1 00:00:01,917 --> 00:00:03,208 (intense music) 2 00:00:03,208 --> 00:00:05,375 - A century's old mystery 3 00:00:05,375 --> 00:00:08,000 surrounding the most celebrated warrior king in history, 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,208 Alexander the Great. 5 00:00:10,208 --> 00:00:12,917 - Alexander set off on an audacious campaign 6 00:00:12,917 --> 00:00:15,750 to conquer what is the known world. 7 00:00:15,750 --> 00:00:18,375 His army stormed east through Turkey, 8 00:00:18,375 --> 00:00:21,917 Iran, Iraq, and down into India. 9 00:00:21,917 --> 00:00:24,333 - Alexander dies at the age of 32, 10 00:00:24,333 --> 00:00:26,417 presumably buried in Alexandria, 11 00:00:26,417 --> 00:00:28,625 the city that bears his name. 12 00:00:28,625 --> 00:00:31,167 - His mummy is visited by a virtual who's who 13 00:00:31,167 --> 00:00:32,417 of ancient history. 14 00:00:32,875 --> 00:00:36,583 - But then his remains suddenly disappear without a trace. 15 00:00:37,292 --> 00:00:39,292 - We don't know where he went, 16 00:00:39,292 --> 00:00:41,583 and he's lost to time forever. 17 00:00:41,583 --> 00:00:43,375 - It's as if one of the greatest treasures 18 00:00:43,375 --> 00:00:46,417 of the ancient world vanished into thin air. 19 00:00:46,417 --> 00:00:48,958 - Now, we explore the top theories 20 00:00:48,958 --> 00:00:52,208 surrounding the disappearance of the conqueror's remains. 21 00:00:52,208 --> 00:00:54,250 - Boats topple over on their sides 22 00:00:54,250 --> 00:00:56,708 and fish are kind of flopping around, 23 00:00:56,708 --> 00:00:59,625 and then all of a sudden this huge wave 24 00:00:59,625 --> 00:01:00,792 wipes everything out. 25 00:01:00,792 --> 00:01:03,875 - [Hugo] Alexandria is a hotbed of religious upheaval, 26 00:01:03,875 --> 00:01:05,708 change, violence. 27 00:01:05,708 --> 00:01:09,542 - Now the Christians are gonna do to the pagans 28 00:01:09,542 --> 00:01:12,375 what the pagans have been doing to them. 29 00:01:12,375 --> 00:01:13,625 - These Venetian merchants, 30 00:01:13,625 --> 00:01:17,500 they literally hijack this sarcophagus. 31 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:19,708 - It's like something out of a thriller. 32 00:01:19,708 --> 00:01:24,208 - What happened to the mummy of Alexander the Great? 33 00:01:24,208 --> 00:01:27,292 (suspenseful music) 34 00:01:37,833 --> 00:01:39,750 (dramatic music) 35 00:01:39,750 --> 00:01:43,542 Ancient Babylon, modern-day Iraq. 36 00:01:43,542 --> 00:01:48,583 The year is 323 BCE, and Alexander the Great is sick. 37 00:01:49,708 --> 00:01:52,208 Wracked by pain and barely able to speak, 38 00:01:52,208 --> 00:01:54,667 he lingers for two weeks. 39 00:01:54,667 --> 00:01:57,750 As his generals wonder who will inherit his empire, 40 00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:02,375 he utters his final words, "To the strongest." 41 00:02:02,375 --> 00:02:07,417 On June 11th, 323 BCE, Alexander takes his last breath. 42 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,875 The greatest conqueror the world has ever known is gone. 43 00:02:14,167 --> 00:02:16,042 - Alexander the Great dies 44 00:02:16,042 --> 00:02:17,875 and his death is going to send 45 00:02:17,875 --> 00:02:19,167 shockwaves around the world. 46 00:02:19,375 --> 00:02:21,042 In life, he had been this 47 00:02:21,042 --> 00:02:22,875 invincible military conqueror 48 00:02:22,875 --> 00:02:24,125 who had taken over 49 00:02:24,125 --> 00:02:25,625 so much of the world. 50 00:02:25,625 --> 00:02:28,833 He was also viewed by so many people of the time 51 00:02:28,833 --> 00:02:31,208 as a literal deity. 52 00:02:31,208 --> 00:02:33,292 - [Laurence] Alexander is born in Macedonia, 53 00:02:33,292 --> 00:02:35,917 a small kingdom in today's northern Greece. 54 00:02:35,917 --> 00:02:38,375 He is the son of King Philip II. 55 00:02:39,458 --> 00:02:42,667 - Alexander's father is a formidable general, 56 00:02:42,667 --> 00:02:43,875 who manages to conquer 57 00:02:43,875 --> 00:02:45,333 a great deal of territories. 58 00:02:45,333 --> 00:02:48,708 So Alexander already has a great deal of power there. 59 00:02:48,708 --> 00:02:52,375 - Alexander becomes king at 20 years old. 60 00:02:52,375 --> 00:02:55,292 Two years later, he has ridden off into battle 61 00:02:55,292 --> 00:02:58,917 with the ambition of conquering the entire world. 62 00:02:58,917 --> 00:03:01,667 His armies topple the Persian Empire 63 00:03:01,667 --> 00:03:04,583 that had been the bane of the Greek states for so long. 64 00:03:04,583 --> 00:03:05,750 He conquers Egypt. 65 00:03:05,750 --> 00:03:08,167 He marches his armies all the way to India. 66 00:03:09,375 --> 00:03:11,917 - And he's gained many titles along the way. 67 00:03:11,917 --> 00:03:13,625 He became the grand 68 00:03:13,625 --> 00:03:14,875 pharaoh of Egypt. 69 00:03:14,875 --> 00:03:16,500 He became the emperor of Greece. 70 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:19,083 He became the king of Persia. 71 00:03:19,083 --> 00:03:22,333 And he did it all in 10 years. 72 00:03:22,333 --> 00:03:23,625 (horse whinnies) 73 00:03:23,625 --> 00:03:25,792 - Alexander never loses a major battle. 74 00:03:25,792 --> 00:03:27,792 Suddenly though, he dies 75 00:03:27,792 --> 00:03:31,417 when he's visiting Babylonia of some mysterious ailment. 76 00:03:31,417 --> 00:03:33,208 It might be typhoid, 77 00:03:33,208 --> 00:03:35,542 it might have been a neurological disease. 78 00:03:35,542 --> 00:03:37,167 We don't know. 79 00:03:37,167 --> 00:03:39,375 - [Laurence] In keeping with Egyptian tradition, 80 00:03:39,375 --> 00:03:42,208 Alexander's body is then mummified. 81 00:03:42,208 --> 00:03:44,333 - As ruler of ancient Egypt, 82 00:03:44,333 --> 00:03:45,625 he is a deity in 83 00:03:45,625 --> 00:03:47,500 the ancient Egyptian pantheon. 84 00:03:47,500 --> 00:03:50,875 So they dry him out with salt, 85 00:03:50,875 --> 00:03:53,042 they remove his internal organs, 86 00:03:53,042 --> 00:03:57,542 they add spices and aromatic resins, 87 00:03:57,542 --> 00:04:01,125 and they make him smell like a god. 88 00:04:01,125 --> 00:04:03,208 He is placed in a golden sarcophagus 89 00:04:03,208 --> 00:04:06,375 and then he's put inside a funerary bier. 90 00:04:06,375 --> 00:04:08,875 This bier, or this funerary cart, 91 00:04:08,875 --> 00:04:13,125 is designed like an ostentatious temple. 92 00:04:13,125 --> 00:04:14,875 - The entire structure is so heavy 93 00:04:14,875 --> 00:04:17,875 it has to be pulled by a fleet of mules 94 00:04:17,875 --> 00:04:20,167 who are also beautifully adorned 95 00:04:20,167 --> 00:04:22,833 in precious cloths and jewelry. 96 00:04:24,042 --> 00:04:25,667 - [Laurence] Two years after his death, 97 00:04:25,667 --> 00:04:27,917 Alexander the Great's funeral procession 98 00:04:27,917 --> 00:04:31,958 finally leaves through the famous gates of Babylon. 99 00:04:31,958 --> 00:04:33,917 - This carriage is taken 100 00:04:33,917 --> 00:04:35,917 on an amazing procession 101 00:04:35,917 --> 00:04:38,125 all the way westward, presumably 102 00:04:38,125 --> 00:04:39,542 to Greece, to Macedon, 103 00:04:39,542 --> 00:04:41,125 where he'd be interred with 104 00:04:41,125 --> 00:04:42,542 the rest of the royal family, 105 00:04:42,542 --> 00:04:44,375 including his father, Philip II. 106 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:46,458 And as it goes westward, 107 00:04:46,458 --> 00:04:48,208 it's going through the cities 108 00:04:48,208 --> 00:04:50,833 of Alexander's new empire 109 00:04:50,833 --> 00:04:54,292 and crowds are coming out to see it, we are told, 110 00:04:54,292 --> 00:04:56,875 lining up, wishing it well. 111 00:04:56,875 --> 00:04:58,458 It must have been amazing. 112 00:04:59,542 --> 00:05:02,708 - Of course, when Alexander passes, 113 00:05:02,708 --> 00:05:06,042 he's not really counting on dying so early, 114 00:05:06,042 --> 00:05:08,292 so there's a power vacuum 115 00:05:08,292 --> 00:05:12,458 and all of his generals want to grab as much land 116 00:05:12,458 --> 00:05:15,125 and as much legitimacy as possible. 