Roger Pearse

I wonder if anyone knows of a list online of all the ancient literary references to the tomb of Alexander? Or an offline article that lists them? It would be interesting to see what they amount to.

Motive was turning on the TV last night and finding a truly awful TV programme on the subject, which skirted the data to peddle some crank theory. It led me to wonder what the data was.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Roger Pearse

There is a list of sorts here, but not a very good one. Note the lack of proper references. I've started to add them, with links, in brackets.

"It was Ptolemy Philadelphus who [c. 280 BC] brought down from Memphis [to Alexandria] the corpse of Alexander." Pausanias, 2nd century AD

"Ptolemy Philopator built [in 215 BC] in the middle of the city of Alexandria a memorial building, which is now called the Sema, and he laid there all his forefathers together with his mother, and also Alexander the Macedonian."
Zenobius, 2nd century AD (Zenobius Proverbia III.94)

"About this time [30 BC] Octavian had the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great brought forth from its inner sanctum, and, after gazing on it, showed his respect by placing upon it a golden crown and strewing it with flowers; and being then asked whether he wished to see the tomb of the Ptolemies as well, he replied, 'My wish was to see a king, not corpses.'"
Suetonius, 2nd century AD. (Lives of the Caesars, Augustus, 18)

"Octavian next viewed the body of Alexander, and even touched it in such a fashion that, so it is said, a piece of the nose was broken off. Yet he went not to see the corpses of the Ptolemies, despite the keen desire of the Alexandrians to show them to him, retorting, 'I wished to see a king not dead people.'"
Dio Cassius, 3rd century AD (Roman history book 51, ch. 16, v.5).

"[In Alexandria] Ptolemy prepared a sacred precinct worthy of the glory of Alexander in size and construction; entombing him in this and honouring him with sacrifices such as are paid to demigods and with magnificent games."
Diodorus, eyewitness c. 50 BC (Diodorus Siculus, book 18, ch. 28 v. 4. The start of this page describes how Ptolemy acquired the body from Perdiccas)

"The Soma also, as it is called, is a part of the royal district. This was the walled enclosure, which contained the burial-places of the kings and that of Alexander."
Strabo, eyewitness c. 25 BC. (Geography book 17, ch. 1)

"Caligula frequently [c. AD 40] wore the dress of a triumphing general, even before his campaign, and sometimes the breast-plate of Alexander the Great, which he had taken from his sarcophagus."
Suetonius, 2nd century AD (Lives of the Caesars, Caligula. ch. 52.)

[AD 200]: "Severus inquired into everything, including things that were very carefully hidden; for he was the kind of person to leave nothing, either human or divine, uninvestigated. Accordingly, he took away from practically all the sanctuaries all the books that he could find containing any secret lore, and he sealed up the tomb of Alexander; this was in order that no one in future should either view his body or read what was mentioned in the aforesaid books."
Dio Cassius, 3rd century AD (Roman History, Book 76, ch. 13)

"As soon as Caracalla entered the city [in AD 215] with his whole army he went up to the temple, where he made a large number of sacrifices and laid quantities of incense on the altars. Then he went to the tomb of Alexander where he took off and laid upon the grave the purple cloak he was wearing and the rings of precious stones and his belts and anything else of value he was carrying."
Herodian, 3rd century AD (History, book 4, ch. 8, v. 6)

"After he had inspected the body of Alexander of Macedon, Caracalla ordered that he himself should be called 'Great' and 'Alexander', for he was led on by the lies of his flatterers to the point where, adopting the ferocious brow and neck tilted towards the left shoulder that he had noted in Alexander's countenance, he persuaded himself that his features were truly very similar."
Anonymous, 4th century AD

"After a voyage lasting three days we arrived at Alexandria. I entered by the Sun Gate, as it is called, and was instantly struck by the splendid beauty of the city, which filled my eyes with delight. From the Sun Gate to the Moon Gate – these are the guardian divinities of the entrances – led a straight double row of columns, about the middle of which lies the open part of the town, and in it so many streets that walking in them you would fancy yourself abroad while still at home. Going a few stades further [1 stade = 165m], I came to the place called after Alexander, where I saw a second town; the splendour of this was cut into squares, for there was a row of columns intersected by another as long at right angles."
Achilles Tatius, circa 3rd century AD

"Who could be the friend of such as these? When they behave like this for money's sake, would they keep their hands off temple offerings or tombs? If they were travelling with some companion who had a gold piece, would they not kill him and rob him of it, if they had the chance. And this evil, King, is universal, whether you mention Paltus or Alexandria where the corpse of Alexander is displayed, whether Balaneae or our own city of Antioch. They may differ in size, but the same ailment afflicts them all."
Libanius, c. AD 390

"For, tell me, where is the tomb of Alexander? Show it me and tell me the day on which he died... his tomb even his own people know not."
John Chrysostom, c. AD 400 (Homilies on 2 Corinthians, homily 26, ch. 5)

