WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BODY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT

After Alexander’s death in Babylon in 323 AC (in confuse circumstances), his body was embalmed and a funeral procession organised to take his remains back to Macedon. Ptolemy I, one of his generals, diverted the retinue to Egypt in order to use the body to legitimize his rule over his brand new kingdom.

The remains went initially to Memphis, the old Egyptian capital, although the later Ptolemy II moved them to Alexandria. There he was worshipped as a deity; with a cult being built around his figure.

Ptolemy IV built a grand mausoleum for the mummy of Alexander, called “Sema” or “Soma”, and moved it there alongside his ancestors bodies. There he was visited by illustrious personalities of the roman times: Julius Cesar, Augustus, etc…(Caligula stole the gold cuirass from the body, while a more respectful Caracalla deposited there his belt and ring, as a tribute).

A succession of wars, uprisings, pillaging, natural disasters, probably destroyed the place or buried it beneath the sands of time.

Hope it quenched your thirst for knowledge. Had a little more things to write down but I am pretty tired at the moment. Maybe I will update later.

Cheers!

A little extra: The picture I picked for the post, an
oleo from François Schommer, depicts emperor Augustus when he visited Alexander’s tomb, where he left a golden crown as a tribute. It is said that he broke the mummy’s nose in the process, acording to Dio Cassius. When his companions told him to visit the tombs of the Ptolemy’s, he replied: <<I have come to see a king, not corpses>>.

Bibliography: The merits go to the people working in National Geographic’s History writing and research team. I merely made a lazy translation (I read the Spanish version) of a portion of the content to answer this inquiry.