117 00:05:15,792 --> 00:05:19,833 - At some point, as it is passing through Syria, 118 00:05:19,833 --> 00:05:24,875 one of the generals, Ptolemy I, hijacks Alexander's body 119 00:05:24,875 --> 00:05:26,125 and takes it back 120 00:05:26,125 --> 00:05:27,583 with him to Egypt 121 00:05:27,583 --> 00:05:30,333 where he sets it up in a royal city called Memphis. 122 00:05:30,333 --> 00:05:31,708 (dramatic music) 123 00:05:31,708 --> 00:05:33,667 Ptolemy wants Alexander's body 124 00:05:33,667 --> 00:05:37,208 because he feels it shores up his own power in Egypt, 125 00:05:37,875 --> 00:05:40,292 which he's now kind of have taken over for himself 126 00:05:40,292 --> 00:05:43,000 since Alexander's now dead. 127 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,292 (intense music) 128 00:05:44,292 --> 00:05:46,083 - Alexander's mummy remains at Memphis 129 00:05:46,083 --> 00:05:47,500 for an unknown amount of time, 130 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:49,250 perhaps several decades. 131 00:05:49,250 --> 00:05:52,000 Finally, it's moved to Alexandria, 132 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,292 which was the city that Alexander himself founded 133 00:05:55,292 --> 00:05:58,583 precisely as a city on the Nile River, 134 00:05:58,583 --> 00:06:01,167 right where it meets the Mediterranean Sea. 135 00:06:01,167 --> 00:06:02,542 - We know about the 136 00:06:02,542 --> 00:06:04,333 Library of Alexandria, 137 00:06:04,333 --> 00:06:07,750 essentially the world's first university. 138 00:06:07,750 --> 00:06:09,708 It wasn't just a collection of books, 139 00:06:09,708 --> 00:06:11,542 this is where all the scholars came. 140 00:06:11,542 --> 00:06:16,542 So this became the intellectual center of the world. 141 00:06:16,542 --> 00:06:20,167 And how do you really drive that idea home? 142 00:06:20,167 --> 00:06:22,375 You bring Alexander's body 143 00:06:22,375 --> 00:06:25,167 and you put it in this beautiful mausoleum. 144 00:06:25,167 --> 00:06:27,000 And now Ptolemy can claim, 145 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:30,958 "I am the true successor to Alexander the Great. 146 00:06:30,958 --> 00:06:32,500 Here's his shrine. 147 00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:34,250 Here's the library. 148 00:06:34,250 --> 00:06:37,875 Alexandria, the new center of the world." 149 00:06:37,875 --> 00:06:40,292 - Historical accounts will say that Alexander's body 150 00:06:40,292 --> 00:06:44,667 remains in Alexandria's Royal Quarter for hundreds of years. 151 00:06:45,042 --> 00:06:46,708 The Greek historian, Strabo, 152 00:06:46,708 --> 00:06:50,542 who's writing 300 years after Alexander's death 153 00:06:50,542 --> 00:06:52,583 will speak about visiting the tomb. 154 00:06:52,583 --> 00:06:54,542 - In the ancient world, 155 00:06:54,542 --> 00:06:58,917 anybody who is anybody goes to visit Alexander's tomb. 156 00:06:58,917 --> 00:07:02,208 They want to really pay homage to this great man 157 00:07:02,208 --> 00:07:05,667 and they want to link their own power bases to him. 158 00:07:06,708 --> 00:07:10,292 - We have eyewitness evidence from Cleopatra, 159 00:07:10,292 --> 00:07:13,125 Julius Caesar, Mark Antony. 160 00:07:13,125 --> 00:07:14,875 Seems the whole world traveled 161 00:07:14,875 --> 00:07:17,458 to go visit Alexander the Great's tomb there. 162 00:07:17,458 --> 00:07:19,750 It was like a festival every time. 163 00:07:19,750 --> 00:07:21,833 - [Laurence] But late in the fourth century, 164 00:07:21,833 --> 00:07:24,958 all the historical writings about Alexander's tomb 165 00:07:24,958 --> 00:07:26,625 stop abruptly. 166 00:07:26,625 --> 00:07:28,958 - The last known reference to Alexander's body 167 00:07:28,958 --> 00:07:32,958 being in Alexandria comes from about 700 years 168 00:07:32,958 --> 00:07:34,750 after Alexander's death. 169 00:07:34,750 --> 00:07:36,750 The tomb is mentioned in a letter 170 00:07:36,750 --> 00:07:39,333 by the Roman teacher and traveler, Libanius, 171 00:07:39,333 --> 00:07:41,417 who will speak of Alexandria, 172 00:07:41,417 --> 00:07:44,750 where the tomb of Alexander is to be seen. 173 00:07:44,750 --> 00:07:47,708 - But then just 20 years later, 174 00:07:47,708 --> 00:07:50,583 one of the early leaders of the Christian Church, 175 00:07:50,583 --> 00:07:52,375 John Chrysostom, was 176 00:07:52,375 --> 00:07:55,042 specifically going to Alexandria 177 00:07:55,042 --> 00:07:58,375 to go visit Alexander to Great's tomb. 178 00:07:58,375 --> 00:08:02,833 He wrote, "And I was met with blank stares." 179 00:08:04,083 --> 00:08:08,208 - So from Libanius' letter to John Chrysostom's visit, 180 00:08:09,708 --> 00:08:12,292 we go from having the tomb of Alexander the Great 181 00:08:12,292 --> 00:08:13,708 to nothing. 182 00:08:13,708 --> 00:08:17,542 It's like one of the Wonders of the Ancient World 183 00:08:17,542 --> 00:08:19,792 just vanishes from the face of the earth. 184 00:08:20,833 --> 00:08:22,542 - [Laurence] But what could have happened 185 00:08:22,542 --> 00:08:25,625 to destroy all traces of Alexander's tomb 186 00:08:25,625 --> 00:08:27,167 and his remains? 187 00:08:28,333 --> 00:08:33,208 - We have a record in history from about the year 365 AD 188 00:08:34,708 --> 00:08:38,708 of a massive earthquake that hit the island of Crete, 189 00:08:39,667 --> 00:08:41,042 which is about a couple of hundred miles 190 00:08:41,042 --> 00:08:44,875 away north of Alexandria. 191 00:08:44,875 --> 00:08:48,792 Scholars believed that that earthquake was so damaging 192 00:08:48,792 --> 00:08:53,417 that it could have reached 8.5 on the Richter scale. 193 00:08:53,417 --> 00:08:57,792 8.5 is nearly five times the power 194 00:08:57,792 --> 00:09:01,750 of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. 195 00:09:01,750 --> 00:09:04,458 If an earthquake like that 196 00:09:04,458 --> 00:09:07,208 could have taken place in the Mediterranean, 197 00:09:07,208 --> 00:09:12,042 it could have raised a tsunami on Alexandria's shores. 198 00:09:12,042 --> 00:09:14,625 (intense music) 199 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:18,042 As a matter of fact, 200 00:09:18,042 --> 00:09:21,958 we have one piece of eyewitness evidence 201 00:09:21,958 --> 00:09:25,000 from a nobleman who lived in Egypt. 202 00:09:25,750 --> 00:09:28,500 - Ammianus Marcellinus, who's a historian and a soldier, 203 00:09:28,500 --> 00:09:30,875 and what Ammianus says is 204 00:09:30,875 --> 00:09:33,875 that there was a earthquake 205 00:09:35,375 --> 00:09:37,875 and that the seas receded. 206 00:09:37,875 --> 00:09:39,833 Boats topple over on their sides, 207 00:09:39,833 --> 00:09:42,708 and fish are kind of flopping around, 208 00:09:42,708 --> 00:09:45,250 and everybody is running out and gathering fish up 209 00:09:45,250 --> 00:09:46,667 with their hands out on the shore 210 00:09:46,667 --> 00:09:49,042 and then all of a sudden this huge wave, 211 00:09:49,042 --> 00:09:51,250 the tsunami, right, kind of recoils back 212 00:09:51,250 --> 00:09:53,208 and wipes everything out. 213 00:09:53,208 --> 00:09:54,375 (crashing surf) 214 00:09:54,375 --> 00:09:56,667 - And it inundates the entire harbor, 215 00:09:56,667 --> 00:09:59,958 if not the entire city of Alexandria. 216 00:09:59,958 --> 00:10:04,625 You can see ships ending up on the tops of buildings. 217 00:10:04,625 --> 00:10:06,375 - [Laurence] Ancient writers describe 218 00:10:06,375 --> 00:10:08,625 widespread death and destruction. 