Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-03-09
ALEXANDER.
DISCUSSING TIE ALLxeED prscovERY
AT saba.
The Opinions Of Eminent seholsrs-where
wss the Great General
Huriedi

amid the ruins near Saida has evidently
provoked a great deal Of curiosity IN
Paris.
OPINION OF PROFESSOR scHuLTz
Professor Oscar Schultz, well-known
Saxon antiquarian and professor whom
interviewed, says:
1.-The great thing is TO find out what
motive could have induced Alexander to
be buried at saba. Saida was the rivai
Of Tyre, where Alexander lost an eye,
aud against which he may have had a
spite. But undoubtedly he manifested
a desire to be buried at Alexandria
Now, Alexandria was burned down, as
the most superficial historical student
knows. Possibly by seeing the ssr,
cnphagus l might get out OF the world
OF hypothesis upon which all this DIS
covery is built. 1 incline TO think some
existing record wonld have shown us
that the remains OF Alexander w're
buried at saba.
"The only feasible reason can sup
pose is that Alexander may have wished
to have favored saba, the opulence OF
which was relegatcd TO second place by
the prosperity OF Tyre. Probably no
antiquarian ever had more ticklish task
than decision Of this matter.
NJ. oPPRRr's LUCID VIEWS.
NJ. Oppert, member of the Institute,
who spent two years and half IN Baby
lon, and was requested by the French
Government TO make scientific expedl-
ton in Mesopotamis, is type OF the
French saUant. His knowledge OF the
topography of districts connected with
Alexander the Great is marvellous. de
has maps OF the hanging gardens OF
Babylon and he speaks of the Euphrates
rs if il were the Thames or Seine.
First" said Nj. Oppert. "let us go
bock TO the last illness OF this extraordi-
nary man. During its first stage he was
in the ancient palace, which Is now the
Arab quarter. Thence he was carried
TO the grottoes in the hanging gardens
He vas then borne scroSs the Euphrates
70 the northern palace. There were four
changes during his illness OF eleven days.
and after his death the whole thing, said
NJ. Oppert, sis as clear as any hlstorl-
cal fact can be. The body was taken to
Alexandria, where a splendid monument
was erected. which has been described
by Diodorus, of Sicily. Alexander 8
tomb was in the most brilliant part OF
the city. called the Bruche-ion, which Is
now on the southeast end OF modern
Alexandria. This monument was not lar
from the museum of the library OF the
GREAT Theatre of Neptune and the palace
OF Ptolemy."
HISTORY Is CORRECT.
"How does this refer to the destina-
tion OF the remains of Alexander
al only want to show you that his
tory is not so much in the dark as peo-
pie imagine. Thus Sidon, or Saida, was
an unimportant place. 1t was first
Syrian, then Roman, and then the seat
OF minor bishopric. cannot see,
taking into account the Arab reverence
for the dead, why the body should have
been brought to Saida, and believe the
discovery TO be what you call in English
q 'humbug, not unlike the Shapiro man
uscript fraud. The body was buried at
Alexandria and remained in Alexandria.
The Arab invasion took place thousand
years after the burial of Alexander, and
there could have been no pretext for
translating the remains of the Emperor.
BURIED IN THE OASIS OF JUPITER.
NJ. Durny, the honest. learned ex-
Minister of Public instruction during
the empire, lives in an humble apart
ment in the kue de Medicis. He said:
"My own studies lead me to suppose
that Perdiccss. at the beginning OF his
regency, directed the body OF Alexander
10 be buried in the oasis OF Jupiter AM
mon, where there was q temple OF that
name. You know, Of course, that &C
cording to the legend Alexander was the
son OF Jupiter Ammon and was positively
worshipped as such. Ptolemy undoubt-
edly stopped the cortege and took posses.
sion Of the remains as kind of symbol
OF his possession or usurpation OF Egypt.
The Saba story is evidently false. u
course there were many Alexanders.
"You tell me You have heard great
deal about the reverence of the Arabs
for the dead. That is al delusion.
Arabs will rob anything. Don't you re-
member at the end Of the empire the
scandal caused by the exhibition of the
remains OF an Egyptian princess at the
door OF a arocer's shop, near the Place
du Chatelet? In the end the body wa'
utilized for making up sepla. So mucl
for the Arabs and their respect for the
dead"
FRAUD OR MISTAKE.
nj. Broussiali, an Armenian professor
persists in saying the discovery is either
q rank fraud or "a mistake.
Alexander was finally buried at Alex
andria. There is no earthly reason fol
surprising that his body was spirited of
TO Saida. The sepulchre was probably
pillaged by Arabs. The body must have
been burned or cast to the winds at some
portion OF the long interval"
ADMIRAL aRAvIERE's REASONING.
Admiral Jurien do la Grsviere. thu
new Academician, is q great authority OF
all matters appertaining to Alexander
the Great. His opinion is that the sar
cophagus is not that of Alexander.
IAN we know" says the Admiral, "i
IUtt httAhuUOi OrpAShetS0 D"tJtO As %%N
as the future seat OF the empire, but a
his own mausoleum. The ordinary place
would have been Aegoe. the ST Denis
or Westminster Abbey of Macedonia
Ptolemy. however, took them TO Mem
phis. The body was placed in q COLDER
coffin and af'erwsrd translated to Alex
sndris, his birthplace. There II re-
NAMED for two centuries Just eighteen
years before Christ the sepnlchre wa'
profsned, but forty years after Chris
nobody could say where the body of ths
Great Alexander was laid"
"Btill. the deposit must have beer
sacred one.
"Yes; but for that il would be neces
sary 10 60 back upon the politics OF Per
diccas and Ptolemy. 1 am afraid, as
said before, that the discovery is no
genuine. I have written . book on Tn,
campaigns OF Alexander, and l canno
remember all the authorities consulted
Still cannot fathoIn why he should
have been buried at Saba. The dis
coyery seems 10 be announced with gres
gertrude, but shall be incredulous Ill
hear great deal more Of the matter.
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