Roger Pearse

Note 48 on the word 'sema' in the Loeb Strabo gives us this (thanks to Bill Thayer):

48 i.e. "Tomb." However, the MSS. (see critical note) read Soma, i.e. "Body." And so does the Greek version of the Pseudo-Callisthenes (C. Müller, Didot Edition, Scriptores Rerum Alexandri Magni III, 3.34): "And Ptolemy made a tomb in the holy place called 'Body of Alexander,' and there he laid the body, or remains, of Alexander"; but the Syrian version (Alexander the Great, trans. by E. A. W. Budge, p142) reads: "and they call that place 'The tomb of Alexander' unto this day." But more important is the statement of Zenobius (Proverbia III.94): "Ptolemy (Philopator) built in the middle of the city a mnema (μνῆμα οἰκοδομήσας), which is now called the Sema, and he laid there all his forefathers together with his mother, and also Alexander the Macedonian."

Roger Pearse

Another link, and a much better one:

http://www.greece.org/alexandria/tomb2/sources.htm

mountainman

Dear Roger,

The book The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great (or via: amazon.co.uk) by Andrew Chugg, ONLINE at google books at page 122 states that we have two sources:

1) an older one by Ammianus, and
2) a more recently gleaned statement from Libanius, Oration 49, 11-12.

Best wishes,


Pete

Pataphysician

Interesting topic Roger, there are so many bad "history" shows on tv, I just can't stand watching them for any length of time.

I found the Suetonius quote on Caligula interesting, though kind of off topic. It reminded me of something I read in Josephus, so I looked it up.

Antiquities of the Jews 12.354
"About this time it was that king Antiochus, as he was going over the upper countries, heard that there was a very rich city in Persia, called Elymais; and therein a very rich temple of Diana, and that it was full of all sorts of donations dedicated to it; as also weapons and breastplates, which, upon inquiry, he found had been left there by Alexander, the son of Philip, king of Macedonia. And being incited by these motives, he went in haste to Elymais, and assaulted it, and besieged it. But as those that were in it were not terrified at his assault, nor at his siege, but opposed him very courageously, he was beaten off his hopes; for they drove him away from the city, and went out and pursued after him, insomuch that he fled away as far as Babylon, and lost a great many of his army. And when he was grieving for this disappointment, some persons told him of the defeat of his commanders whom he had left behind him to fight against Judea, and what strength the Jews had already gotten. When this concern about these affairs was added to the former, he was confounded, and by the anxiety he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it lasted a great while, and as his pains increased upon him, so he at length perceived he should die in a little time; so he called his friends to him, and told them that his distemper was severe upon him; and confessed withal, that this calamity was sent upon him for the miseries he had brought upon the Jewish nation, while he plundered their temple, and contemned their God; and when he had said this, he gave up the ghost. Whence one may wonder at Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though otherwise a good man, yet saith that "Antiochus died because he had a purpose to plunder the temple of Diana in Persia;" for the purposing to do a thing, but not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. But if Polybius could think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that account, it is much more probable that this king died on account of his sacrilegious plundering of the temple at Jerusalem. But we will not contend about this matter with those who may think that the cause assigned by this Polybius of Megalopolis is nearer the truth than that assigned by us."

So this makes me wonder if there is any truth at all to the Suetonius story about Caligula plundering the sarcophagus for the breastplate. Or if this story was added in to explain his demise, and blacken his name. It would seem that if attempting to steal a breastplate of Alexander was believed enough in the ancient world to get your army destroyed and yourself killed, that Caligula wouldn't have done something even worse. It's one thing to steal Alexander's breastplate when there is no horrible precedent, but with this precedent it seems unlikely even a horrible narcissist would do it.

Since I don't think anyone but Suetonius repeats this story, I think it is probably but a story.

Roger Pearse

Doesn't this confuse different things? Antiochus III looted the temple because he needed money. The armour left there wasn't Alexander's personal property. Caligula took an item from the mummy belonging to Alexander personally.

Not sure about your last point. If we look at the list of items, how many of them should we ignore on the basis that they are the only item to tell us this? Surely it's a very unsafe way to treat data? We can only ignore a piece of data if we have others that contradict it, I think.

Your feelings about bad history programmes are mine. I can't watch them. I keep asking myself "never mind your voice-to-camera, your light-relief episode, etc etc, what are the raw facts on this matter"?

Roger Pearse

Another reference: Quintus Curtius, book 10, ch. 10, v. 20.

20 Ceterum corpus eius a Ptolemaeo, cui Aegyptus cesserat, Memphim et inde paucis post annis Alexandriam translatum est omnisque memoriae ac nomini honos habitus.

20. Finally his body was taken by Ptolemy, to whom Egypt had surrendered, to Memphis and then a few years later to Alexandria, and ...