219 00:10:09,875 --> 00:10:12,667 - So this tsunami would've absolutely devastated 220 00:10:12,667 --> 00:10:16,875 the quarter that contained Alexander's tomb. 221 00:10:16,875 --> 00:10:19,125 And if it wasn't destroyed 222 00:10:19,125 --> 00:10:22,250 by the initial flooding and the tsunami, 223 00:10:22,250 --> 00:10:26,583 it would've certainly been destroyed by the after effects, 224 00:10:26,583 --> 00:10:28,042 by the receding of the water, 225 00:10:28,042 --> 00:10:30,417 by the collapse of the building, 226 00:10:30,417 --> 00:10:33,500 by the mud that would've buried it. 227 00:10:33,500 --> 00:10:36,875 I mean, this is a devastating event 228 00:10:36,875 --> 00:10:39,208 that destroyed pretty much everything there. 229 00:10:40,792 --> 00:10:42,958 - [Laurence] In the 1990s, archeologists discover 230 00:10:42,958 --> 00:10:46,042 what could be the remains of the Royal Quarter 231 00:10:46,042 --> 00:10:48,875 just off Alexandria's coast 232 00:10:48,875 --> 00:10:51,667 - Because of earthquakes over the centuries 233 00:10:51,667 --> 00:10:53,625 and shifting coastlines, 234 00:10:53,625 --> 00:10:56,500 at least part of the ancient city of Alexandria 235 00:10:56,500 --> 00:10:58,625 now lies underwater. 236 00:10:59,708 --> 00:11:01,750 They went down there with scuba gear 237 00:11:01,750 --> 00:11:04,875 and discovered incredible remains 238 00:11:04,875 --> 00:11:09,583 attesting to at least part of a royal palace. 239 00:11:09,583 --> 00:11:14,208 They find statues of gods, of pharaohs, 240 00:11:14,208 --> 00:11:18,125 and it's possible, therefore, that the tomb of Alexander 241 00:11:18,125 --> 00:11:21,792 might today still exist, but underwater. 242 00:11:23,042 --> 00:11:26,917 - You are going to find hundreds of thousands of relics 243 00:11:26,917 --> 00:11:29,208 off the shore of Alexandria. 244 00:11:29,208 --> 00:11:34,125 For one, it's a city built on a shoreline next to a delta. 245 00:11:35,708 --> 00:11:38,125 These cities tend to flood and sink a lot. 246 00:11:38,125 --> 00:11:41,875 We should expect to find all kinds of artifacts 247 00:11:41,875 --> 00:11:44,208 off the shore of Alexandria. 248 00:11:45,542 --> 00:11:50,167 The question is, did a tsunami come in and flood the city 249 00:11:50,167 --> 00:11:53,208 and destroy the tomb of Alexander The Great? 250 00:11:53,208 --> 00:11:56,167 - [Laurence] Throughout history, cities have come and gone 251 00:11:56,167 --> 00:11:58,833 due to the forces of mother nature. 252 00:11:58,833 --> 00:12:03,583 But was ancient Alexandria really devastated by a tsunami? 253 00:12:03,583 --> 00:12:06,333 - Marcellinus' eyewitness evidence 254 00:12:06,333 --> 00:12:10,750 is not historically the most accurate. 255 00:12:10,750 --> 00:12:13,792 He copied the material from other eyewitnesses 256 00:12:13,792 --> 00:12:16,250 that have actually visited the place. 257 00:12:16,250 --> 00:12:18,958 And Marcellinus was strongly religious 258 00:12:18,958 --> 00:12:22,875 and his religious bias could have played a massive role 259 00:12:22,875 --> 00:12:28,042 in exaggerating what that God's wrath of a tsunami 260 00:12:28,542 --> 00:12:34,333 would've hit Alexandria with. 261 00:12:34,333 --> 00:12:36,083 (dramatic music) 262 00:12:36,083 --> 00:12:38,208 - [Laurence] In the late fourth century AD, 263 00:12:38,208 --> 00:12:41,083 historical records show a tsunami engulfed Alexandria. 264 00:12:41,083 --> 00:12:43,208 In addition to this natural disaster, 265 00:12:43,208 --> 00:12:46,292 the city is in political and social turmoil. 266 00:12:46,292 --> 00:12:48,792 - Christianity spreads throughout the Roman Empire 267 00:12:48,792 --> 00:12:50,500 at the end of the first century AD, 268 00:12:51,542 --> 00:12:52,833 but it's met with repression. 269 00:12:52,833 --> 00:12:54,250 The Romans don't 270 00:12:54,250 --> 00:12:55,625 like new religions, 271 00:12:55,625 --> 00:12:59,417 so they're basically turning the Christians into martyrs. 272 00:13:00,708 --> 00:13:02,792 - [Laurence] An early and prominent Christian, 273 00:13:02,792 --> 00:13:05,708 the apostle Mark, is martyred here. 274 00:13:05,708 --> 00:13:07,875 - Mark was an evangelist who moves 275 00:13:07,875 --> 00:13:11,042 into the city of Alexandria and begins missionizing, 276 00:13:11,042 --> 00:13:12,833 begins converting people. 277 00:13:12,833 --> 00:13:15,542 And it's in that city where he is martyred 278 00:13:15,542 --> 00:13:17,417 and he's buried in the church 279 00:13:17,417 --> 00:13:18,875 that he himself founds. 280 00:13:18,875 --> 00:13:20,042 It was called the 281 00:13:20,042 --> 00:13:22,000 Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark. 282 00:13:22,958 --> 00:13:25,708 - Christianity continued to spread 283 00:13:25,708 --> 00:13:27,875 because as the saying goes, 284 00:13:27,875 --> 00:13:31,125 the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. 285 00:13:31,125 --> 00:13:35,708 And because of gospels like that of St. Mark, 286 00:13:35,708 --> 00:13:38,583 and because of his martyrdom, 287 00:13:38,583 --> 00:13:40,875 the tables have completely turned. 288 00:13:40,875 --> 00:13:43,792 And by the end of the third century, 289 00:13:43,792 --> 00:13:45,875 the Christians are in control. 290 00:13:45,875 --> 00:13:47,292 (dramatic music) 291 00:13:47,292 --> 00:13:49,625 - [Laurence] As Christianity gains strength, 292 00:13:49,625 --> 00:13:51,542 conflict between the pagans 293 00:13:51,542 --> 00:13:54,667 and the followers of this new religion intensifies, 294 00:13:54,667 --> 00:13:58,833 turning pagan landmarks, like Alexander the Great's tomb, 295 00:13:58,833 --> 00:14:00,208 into targets. 296 00:14:00,208 --> 00:14:02,875 - In the fourth century, Alexandria is a hotbed 297 00:14:02,875 --> 00:14:05,667 of religious upheaval, change, violence. 298 00:14:06,042 --> 00:14:07,708 The reality is that the 299 00:14:07,708 --> 00:14:08,958 rise of Christianity 300 00:14:08,958 --> 00:14:10,458 and its movement into power 301 00:14:10,458 --> 00:14:12,000 is threatening any trace 302 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:13,917 of the old pagan past. 303 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:18,042 - Alexander was a very religious man. 304 00:14:18,042 --> 00:14:20,167 He venerated Greek gods, 305 00:14:20,167 --> 00:14:22,583 but also venerated the gods of Egypt. 306 00:14:22,583 --> 00:14:24,042 Particularly after his death, 307 00:14:24,042 --> 00:14:26,750 he came to be venerated as a kind of demigod 308 00:14:26,750 --> 00:14:29,000 or even a god himself. 309 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,667 - Alexander believes he's 310 00:14:31,667 --> 00:14:33,667 a descendant of the gods. 311 00:14:33,875 --> 00:14:36,417 His mother, Olympias, claimed 312 00:14:36,417 --> 00:14:39,958 that he actually was not the son of Philip, 313 00:14:39,958 --> 00:14:42,875 but he's the son of Zeus himself. 314 00:14:42,875 --> 00:14:45,000 (dramatic music) 315 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:49,083 - Alexandria had been a very pagan city for a long time, 316 00:14:49,083 --> 00:14:52,083 where the Greek gods and Egyptian gods 317 00:14:52,083 --> 00:14:54,500 were honored side by side. 318 00:14:54,500 --> 00:14:57,250 But by the fourth century AD, 319 00:14:57,250 --> 00:14:59,250 the Christians are beginning to really 320 00:14:59,250 --> 00:15:01,708 kind of take over the city. 321 00:15:01,708 --> 00:15:03,833 What the Christians don't really like 322 00:15:03,833 --> 00:15:08,042 is how pagan the city's past really is, 323 00:15:08,042 --> 00:15:11,708 and they set out to kind of purge Alexandria 324 00:15:11,708 --> 00:15:13,708 from its pagan trappings, 325 00:15:13,708 --> 00:15:18,000 to turn it into a new Christian city as much as possible. 326 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,875 - [Laurence] In 380 AD, 327 00:15:19,875 --> 00:15:23,208 Emperor Theodosius mandates Christianity 328 00:15:23,208 --> 00:15:26,875 as the official religion of the Roman Empire. 