Alexander the Great’s Lost Mummy: An Archeo-Anthropological Perspective and Review

Alexander the Great was one of the greatest characters known in history. Born in 356 BCE in Pella, the son of King Philip II of Macedonia, he fought alongside his father in the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE. After becoming king at the age of only 20, he first ruthlessly quelled rebellions within Greece and then in the spring of 334 BCE brought war to Persia, conquering it as he also defeated the entire ancient Near East up to the Indus River. After he died in 323 BCE, a massive cult of Alexander was initiated by his successors who justified their rule based on personal closeness to Alexander. Among Hellenistic rulers, he became the model of Basileus (imitatio Alexandri) for others to refer to. Pyrrhus (318–272 BCE), monarch of Epirus, was the first to be inspired by the model of Alexander, by propagating his heroic lineage from Achilles,1 1 Nenci 1992: 173–186. as Alexander had previously done with Dionysus. A particularly important role was attributed to Ptolemaic Egypt as the city of Alexandria ad Aegyptum, founded by Alexander himself; for nearly seven centuries it was the home of his mummified body. Visiting his tomb in Alexandria was common for Roman military leaders. In Islamic literature, Alexander - appears as “al-Iskandar” and is also mentioned in the Quran (Sura 18) as Ḏū l Qarnain ذو القن نين (“he of the two horns”), because of his portrait with ram horns like Zeus Ammon. In fact, tradition says that in the oracle temple of Siwah in the Libyan desert, Alexander had been acknowledged as the son of this god.2