took the body to Memphis but that it went straight to Alexandria and another variation being that Ptolemy Soter took the body first to Memphis and then moved it to Alexandria himself. If it did go to Memphis first, why do you think it was subsequently moved to Alexandria ? A couple of years ago I was in Saqqara. I saw the Serapeum and the Step Pyramid but I wasn't shown any tomb or temple dedicated to Alexander. But my trip was a hurried one and maybe there is something there. I'm sure if there is then someone reading this will put me right.I look forward to hearing your views.Ian

[ian]

SusanIn a recent posting I called you 'Suzanne' instead of 'Susan'. Sorry about that.Ian

[marcus]

I don't know about Saqqara, only ever having seen it from a distance (just close enough to see the pyramids on the horizon). There is, however, a temple to Alexander that was built within the complex at Luxor, and I believe there are a number of other temples to Alexander in various, rather inaccessible parts of Egypt.But as far as the tomb is concerned, I'm not aware that there is any evidence of a tomb outside Alexandria... and, of course, no evidence of the tomb within Alexandria, either. However, as Memphis has all but disappeared, if he was buried there for even a little while I would be surprised if there were anything left to discover.All the bestMarcus

[susan]

Alexandria was the obvious place once it was built - but it was only a few years old at Alexander's death, and was probably a large-scale building site for years.Memphis was a traditional place for the pharaohs to be buried, and the Egyptians were keen on tradition. So Memphis would be the obvious place - the Egyptians probably weren't very interested in Alexandria anyway, and burying him there would initially seem to reinforce his foreignness, which is what Ptolemy didn't want.Another factor might be that it would be just about possible for one of Ptolemy's rivals to launch a daring sea-attack on Alexandria and seize the body, if there was any political mileage in it, but they couldn't really do the same in Memphis.I really don't know enough about the reign of Ptolemy I to know where his kingdom was based (Memphis or Alexandria ) - I think that by the time of Ptolemy II they had a strong enough hold on the country to base themselves in Alexandria, which would have been much more congenial.RegardsSusan