329 00:15:26,875 --> 00:15:30,292 - Rome is now a Christian empire, 330 00:15:30,292 --> 00:15:35,208 and now the Christians are gonna do to the pagans 331 00:15:35,208 --> 00:15:38,500 what the pagans had been doing to them. 332 00:15:38,500 --> 00:15:40,042 (dramatic music) 333 00:15:40,042 --> 00:15:42,375 - We know that in certain areas, Christians rioted, 334 00:15:42,375 --> 00:15:44,833 they laid waste to pagan temples, 335 00:15:44,833 --> 00:15:47,125 tombs, other signs of the old ways. 336 00:15:48,208 --> 00:15:52,875 - So, you can imagine an old pagan temple, 337 00:15:52,875 --> 00:15:57,875 or an old pagan shrine, even pagan tombs, 338 00:15:57,875 --> 00:16:00,667 these things were ripe for destruction. 339 00:16:00,667 --> 00:16:03,333 (intense music) 340 00:16:06,417 --> 00:16:09,750 - In 391, the emperor at the time, Theodosius, 341 00:16:09,750 --> 00:16:12,208 starts to enact a series of decrees 342 00:16:12,208 --> 00:16:14,458 to really stamp out any kind of pagan behavior. 343 00:16:14,458 --> 00:16:16,167 So he bans sacrifices. 344 00:16:16,167 --> 00:16:20,958 He also orders the closure or destruction of pagan temples. 345 00:16:22,417 --> 00:16:26,250 - It's interesting how this is the year 391, 346 00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:29,375 which is right in the period when we last hear 347 00:16:29,375 --> 00:16:32,500 of Alexander's body being in Alexandria. 348 00:16:34,333 --> 00:16:36,042 - It's that time that also we think 349 00:16:36,042 --> 00:16:39,292 that the Great Library of Alexandria is also burned. 350 00:16:39,292 --> 00:16:41,500 Rampant destruction across the city. 351 00:16:42,750 --> 00:16:45,875 Could it be that if Alexander's tomb 352 00:16:45,875 --> 00:16:48,042 still was established in the city, 353 00:16:48,042 --> 00:16:50,750 it's still visible in the city at that time, 354 00:16:50,750 --> 00:16:53,417 that that was when it was destroyed? 355 00:16:53,417 --> 00:16:56,083 That would seem to make good sense of the timing 356 00:16:56,083 --> 00:16:57,833 because it was really only nine years later 357 00:16:58,125 --> 00:17:00,375 that Chrysostom enters into the city 358 00:17:00,375 --> 00:17:03,875 and looks for Alexander's tomb and no one knows where it is. 359 00:17:03,875 --> 00:17:05,542 (dramatic music) 360 00:17:05,542 --> 00:17:08,375 - In Alexandria, there was probably few greater reminders 361 00:17:08,375 --> 00:17:11,750 of the old ways than the tomb of Alexander, 362 00:17:11,750 --> 00:17:13,667 and he might have been the target 363 00:17:13,667 --> 00:17:18,375 of any Christian attempt to erase traces of other religions. 364 00:17:20,167 --> 00:17:23,250 - There are no explicit records out there 365 00:17:23,250 --> 00:17:28,208 of Alexander's tomb or the area being destroyed. 366 00:17:28,208 --> 00:17:32,250 So, if you wanna look at what the historical record says, 367 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:34,333 we can't definitively say 368 00:17:34,333 --> 00:17:36,292 that the tomb was destroyed at that time. 369 00:17:36,292 --> 00:17:37,667 Perhaps it was already gone. 370 00:17:41,667 --> 00:17:42,875 (suspenseful music) 371 00:17:42,875 --> 00:17:44,500 - [Laurence] Ancient historians tell us 372 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:46,375 that Alexander the Great was buried 373 00:17:46,375 --> 00:17:49,208 in his namesake city of Alexandria, Egypt. 374 00:17:49,208 --> 00:17:51,333 References to Alexander's tomb 375 00:17:51,333 --> 00:17:53,833 stop after a series of natural disasters 376 00:17:53,833 --> 00:17:55,708 and riots devastate the city. 377 00:17:57,125 --> 00:17:59,667 But some believe his remains could still be hidden 378 00:17:59,667 --> 00:18:01,625 in Alexandria today. 379 00:18:01,625 --> 00:18:06,500 - In 1850, a tour guide by the name of Ambroise Schilizzi 380 00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:11,000 takes this group of tourists down into a mosque 381 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,125 in the old part of Alexandria. 382 00:18:15,083 --> 00:18:18,125 The mosque is called the Nabi Daniel Mosque. 383 00:18:18,125 --> 00:18:21,208 When Schilizzi goes down into the substructures 384 00:18:21,208 --> 00:18:22,708 underneath the mosque, 385 00:18:22,708 --> 00:18:27,708 he sees something that really piques his curiosity. 386 00:18:29,250 --> 00:18:31,875 He sees at the end of one corridor, 387 00:18:31,875 --> 00:18:33,625 an old, worn wooden door. 388 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:36,958 - The story goes that when he 389 00:18:36,958 --> 00:18:38,750 came upon this wooden door, 390 00:18:38,750 --> 00:18:40,292 he looked through the 391 00:18:40,292 --> 00:18:41,583 cracks of the door 392 00:18:41,583 --> 00:18:44,417 and that's when he sees this mummified corpse 393 00:18:44,417 --> 00:18:46,417 with a golden crown on it. 394 00:18:48,375 --> 00:18:52,542 - Schilizzi is absolutely convinced that he has seen 395 00:18:52,542 --> 00:18:56,292 none other than the mummy of Alexander the Great. 396 00:18:56,292 --> 00:18:59,208 (intense music) 397 00:19:01,542 --> 00:19:04,042 - The officials at the mosque hear what's going on 398 00:19:04,042 --> 00:19:06,000 and he is immediately removed 399 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,000 and nobody believes him 400 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:08,125 'cause he is a tour guide. 401 00:19:08,583 --> 00:19:13,042 So everyone thinks that he is just doing this for money. 402 00:19:13,042 --> 00:19:15,208 He's actually completely shut down. 403 00:19:15,208 --> 00:19:19,000 He's not allowed to go back into the crypts. 404 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:20,542 - [Laurence] But 15 years later, 405 00:19:20,542 --> 00:19:23,417 a second witness brings Schilizzi's story 406 00:19:23,417 --> 00:19:25,292 back into the public eye. 407 00:19:25,292 --> 00:19:29,208 - 15 years later, somebody else goes down into the mosque. 408 00:19:29,208 --> 00:19:30,875 This is a very different character. 409 00:19:30,875 --> 00:19:33,042 This is an esteemed, 410 00:19:33,042 --> 00:19:35,292 very highly respected, 411 00:19:35,292 --> 00:19:38,875 Arab engineer by the name of Mahmoud Al-Falaki. 412 00:19:40,375 --> 00:19:44,083 - He is in charge of mapping the ancient district 413 00:19:44,083 --> 00:19:46,750 of Alexandria and the Royal Quarter, 414 00:19:46,750 --> 00:19:50,667 and he's doing so for the Viceroy of Egypt, 415 00:19:50,667 --> 00:19:54,458 so he gets special permissions that nobody else gets. 416 00:19:54,458 --> 00:19:56,625 - And as part of this mapping effort, 417 00:19:56,625 --> 00:19:58,625 he gets to go down and look to see 418 00:19:58,625 --> 00:20:00,500 what's part of these substructures 419 00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:02,750 under the Nabi Daniel Mosque. 420 00:20:02,750 --> 00:20:04,542 When he goes under there, 421 00:20:04,542 --> 00:20:09,500 he sees very finely crafted corridors 422 00:20:10,667 --> 00:20:12,292 that are leading off into four directions. 423 00:20:13,583 --> 00:20:18,292 - Al-Falaki finds tunnels, passageways, large open areas 424 00:20:19,250 --> 00:20:20,500 that appear to be important tombs, 425 00:20:20,500 --> 00:20:23,292 structurally made of good, quality stone. 426 00:20:23,292 --> 00:20:25,000 (soft creepy music) 427 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,250 - But he finds that the tunnels are too dangerous 428 00:20:27,250 --> 00:20:29,667 and he can't fully explore the area 429 00:20:29,667 --> 00:20:33,417 and answer the questions that people have had for ages. 430 00:20:33,417 --> 00:20:37,250 - Al-Falaki notices that a lot of the farther parts 431 00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:39,208 of the corridors are really kind of dilapidated. 432 00:20:39,208 --> 00:20:41,333 They're starting to cave in, 433 00:20:41,333 --> 00:20:44,333 and it's very dangerous to press on any farther. 