The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-03-11
ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
What Few Antiqnarians Say ofthe Reported
Discovery of His SarcOphagus.
Paris cable Special to New York Herald.


ing the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great
In May of last year Handy Boy discovered in
the course of excavations at Sid0n eleven sarco
phaei-four Phenician and seven Greek. The
former had already been -descdbed and illus.
trated ia French archaeological journal, but
Handy saved the Greek ones to make q book
about them. which will appear a few
months hence. All these are now in Constan-
| tinopie in boxes. and will be exhibited soon
as n fitting room be prepared One
of the Greek sarcophagi is of such huge proper
tions, magn1cence of sculpture and coloring,
that from the start the discoveries first as
sumed it to be the tomb of some Assyrian King.
| But Handy devoted deep research TO the work
| Of studying the sculpture and concluded finally
| that the sarcophagus was that of Alexander the
| Great Its sculpture, on this theory represents
| the battle or Arabela, lion hunt. aud the bat
tie of Granicus, all the relieves being splendid
and OF almost unexampled artistic merit The
| sarcophagus is nearly twelve feet long, seven
/ high, and i've and one-half broad and the total
weight is twenty-h five tons, of which the cover
weighs ten Lis all of fine Parian marble.
| photograph of it has been sent to a number of
/ French savants. including Renan, and some of
them are now there studying it.
| Professor Oscar Schultz, a wellknown Saxon
| antiquarian and professor, whom interviewed,
says:
The great thing is find out what motive
could have induced Alexander to be buried at
/ Saida Saba the rival of Tyre, where Al
| exander lost eye, and against which he may
| have had quite a spite But undoubtedly he
| manifested desire TO be buried at Alexandria.
Now Alexandria was burned down, as the most
| superficial historical student knows Possibly
! by seeing the sarcophagus / might get ont of the
| world of hypothesis upon which all this discov-
| cry Is built | incline to think some existing
record would have shown US that tho remains of
Alexander were buried at Saba.
1.-The only feasible reason can suppose is that
Alexander may have wished TO favor Saba. the
| opulence of which was relegated 10 second place
by the prosperity of Tyre Probably no anti
| quarian ever had more ticklish task than a de-
| cision of this matter"
III. Oppert. member of the Institute. who spent
two years and half in Babylon. and was re-
| quested by the French government make
scientific expedition in Mesopotamia is a type
OF the French savant. His knowledge of the
Biography of districts connected with Alexander
the Grsat is marvellous. He has maps of the
hanging gardens of Babylon and he speaks of
the Euphrates as if it were the Thames Seine.
First said M. Opperr. ''let go back to the
last illness of this extraordinary man. During
its first stage he in the ancient palace. which
is now the Arab quarter. Thence he was
fied TO the grottoes in the hanging gardens. He
was then borne across the Euphrates to the
northern palace. There were four changes dur
ing his illness of eleven days. and after his death
the whole thing" said NJ Oppert. rs clear
as any historical fact be. The body was
taken to Alexandra. where splendid monu-
ment was erected. which hes been described bv
Diodorus of Sicily. Alexanders tomb was in
the most brilliant part of the city, called the
Brucheion, which is now on the southeast end
not far from the museum of the library of the
great Theater of Neptune and the palace of
Ptoemy."
How does this refer to the destination of the
remains of Alexander"
II only want TO show you that history is not
so much in the dark people imagine. Thus
Sidon, or Saba, was an unimportant place. 1t
was first Syrian. then Roman, and then the
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 cali
in English shumbug,' not unlike the Shapiro
manuscript fraud. The body was buried at AL
exandria and remained in Alexandria The
Arab invasion took place a thousand years after
the burial of Alexander and there could have
beeen no pretext for translating the remains IF
the Emperor
Nj. Durny, the honest learned ex-Minister OF
Public instruction during the Empire, lives in
humble apartment In the Rue de Medcis He
said:
my own studies lead me to suppose that
Perdiccas, at the beginning of his regency.
directed the body of Alexander be buried in
the oasis of Jupiter Ammon. where there was a
temple of that name. You know, of course,
that according to the legend Alexander was the
SON or Jupiter Ammon and was positively
shipped such Ptolemy undoubtedly stopped
the cortege and took possession of the remains
as a kind of symbol of his possession usurpa-
ton of Egypt. The saba story is evidently
false. OF course there were many Alexanders.
You tell me you have heard great deal
about the reverence of the Arabs for the dead.
That is all delnsion. Arabs will rob anything.
Don't You remember at the end of the empire
the scandal caused by the exhibition of the re-
mains of an Egg tian Princess at the door of q
grocer's shop the Place du Chatelet? In
the end the body was utilized for making up
sepia. So much for the Arabs and their respect
for the dead"
NJ Broussial. an Armenian professor, per-
sists in saying the discovery is either rank
fraud mistake.
alexander was finally buried at Alexandria
There is earthly for supposing that
his body was spirited off to saba. The sepnl-
chre was probably pillaged by Arabs. The body
must have been burned or cast to the winds at
some portion of the long interval"
Admiral Jurien de La Graviere, the new Aca-
demician, is great authority on all matters ap-
pertaining to Alexander the Great His opinion
10 that the sarcophagus is not that of Alexander
..Ali we know" says the Admiral. lis that
Alexander designated Babylon. not as the future
seat of the empire but as his mausoleum.
The ordinary place would have been Aegoe, the
st. Denis Westminster Abbey of Macedonia |
Ptolemy. however, took them to Memphis. The |
body was placed in golden coffin and after |
ward translated to Alexandria, his birthplace. |
There it remained for centuries. Just |
eighteen years before Christ the sepulchre was |
profaned but forty years after Christ nobody |
could say where the body of the Great Alexander |
was laid"
Still, the deposit must have been a sacred |
one"
'Yes, but for that it would be necessary to 60
back upon the politics of Perdiccas and Ptole |
envy | afraid | said before that the |
on the campaigns of Alexander, and ] cannot /
all the authorities | consulted Still
1 CANNOT IaGnoIn why De SDOuld nave been buried
at Saida. The discovery seems TO be snnounced
with great gertrude, but shall be incred1lous
till hear great deal more Of the matter"
NJ. Louis Bouieier, professor of history at the
College RoIn said:
II should not like to give any opinion concern
ing the remarkable discovery at Saba until we
have copious description of the
and its contents. Saba. ancient
Sidon. was you remember. huge burying place
of all the kings OF Syria. beginning with Seleu-
Gus. who succeeded Alexander. This makes it
3 whether discovery
value. / have always learned and taught that
the original sarcophagus of Alexander was of
gold. It of the features of Alexandria,
with its glass frontage. just as the coffin of
ia one of the sights of Mecca. Cesar
and Augustus. according to Plntarch are re-
ported to have been among the siehtseers."
What, then, is your suppositon concerning
Alexander's remaiDsF
There is a theory that one of the Greek EN-