The grave of Alexander the Great

The Claim

One of the greatest conquerors of all time is buried with a huge amount of treasure, and no one knows where.

Alexander the Great is a name that few people haven’t heard of. He was one of the greatest conquerors of all time, and his empire one of the largest. During his days, he invaded various other nations and defeated powerful civilisations, including the Persians and Egyptians, before meeting his end.

He was born in July of 356 BC and gained the throne at the age of 20, almost immediately leading military campaigns against neighbouring countries. This is the reason why people think his grave will be filled with valuables, as not only does his status demand to be buried with his possessions, but after invading the other most powerful and rich nations on earth, he surely would have accumulated a tremendous amount of wealth.

His death was not nearly as glamorous as his life, ending on either the 10th or 11th June 323 BC, with 2 main accounts surviving of how he died. The first comes from Plutarch, a Greek biographer who claims that around 2 weeks before his death, Alexander spent a couple of nights entertaining 2 guests, Medius of Larissa and Nearchus, soon after which he developed a fever.

He was apparently unable to speak due to his sudden ill health and died around 2 weeks after spending the night with his guests. Various people have questioned this idea, though, as such slow-acting poisons would not have been available to them at that time, and would have also shown other more noticeable effects.

The second account comes from Diodorus, a Greek historian who claims that Alexander was taken ill after downing a huge bowl of unmixed wine in honour of Hercules. Over the following 11 days, he didn’t appear to show signs of disease or fever, but died anyway in considerable pain.

As for where his body is, no one who mentions the burial site after his death actually gives any clue as to where it is. There are various famous historical figures who have been recorded as visiting the site, such as Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Augustus, as well as a Roman emperor called Caligula, who supposedly stole Alexander’s breastplate to wear himself.

The body itself was recorded as being placed in a gold anthropoid sarcophagus filled with honey, which was then, in turn, placed into a large gold casket and put on display on the resting altar.

The last time the tomb was visited on record was during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, who closed the tomb to the public around 200 AD, with his son Caracalla being the last known person to visit it before all mention of the final resting place of Alexander the Great dropped from history.

The most widely believed place for the burial site is thought to be somewhere in Greece, though that isn’t really much of a clue. There was recently an ancient Greek burial site located in northern Greece that contained an Alexander era sarcophagus, but the site is thought to have been either intended for Alexander but unfinished, or abandoned after his body was laid elsewhere.