434 00:20:44,333 --> 00:20:46,625 - He wants to go back and see it again 435 00:20:46,625 --> 00:20:48,708 and do further investigation, 436 00:20:48,708 --> 00:20:53,375 but he's denied and is never able to get access again, 437 00:20:53,375 --> 00:20:55,875 as these passageways are walled up. 438 00:20:57,292 --> 00:21:01,042 - Even Al-Falaki, who has the best permissions 439 00:21:01,042 --> 00:21:02,708 in Egypt at the time, 440 00:21:02,708 --> 00:21:05,875 is forbidden from going any farther. 441 00:21:07,375 --> 00:21:09,375 So the question is, is there some sort of a coverup? 442 00:21:09,375 --> 00:21:11,000 Why can't he go any further? 443 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:14,708 Why aren't people allowing the excavation of this territory? 444 00:21:14,708 --> 00:21:16,708 - [Laurence] Though there's no hard proof 445 00:21:16,708 --> 00:21:19,458 that Alexander's mummy is under the mosque, 446 00:21:19,458 --> 00:21:21,750 speculation grows. 447 00:21:21,750 --> 00:21:24,542 - Strabo tells us that Alexander was entombed 448 00:21:24,542 --> 00:21:27,458 in the Royal Quarter of Alexandria. 449 00:21:27,458 --> 00:21:31,458 The Nabi Daniel Mosque is in that same general vicinity 450 00:21:31,458 --> 00:21:34,500 that we think is where the Royal Quarter was. 451 00:21:35,583 --> 00:21:38,542 - Nabi Daniel in Arabic is the prophet Daniel, 452 00:21:38,542 --> 00:21:43,542 and Daniel is sacred in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 453 00:21:44,875 --> 00:21:48,708 and he's famous for surviving the night in the lion's den, 454 00:21:48,708 --> 00:21:53,667 among other great miracles of being a devout man of God. 455 00:21:54,208 --> 00:21:55,417 (intense music) 456 00:21:55,417 --> 00:21:58,000 - However, Muslim accounts of the Daniel 457 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:03,000 entombed in the Nabi Daniel Mosque is one of a conquerer. 458 00:22:04,625 --> 00:22:07,458 - This tradition also said that the prophet Daniel 459 00:22:07,458 --> 00:22:10,625 comes victorious against his enemies 460 00:22:10,625 --> 00:22:15,042 and founds the city of Alexandria. 461 00:22:15,042 --> 00:22:19,083 This doesn't match Daniel of the Bible at all. 462 00:22:19,083 --> 00:22:20,542 Who does it sound like? 463 00:22:20,542 --> 00:22:22,667 Hmm, who do we know who goes into Babylon 464 00:22:22,667 --> 00:22:25,250 and who's victorious over his enemies? 465 00:22:25,250 --> 00:22:28,417 Who do we know founds the city of Alexandria? 466 00:22:28,417 --> 00:22:29,958 Alexander. 467 00:22:29,958 --> 00:22:32,833 So some strange thing has happened, it seems to be here, 468 00:22:32,833 --> 00:22:35,458 and conflating the figure of Daniel the prophet 469 00:22:35,458 --> 00:22:37,500 with the figure of Alexander the Great. 470 00:22:38,625 --> 00:22:41,625 - Also, in local Arabic tradition, 471 00:22:41,625 --> 00:22:46,375 the crypts underneath the mosque of Nabi Daniel 472 00:22:46,375 --> 00:22:49,542 are called the shrine of the double-horned. 473 00:22:49,542 --> 00:22:53,583 The double horn is a reference to Alexander the Great 474 00:22:53,583 --> 00:22:56,000 because he worshiped Amun 475 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,375 and Amun had rams horns. 476 00:22:59,375 --> 00:23:01,208 (suspenseful music) 477 00:23:01,208 --> 00:23:03,375 - Alexander is often depicted, 478 00:23:03,375 --> 00:23:07,083 for example in later coins struck by his successors, 479 00:23:07,083 --> 00:23:09,917 with horns, rams horns on his head. 480 00:23:09,917 --> 00:23:12,833 - So if this is the shrine of the double horned, 481 00:23:12,833 --> 00:23:16,250 it leads one to believe that this is perhaps 482 00:23:16,250 --> 00:23:17,875 a resting place of Alexander. 483 00:23:19,208 --> 00:23:20,875 - [Laurence] But the question remains 484 00:23:20,875 --> 00:23:24,125 whether Alexander the Great really lies 485 00:23:24,125 --> 00:23:26,292 under the Nabi Daniel Mosque. 486 00:23:26,292 --> 00:23:29,042 - Other people request to investigate 487 00:23:29,042 --> 00:23:30,833 the subterranean crypts, 488 00:23:30,833 --> 00:23:33,708 including the famous Heinrich Schliemann, 489 00:23:33,708 --> 00:23:35,375 who discovered, we think, 490 00:23:35,375 --> 00:23:37,000 the remains of 491 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:39,667 ancient Troy and Mycenae, 492 00:23:39,667 --> 00:23:43,458 but he too is denied by the authorities there. 493 00:23:43,458 --> 00:23:45,125 - Since the end of the 19th century, 494 00:23:45,125 --> 00:23:48,458 nobody has actually really been able to get down there 495 00:23:48,458 --> 00:23:51,375 and explore to see what further they might find 496 00:23:51,375 --> 00:23:53,375 under this mosque. 497 00:23:53,375 --> 00:23:56,125 - But even if Alexander the Great's remains 498 00:23:56,125 --> 00:23:58,583 are under that mosque, 499 00:23:58,583 --> 00:24:01,958 there is no way that permission is ever going to be granted, 500 00:24:01,958 --> 00:24:03,750 nor should it be, 501 00:24:03,750 --> 00:24:08,417 for anyone to go digging in that area to look for this. 502 00:24:08,417 --> 00:24:10,000 - While it seems suspicious 503 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,542 that they won't let anybody excavate under this, 504 00:24:13,542 --> 00:24:16,917 it is actually not very strange 505 00:24:16,917 --> 00:24:20,583 that they would refuse to allow excavations 506 00:24:20,583 --> 00:24:24,458 under a mosque which contains sacred land. 507 00:24:24,458 --> 00:24:27,292 So it's not a grand conspiracy 508 00:24:27,292 --> 00:24:30,375 saying we don't want to discover Alexander's tomb. 509 00:24:30,375 --> 00:24:32,833 It's just that in their minds the people there 510 00:24:32,833 --> 00:24:35,500 are protecting something which to them is more sacred 511 00:24:35,500 --> 00:24:40,917 than Alexander's remains 512 00:24:40,917 --> 00:24:42,875 - After Alexander the Great's body disappears 513 00:24:42,875 --> 00:24:45,833 from the historical record in 391 AD, 514 00:24:45,833 --> 00:24:47,542 many wonder if the remains of the warrior 515 00:24:47,542 --> 00:24:51,375 are not in Egypt at all, but somewhere else entirely, 516 00:24:51,375 --> 00:24:53,792 someplace like Italy. 517 00:24:53,792 --> 00:24:56,542 Located 1,300 miles from Alexandria 518 00:24:56,542 --> 00:24:58,625 and founded 750 years 519 00:24:58,625 --> 00:25:00,375 after his death, 520 00:25:00,375 --> 00:25:02,375 Venice may seem an unlikely 521 00:25:02,375 --> 00:25:04,458 place to look for Alexander, 522 00:25:04,458 --> 00:25:08,708 but some believe the search should begin here. 523 00:25:10,250 --> 00:25:11,875 - The Basilica of St. Mark in Venice 524 00:25:11,875 --> 00:25:15,958 is said to hold the remains of St. Mark the apostle. 525 00:25:15,958 --> 00:25:16,625 One researcher 526 00:25:16,625 --> 00:25:17,875 thinks it might hold 527 00:25:17,875 --> 00:25:18,917 the remains of 528 00:25:18,917 --> 00:25:19,792 Alexander instead. 529 00:25:20,083 --> 00:25:22,958 (dramatic music) 530 00:25:24,208 --> 00:25:26,500 The theory goes all the way back to the early years 531 00:25:26,500 --> 00:25:28,583 after Alexander the Great died. 532 00:25:29,417 --> 00:25:32,167 - Writer Andrew Chugg has a theory 533 00:25:32,167 --> 00:25:36,208 that the remains of Alexander the Great 534 00:25:36,208 --> 00:25:38,375 and not of St. Mark 535 00:25:38,375 --> 00:25:40,333 were actually moved 536 00:25:40,333 --> 00:25:45,500 from Alexandria to Venice in a mix-up of epic proportions. 537 00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:51,292 - Before Alexander took rule of Egypt, 538 00:25:51,292 --> 00:25:54,833 it was ruled by the Persians, and before the Persians, 539 00:25:54,833 --> 00:25:57,250 the last native ruler of 540 00:25:57,250 --> 00:25:58,917 Egypt was Nectanebo II. 541 00:25:59,417 --> 00:26:01,042 - According to this theory, 542 00:26:01,042 --> 00:26:05,375 when Alexander's body is brought to Memphis by Ptolemy, 543 00:26:06,042 --> 00:26:10,875 he reuses a sarcophagus that was intended for Nectanebo II. 544 00:26:13,833 --> 00:26:17,708 - Chugg believes that Alexander's body is interred 545 00:26:17,708 --> 00:26:20,792 in Nectanebo II's sarcophagus. 