The Remains of Alexander the Great: The God, The King, The Symbol

Each site, Siwah, Aegae, and Alexandria, represents a particular facet of Alexander—the god, the king, the symbol—and it is clear who would have benefited from putting forth and standing behind each side of the man. The meanings associated with the three potential burial sites and the intentions of each site’s main supporters offer a complex and telling view into Alexander and the post-Alexander world. This article is available in Constructing the Past: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/constructing/vol10/iss1/8 Constructing the Past 35 The Remains of Alexander the Great: The God, The King, The Symbol Lauren O’Connor Introduction On June 10, 323 BC, Alexander the Great died of fever in Babylon after battling illness for several days. He had conquered the Persian Empire, traveled farther east than the god Dionysus, and survived a multitude of war wounds. Alexander left no clear successor, though he had a son, Heracles, and another child on the way by his Bactrian wife, Roxane. We are told by Curtius Rufus that Alexander left his kingdom “to the best man.” Shortly after the king’s untimely death, civil war broke out between potential successors, according to Curtius, and when the dust began to settle there was still no obvious heir to Alexander’s great kingdom. The territory he had conquered was divided into satrapies and Alexander’s generals took local commands; the kingdom was split and never reunited. In the meantime, while the attention of the world was focused elsewhere, what happened to the remains of Alexander? Surely his body would have been a powerful symbol even when lifeless. However, despite the potential iconic status of the cold dead king, he was left for days without care, did not receive a proper funeral, and his last wishes were unfulfilled. Alexander, suffering for several days before his death, knew his end was imminent. This knowledge did not urge him to name an official successor, but he did request a burial site: the temple of Zeus-Ammon in the Siwah oasis in northern Africa, where he was addressed as the son of Ammon. Tradition would have dictated burial in the royal Argead tombs at Aegae in Macedon. Ptolemy, one of Alexander’s trusted generals and a childhood friend, had snagged the satrapy of Egypt, and soon after snatched Alexander’s body in Syria and brought it back to Memphis for eventual and permanent interment at Alexandria. Thus, we are left with three key locations in the aftermath of Alexander’s death. Each site, Siwah, Aegae, and Alexandria, represents a particular facet of Alexander—the god, the king, the symbol—and it is clear who would have benefited from putting forth and standing behind each side of the man. The meanings associated with the three potential burial sites and the intentions of each site’s main supporters offer a complex and telling view into Alexander and the post-Alexander world. The End of an Era: Alexander’s Death Before launching discussing each of the three key locations, it will be helpful to examine Alexander’s death. Alexander the Great died of an unknown 1 Quintus Curtius Rufus, History of Alexander, translated by John Yardley (London: Penguin Classics, 2001), 10.5.5. 2 Curt. 10.10.9, 13, 20. 3 Plutarch, Life of Alexander, translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert. (London: Penguin Classics, 1973) 27, 283; Curt. 4.7.25. 4 Andrew Erskine, “Life After Death: Alexandria and the Body of Alexander,” Greece & Rome 49, no. 2 (October 2002), http://www.jstor.org/stable/826904 (accessed November 15, 2008), 169. 5 Curt., 10.10.20.