546 00:26:20,792 --> 00:26:22,750 And at this time period, 547 00:26:22,750 --> 00:26:25,625 there were Christians rioting in the streets. 548 00:26:25,625 --> 00:26:30,667 So, Chugg believes that to protect Alexander, 549 00:26:32,042 --> 00:26:35,458 his coffin and mummy were absconded to a safer place 550 00:26:35,458 --> 00:26:37,333 where there was less upheaval. 551 00:26:38,875 --> 00:26:41,500 - If you're going to hide something from the Christians 552 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:43,208 so that they don't destroy it, 553 00:26:43,208 --> 00:26:45,208 what better place to hide it 554 00:26:45,208 --> 00:26:47,750 than literally in plain sight? 555 00:26:47,750 --> 00:26:50,667 So Chugg believes that the sarcophagus 556 00:26:50,667 --> 00:26:53,083 was taken to the Cathedral of St. Mark, 557 00:26:53,083 --> 00:26:55,708 where the Christians would never dream of looking for it 558 00:26:55,708 --> 00:26:57,833 because that's where the remains 559 00:26:57,833 --> 00:27:00,125 of their precious evangelist actually lay. 560 00:27:01,375 --> 00:27:02,792 - There the remains of the two men 561 00:27:02,792 --> 00:27:06,208 would have lain together for centuries, 562 00:27:06,208 --> 00:27:08,625 but it's at the time that Islam comes to Egypt 563 00:27:08,625 --> 00:27:11,083 that potentially Christians viewed 564 00:27:11,083 --> 00:27:13,708 this particular site as especially threatened 565 00:27:13,708 --> 00:27:15,750 and would've been very interested in evacuating 566 00:27:15,750 --> 00:27:18,375 the very important relics there. 567 00:27:18,375 --> 00:27:21,125 - [Laurence] According to an 11th century manuscript, 568 00:27:21,125 --> 00:27:24,250 two Venetian merchants launch a daring operation 569 00:27:24,250 --> 00:27:28,875 to rescue what they believe to be St. Mark's remains. 570 00:27:28,875 --> 00:27:31,042 - It's like something out of a thriller. 571 00:27:31,042 --> 00:27:33,875 You have a group of merchants who sneak their way 572 00:27:33,875 --> 00:27:37,708 into Alexandria precisely to snatch the body of Mark 573 00:27:37,708 --> 00:27:40,000 and protect it and bring it back to Italy. 574 00:27:41,458 --> 00:27:45,875 - In 828 AD, these Venetian merchants sail to Alexandria, 575 00:27:45,875 --> 00:27:48,958 they go into where the Cathedral of St. Mark is, 576 00:27:48,958 --> 00:27:52,542 and they literally hijack this sarcophagus 577 00:27:52,542 --> 00:27:56,750 and they take it back to Venice with them for safekeeping. 578 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,292 - The Basilica of St. Mark in Venice holds 579 00:28:00,292 --> 00:28:02,000 the remains of the Apostle Mark, 580 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:05,542 but there's something that potentially doesn't quite fit 581 00:28:05,542 --> 00:28:08,500 with the idea that Mark is the body there. 582 00:28:08,500 --> 00:28:10,708 - People notice something really unusual 583 00:28:10,708 --> 00:28:13,542 issuing forth from this sarcophagus. 584 00:28:13,542 --> 00:28:16,875 It has a beautiful smell. 585 00:28:17,792 --> 00:28:19,917 - It is noted that the body 586 00:28:19,917 --> 00:28:23,125 actually has this really powerful aroma, 587 00:28:23,125 --> 00:28:28,000 an aroma that smells like all of the spices in the world. 588 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,583 And the idea is that St. Mark wouldn't have been mummified, 589 00:28:32,583 --> 00:28:34,792 but Alexander would have been. 590 00:28:36,042 --> 00:28:38,750 - Mark was martyred in the first century. 591 00:28:38,750 --> 00:28:41,292 The custom at the time would've been cremation. 592 00:28:41,292 --> 00:28:42,875 And so what they would have 593 00:28:42,875 --> 00:28:45,625 would not have that same beautiful scent. 594 00:28:45,625 --> 00:28:47,833 It would just be bone and ash. 595 00:28:49,042 --> 00:28:51,875 - [Laurence] In addition to the unexpected scent, 596 00:28:51,875 --> 00:28:55,875 Chugg points to clues in the sarcophagus itself. 597 00:28:55,875 --> 00:28:58,917 - Within the basilica in Venice, 598 00:28:58,917 --> 00:29:03,833 Chugg recognizes that there is an eight-pointed star 599 00:29:04,625 --> 00:29:06,083 carved into the rock. 600 00:29:06,083 --> 00:29:10,958 Now, an eight-pointed star is this ancient Greek symbol 601 00:29:11,792 --> 00:29:13,750 that's associated with Macedonia 602 00:29:13,750 --> 00:29:17,125 and with Alexander's family. 603 00:29:17,125 --> 00:29:18,375 - Chugg believes that that stone 604 00:29:18,375 --> 00:29:22,125 came from Nectanebo's repurposed sarcophagus. 605 00:29:22,125 --> 00:29:24,875 - [Laurence] But this theory may remain a mystery 606 00:29:24,875 --> 00:29:26,375 for the foreseeable future. 607 00:29:27,083 --> 00:29:29,042 - This is a very creative theory 608 00:29:29,042 --> 00:29:32,042 and I fully believe that strange things happen 609 00:29:32,042 --> 00:29:33,750 over the course of history. 610 00:29:34,875 --> 00:29:37,083 The only way that this could actually really be 611 00:29:37,083 --> 00:29:41,375 conclusively solved is if the Catholic Church 612 00:29:41,375 --> 00:29:44,708 were to allow any carbon dating of Mark's remains 613 00:29:44,708 --> 00:29:46,208 underneath the cathedral. 614 00:29:46,208 --> 00:29:47,042 Will they do that? 615 00:29:47,042 --> 00:29:47,917 No. 616 00:29:47,917 --> 00:29:49,792 They have no interest in doing 617 00:29:49,792 --> 00:29:52,208 that kind of carbon dating of relics. 618 00:29:52,208 --> 00:29:58,625 It serves them in no way to do so. 619 00:29:58,625 --> 00:30:00,125 (dramatic music) 620 00:30:00,208 --> 00:30:01,583 - [Laurence] The search for Alexander the Great's remains 621 00:30:01,583 --> 00:30:04,500 has been guided by the king's ancient biographers. 622 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:08,875 Most point to Alexander being buried in the city he founded, 623 00:30:08,875 --> 00:30:12,000 but they also suggest he had his own ideas 624 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,417 of where he wanted to be laid to rest. 625 00:30:14,417 --> 00:30:18,958 One Greek archaeologist thinks that's where he is today. 626 00:30:18,958 --> 00:30:22,833 - Liana Souvaltzi believes that the Oasis of Siwa 627 00:30:22,833 --> 00:30:25,875 in northwest Egypt held the most important place 628 00:30:25,875 --> 00:30:27,500 in Alexander's heart. 629 00:30:27,708 --> 00:30:28,792 It's also the place 630 00:30:28,792 --> 00:30:30,000 that Souvaltzi thinks 631 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:31,542 he is most likely to be buried. 632 00:30:31,875 --> 00:30:34,542 (intense music) 633 00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:40,167 - In 331 BC, when he's about 25 years old, 634 00:30:40,167 --> 00:30:42,708 Alexander the Great embarks on a treacherous journey 635 00:30:42,708 --> 00:30:45,125 across the desert to Siwa 636 00:30:45,125 --> 00:30:49,000 and he's looking for the Oracle of Amun. 637 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,167 In antiquity, people put great stock in oracles, 638 00:30:52,167 --> 00:30:56,375 essentially people who know about your future. 639 00:30:56,375 --> 00:31:00,792 And Alexander wanted to know about his future, 640 00:31:00,792 --> 00:31:03,708 and so he went in search of this oracle. 641 00:31:03,708 --> 00:31:05,583 - It's very, very far away. 642 00:31:05,583 --> 00:31:07,417 It covers about 1,100 643 00:31:07,417 --> 00:31:08,708 miles that he goes 644 00:31:08,708 --> 00:31:09,708 just to go and 645 00:31:09,708 --> 00:31:10,958 consult this oracle. 646 00:31:12,208 --> 00:31:14,042 - This particular oracle was understood 647 00:31:14,042 --> 00:31:16,375 to be the oracle of a hybrid deity, 648 00:31:16,375 --> 00:31:19,250 two of the most powerful deities of the two cultures, 649 00:31:19,250 --> 00:31:22,333 Zeus, chief deity of the Greeks, 650 00:31:22,333 --> 00:31:25,250 and Amun, one of the chief Egyptian deities. 651 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:29,292 - When Alexander actually arrives at the temple, 652 00:31:29,292 --> 00:31:32,208 his trek turns out to be quite worth it. 653 00:31:32,208 --> 00:31:35,042 He finds the oracle who tells him 654 00:31:35,042 --> 00:31:37,542 that, in fact, Philip, his biological father, 655 00:31:37,542 --> 00:31:39,125 is not his real father, 656 00:31:39,125 --> 00:31:42,667 it is in fact Zeus-Ammon who is his father. 657 00:31:42,667 --> 00:31:44,792 That would make Alexander divine. 658 00:31:44,792 --> 00:31:46,292 (bright music) 659 00:31:46,292 --> 00:31:49,542 - From that point, Alexander is changed. 660 00:31:49,542 --> 00:31:52,792 He sees himself and his mission in a different way. 661 00:31:52,792 --> 00:31:56,667 He adopts the double horns of Zeus-Ammon, 662 00:31:56,667 --> 00:31:58,458 puts it on his coins, 663 00:31:58,458 --> 00:32:00,000 and that seems to really indicate that 664 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:00,917 the oracle told him, 665 00:32:00,917 --> 00:32:03,833 "Yes, you are the son of a god." 666 00:32:03,833 --> 00:32:06,375 - So this is a watershed moment. 667 00:32:06,375 --> 00:32:09,750 Now, he has the power of divine rule 668 00:32:09,750 --> 00:32:11,375 and he values Siwa 669 00:32:11,375 --> 00:32:13,083 throughout his life. 670 00:32:13,083 --> 00:32:15,792 - [Laurence] In 1989, Egyptian authorities 671 00:32:15,792 --> 00:32:18,417 grant Souvaltzi permission to start digging 672 00:32:18,417 --> 00:32:21,917 for Alexander's tomb in the Siwa Oasis. 673 00:32:21,917 --> 00:32:25,208 - The temple ruins at the Oasis of Siwa 674 00:32:25,208 --> 00:32:27,208 are still standing today. 675 00:32:27,208 --> 00:32:32,167 And Liana Souvaltzi maintains that the oasis 676 00:32:33,375 --> 00:32:35,792 was always very close to Alexander's heart 677 00:32:35,792 --> 00:32:37,125 and it makes complete sense 678 00:32:37,125 --> 00:32:39,000 that he would want to be buried there. 679 00:32:40,375 --> 00:32:43,458 - Most other pieces of historical evidence we have 680 00:32:43,708 --> 00:32:45,708 completely disagrees with 681 00:32:45,708 --> 00:32:48,000 Liana Souvaltzi's theory here, 682 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:49,542 except for one. 683 00:32:49,542 --> 00:32:52,083 One piece of writing that she leans on 684 00:32:52,083 --> 00:32:54,250 from a Roman historian named Curtius. 685 00:32:54,250 --> 00:32:57,208 He wrote that in Alexander's heart 686 00:32:57,208 --> 00:33:01,208 he wanted to be buried in one place and nowhere else. 687 00:33:01,208 --> 00:33:04,042 It's the place where he received the oracle. 688 00:33:05,292 --> 00:33:08,875 - After unbelievably only one week of excavations, 689 00:33:08,875 --> 00:33:11,542 Souvaltzi says she's made this discovery. 690 00:33:11,542 --> 00:33:15,417 She's found a large chamber under the temple 691 00:33:15,417 --> 00:33:19,042 that actually has the remains of lion statues 692 00:33:19,042 --> 00:33:21,250 that are guarding something. 693 00:33:21,250 --> 00:33:26,042 - This underground chamber has statues of lions, 694 00:33:26,042 --> 00:33:29,083 which are linked to Alexander, 695 00:33:29,083 --> 00:33:30,833 which are linked to royalty, 696 00:33:30,833 --> 00:33:34,333 and which are also in Egyptian ideology 697 00:33:34,333 --> 00:33:35,875 linked to the underworld. 698 00:33:35,875 --> 00:33:38,417 They're the guardians of the liminal space 699 00:33:38,417 --> 00:33:41,000 between this world and the next. 700 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:42,875 - Up to this point, it was believed 701 00:33:42,875 --> 00:33:44,625 that all we had at the Siwa Oasis 702 00:33:44,625 --> 00:33:45,958 was the remains of a temple. 703 00:33:45,958 --> 00:33:49,000 So this was a new discovery, if what she had really hit upon 704 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,417 was a set of monumental tombs. 705 00:33:51,417 --> 00:33:53,792 - And the digging keeps going on for years, 706 00:33:53,792 --> 00:33:59,000 and she finally discovered a full 5,000-square-foot room, 707 00:34:00,417 --> 00:34:04,208 which she believes could be nothing else but a royal tomb. 708 00:34:05,542 --> 00:34:08,958 - [Laurence] Souvaltzi is convinced she's found the tomb 709 00:34:08,958 --> 00:34:10,792 of Alexander the Great. 710 00:34:10,792 --> 00:34:13,500 - She sees carvings of oak leaves 711 00:34:13,500 --> 00:34:16,458 that really resemble the sort of oak leaves that are used 712 00:34:16,458 --> 00:34:19,333 in the crowns of the Greek kings. 713 00:34:19,333 --> 00:34:22,625 She finds an eight-pointed star, 714 00:34:22,625 --> 00:34:26,583 which looks very similar to the eight-pointed star 715 00:34:26,583 --> 00:34:31,208 of Vergina that's associated with a Macedonian royal family. 716 00:34:31,208 --> 00:34:36,375 Nine feet down, she finds a limestone tablet 717 00:34:37,417 --> 00:34:39,667 which has a long inscription in Greek. 718 00:34:39,667 --> 00:34:43,583 How she translates it is that somebody has brought 719 00:34:43,583 --> 00:34:48,583 his master's body to Siwa in order to be buried. 720 00:34:50,167 --> 00:34:54,042 - The tablet states that the body was moved to Siwa, 721 00:34:55,292 --> 00:34:57,500 and the body was actually really light. 722 00:34:57,500 --> 00:35:02,458 So this would give a hint that the body was mummified. 723 00:35:03,792 --> 00:35:05,958 - The text itself is anonymous. We don't know who wrote it, 724 00:35:05,958 --> 00:35:11,083 but she's absolutely sure that this was about Ptolemy 725 00:35:12,208 --> 00:35:13,458 and he was writing it to talk about 726 00:35:13,458 --> 00:35:16,375 moving Alexander's body to Siwa, 727 00:35:16,375 --> 00:35:19,333 the place where Alexander himself had wished to be buried. 728 00:35:20,542 --> 00:35:22,500 - [Laurence] After several years of digging, 729 00:35:22,500 --> 00:35:26,375 Souvaltzi's convinced she's on the edge of a breakthrough, 730 00:35:26,375 --> 00:35:28,917 but when archeologists from the Egyptian 731 00:35:28,917 --> 00:35:31,208 Antiquities Organization come to Siwa, 732 00:35:31,208 --> 00:35:33,417 they spot a flaw in her work. 733 00:35:33,417 --> 00:35:37,208 - Archaeologists examined the inscription written in Greek 734 00:35:37,208 --> 00:35:40,250 and they conclude that it's not about a king. 735 00:35:41,542 --> 00:35:46,583 They also note that the style of the chamber 736 00:35:47,833 --> 00:35:51,625 is not actually Greek at all, but it appears to be Roman. 737 00:35:52,917 --> 00:35:55,292 So the more that they learn and the more that they excavate, 738 00:35:55,292 --> 00:35:57,500 the more skeptical they become. 739 00:35:57,500 --> 00:35:58,958 - [Laurence] The experts found 740 00:35:58,958 --> 00:36:01,292 that Souvaltzi's translation was in error 741 00:36:01,292 --> 00:36:04,333 and that the tablets don't refer to Ptolemy at all. 742 00:36:04,333 --> 00:36:07,250 Partly due to this, the Egyptian government 743 00:36:07,250 --> 00:36:09,417 distances itself from Souvaltzi's work 744 00:36:09,417 --> 00:36:11,583 and pulls her permit to dig. 745 00:36:11,583 --> 00:36:13,667 - Souvaltzi spends the next two decades 746 00:36:13,667 --> 00:36:16,042 trying to seek the government of Egypt's permission 747 00:36:16,042 --> 00:36:17,292 to keep digging. 748 00:36:17,292 --> 00:36:18,917 They turn down her requests. 749 00:36:18,917 --> 00:36:20,792 But even if Souvaltzi is wrong 750 00:36:20,792 --> 00:36:23,458 about where Alexander was truly buried, 751 00:36:23,458 --> 00:36:25,458 many scholars are intrigued by the idea 752 00:36:25,458 --> 00:36:29,042 that perhaps where Alexander wanted to be buried 753 00:36:29,042 --> 00:36:30,625 mattered ultimately. 754 00:36:30,625 --> 00:36:33,250 And if we rule out Siwa, there was one other site 755 00:36:33,250 --> 00:36:39,000 that would have been very important to him. 756 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,583 (suspenseful music) 757 00:36:40,583 --> 00:36:42,500 - [Laurence] Alexander the Great came from ancient Macedonia 758 00:36:42,500 --> 00:36:45,417 in today's northern Greece and the Balkans. 759 00:36:45,417 --> 00:36:48,042 Historians say that his father was buried under the ruins 760 00:36:48,042 --> 00:36:50,208 of a town known as Vergina. 761 00:36:50,208 --> 00:36:52,917 And tradition holds that Alexander 762 00:36:52,917 --> 00:36:55,125 should also have been buried there. 763 00:36:55,125 --> 00:36:58,083 - In the 1970s, a Greek archaeologist 764 00:36:58,083 --> 00:37:01,292 named Manolis Andronikos excavated a tumulus, 765 00:37:01,292 --> 00:37:03,708 a large burial mound there. 766 00:37:03,708 --> 00:37:07,083 And he discovered a tomb which had not been looted, 767 00:37:07,083 --> 00:37:08,875 miraculously enough, 768 00:37:08,875 --> 00:37:11,417 and which he identified for various reasons 769 00:37:11,417 --> 00:37:13,458 as the tomb of Philip II. 770 00:37:14,708 --> 00:37:17,458 - There were other bones buried in this tomb. 771 00:37:17,458 --> 00:37:19,042 So hopes run high that what 772 00:37:19,042 --> 00:37:20,833 they found is Alexander's tomb. 773 00:37:20,833 --> 00:37:23,542 However, they find no additional evidence 774 00:37:23,542 --> 00:37:25,042 that can really support this. 775 00:37:25,042 --> 00:37:26,708 And so they move to a different site, 776 00:37:26,708 --> 00:37:29,083 this time they go excavate at an ancient city 777 00:37:29,083 --> 00:37:30,708 called Amphipolis. 778 00:37:30,708 --> 00:37:33,625 (suspenseful music) 779 00:37:35,708 --> 00:37:38,792 - [Laurence] Amphipolis is located in northern Greece 780 00:37:38,792 --> 00:37:43,458 about 100 miles from the tomb of Alexander's father, Philip. 781 00:37:43,458 --> 00:37:46,625 - Amphipolis was a city that was conquered by Philip II 782 00:37:47,792 --> 00:37:51,542 in 357 BC and Amphipolis was also the place 783 00:37:51,542 --> 00:37:53,375 where Alexander the Great prepared 784 00:37:53,375 --> 00:37:56,875 for his most important battle in Asia. 785 00:37:56,875 --> 00:38:00,500 In 2012, while archaeologists were digging, 786 00:38:00,500 --> 00:38:02,875 they found another tomb. 787 00:38:02,875 --> 00:38:03,792 (pulsating music) 788 00:38:03,792 --> 00:38:05,542 - When they go down the staircase, 789 00:38:05,542 --> 00:38:09,708 they find a series of tomb chambers, very ornate. 790 00:38:09,708 --> 00:38:12,708 The first chamber contains two large 791 00:38:12,708 --> 00:38:16,417 and headless figures of sphinxes. 792 00:38:16,417 --> 00:38:20,375 The second tomb chamber contains an elaborate mosaic 793 00:38:20,375 --> 00:38:22,667 and it depicts a scene from Greek mythology. 794 00:38:24,083 --> 00:38:26,417 - [Laurence] The mosaic depicts the arrival of death, 795 00:38:26,417 --> 00:38:28,583 and the elaborate style of the tomb 796 00:38:28,583 --> 00:38:31,708 would be typical of monuments to royalty. 797 00:38:31,708 --> 00:38:34,667 - When they go further in, they find a third tomb chamber, 798 00:38:34,667 --> 00:38:37,333 and they go into that and they find 799 00:38:37,333 --> 00:38:39,417 more evidence of human bones. 800 00:38:40,875 --> 00:38:45,042 They discover the body of a 60-year-old woman, 801 00:38:45,042 --> 00:38:47,333 the body of an infant, 802 00:38:47,333 --> 00:38:50,042 the body of a 30-year-old man, 803 00:38:50,042 --> 00:38:52,625 the body of a man in his forties, 804 00:38:52,625 --> 00:38:55,333 and the body of another individual 805 00:38:55,333 --> 00:38:57,583 whose bones are so badly degraded 806 00:38:57,583 --> 00:38:59,458 that they can't actually tell very much 807 00:38:59,458 --> 00:39:01,833 about how old this person would've been. 808 00:39:03,083 --> 00:39:06,042 - The woman's bones are the same age 809 00:39:06,042 --> 00:39:10,708 as Alexander's mother when she died at the age of 59, 810 00:39:10,708 --> 00:39:14,833 and the mid-thirties bones are obviously the same age 811 00:39:14,833 --> 00:39:18,708 as Alexander the Great was when he died. 812 00:39:19,917 --> 00:39:22,667 - [Laurence] Greek researchers plan to submit the bones 813 00:39:22,667 --> 00:39:27,042 for DNA testing to see if these people were related. 814 00:39:27,042 --> 00:39:28,708 - So it's possible that they 815 00:39:28,708 --> 00:39:30,542 could be Alexander's bones. 816 00:39:30,542 --> 00:39:33,750 However, there are still some issues with that. 817 00:39:33,750 --> 00:39:38,125 - The 30-year-old man's bones show cut marks to the chest, 818 00:39:38,125 --> 00:39:42,292 and we know this is not how Alexander the Great died. 819 00:39:42,292 --> 00:39:44,125 And also, these bones were found 820 00:39:44,125 --> 00:39:46,458 in a cheaply constructed box, 821 00:39:46,458 --> 00:39:49,708 and these are not the kinds of vessels 822 00:39:49,708 --> 00:39:53,125 that we would expect to find the remains 823 00:39:53,125 --> 00:39:54,542 of one of the greatest kings 824 00:39:54,542 --> 00:39:56,500 to ever walk the face of the earth. 825 00:39:58,542 --> 00:40:02,792 - It is also possible that the tomb was built for Alexander, 826 00:40:02,792 --> 00:40:05,000 but he was never entombed there, 827 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:08,875 having been taken down to Egypt by Ptolemy. 828 00:40:08,875 --> 00:40:10,542 - The tomb appears to have been looted 829 00:40:10,542 --> 00:40:13,542 at some point in antiquity, which is really a shame, 830 00:40:13,542 --> 00:40:18,458 because we've lost any other pieces of information 831 00:40:18,458 --> 00:40:20,542 that might be able to solve the mystery 832 00:40:20,542 --> 00:40:23,000 of who was actually buried in this tomb. 833 00:40:24,542 --> 00:40:26,625 - Optimistically, the fact that we haven't found 834 00:40:26,625 --> 00:40:28,250 Alexander's body means that 835 00:40:28,250 --> 00:40:29,375 there's hope that one day 836 00:40:29,375 --> 00:40:30,708 it may yet be found, 837 00:40:30,708 --> 00:40:32,958 that it's somewhere out there. 838 00:40:32,958 --> 00:40:35,292 And there are going to be more theories, 839 00:40:35,292 --> 00:40:38,292 more suggestions of where that could be, 840 00:40:38,292 --> 00:40:42,417 which we can bring to bear in archaeological research. 841 00:40:43,708 --> 00:40:46,292 - To find this tomb with this 842 00:40:46,292 --> 00:40:49,333 enormous figure from history 843 00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:51,875 who's super important in uniting 844 00:40:51,875 --> 00:40:53,958 the ancient world for a period of time. 845 00:40:53,958 --> 00:40:57,000 It's kind of every Egyptologist's dream 846 00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,083 to find the tomb of Alexander the Great. 847 00:41:00,042 --> 00:41:01,667 (intense music) 848 00:41:02,042 --> 00:41:02,958 - Today, the search 849 00:41:02,958 --> 00:41:03,958 for Alexander's mummy 850 00:41:03,958 --> 00:41:05,458 continues to make 851 00:41:05,458 --> 00:41:07,750 headlines around the world. 852 00:41:07,750 --> 00:41:11,417 Whether Alexander's body lies silently under a great city 853 00:41:11,417 --> 00:41:13,042 or has been obliterated by 854 00:41:13,042 --> 00:41:14,500 the forces of man or nature, 855 00:41:14,500 --> 00:41:16,542 one thing is certain. 856 00:41:16,542 --> 00:41:20,083 The story of his life still stirs fascination 857 00:41:20,083 --> 00:41:23,083 more than 2,000 years after his death. 858 00:41:23,083 --> 00:41:25,042 I'm Laurence Fishburne, 859 00:41:25,042 --> 00:41:26,625 thank you for watching 860 00:41:26,625 --> 00:41:28,958 "History's Greatest Mysteries."