Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-03-10

phone.
III concentrations shoad 1s addressed to Gazette,
AleTandria Ia.
atereG at the PostcGice et A1ezandr:a, 1irgsia, az
seconG-clG8s matter.
The Tomb OF the Great IsHSander.
Aychmologists have been enthused some
what during the past weeil by dispatch
from Constan6nople announcing The dis
covery Of the ssrcophagus of Alexander the
Great ST Saida (encient Sidon), or the
Syrian cosst. How the body ever reached
Ss!ds, or why Il finally received sopuIture
ihero IS ths question which above All 9th
efs puzzles historians, as Alexander cied
ia Babylon June II, 323 g. o., and accord
inc % the best authorities. his body was ea-
lomhed 10 Alexandria. He had ordered
that his remains should DO transferred 20
tns Temple Of Ammon, but Ptoiemy kept it
81 Memphis in q golden cssket. Later on
il was removed 10 Alexandra, where the
remains were placed in an ancient glass
cuskeJ. Julius Cesar and Augustus viewed
the ody, which had been embalmed accord
ing 10 the Egyptian method. Under Alex.
ander SeYerus ne ;omb which enclosed the
conQuerer disappeared without sny one ever
being able 10 find it again. kSe Egyptians
and the Chaideans charged with the en-
balming Of tbs body, according 10 their
metbod, dared not at first put hand to it
lest il might still breathe. Then, having
prayed that it be permitted 10 mortas TO
touch L, they washed it, embalmed it and
put il upon throne OF gold, with the regal
ornaments upon its head. Conformable
10 the last wishes Of Alexander. bis
BODY was to be transf rred TO the
Temple of Jupiter AmmoD, but this dis.
pasition OF the remains was changed by
Ptolemy, who felt TIE great importance of
possessing such legacy. There YVES moth
ing to equal the magnifcence ofthe car upon
which the body of Alexander was transport
ed. I. took ten years to bnild it with its
accessories. During that period the body
OF the prince was among his generals. 1t
was ai!erward transported under She charge
OF Arrbideus. from Babylon TO Memphis,
where it rested in q golden casket. Later,
under Ptolemy Softer, 1t was transferred to
Alexandria, where it was put in another
casket Of glass, after being taken out of tie
golden casket. julius Cesar eaw it in this
condition. None Of the monuments with
which Alexandria was filled vas more it,
terestiDg Cesar, filed with emotion. went
down into the tomb Of the Macedonian hero
| in the same manner in which in our days
Napoleon visited the tomb of Frederick
the Great. Augustus also wished to view
the remains Of Alexander. He had the
body taken from the casket, put on it q
crown of gold apG covered il with flowers.
Diou Cassius tells US thGt the Emperor
Seyerus, having carried away from the
temples many mysterious books, ordered
that they be placed in the tomb of
Alexander and forbade that they be
shown 10 tho pTofape. Since that
time il is not known what hes be.
come of the tomb. Perhaps it was destroyed
and .ho body orumhled into dust during
ore Of those instructions SO frequent in
Alexandrie. Besides, the Christians would
not have let such q monument remain in the
midst Of tho Bruchian quarter, 8here they
had Just changed the temple of Bacchus in
! to a Christian church. ST. John Chrysos-
tom spesks Of the tomb of Alexande! as for.
gotten in his tine-thet is, to8ard the END
of the fourth century
That the sarcophaeus which has Just been
unearthed is rot that of Philips son may be
reasonably inferred, as there were many
AIexanders in ancient times, and this relic
Of antiquity may be no more than the tomb
of some obscure king who bore thu name of
the famous Macedonian; for instance,
Alexander Balae King of Syria, murdered
! =.
( OF Svria. pu, 80 death after an adventurous
csreer in 122 3 @. The nsme Alexander"
has been a common one among the Greeks
from the time OF The first possessor or 1t.
Possibly The sarcophagus may have been
Dayi of conotaph monument raised by the
people Of Sidon 70 Alexander, TO whom, in
his career ofviciory, they bad opened their
gates in 333 g. c., acknowledging him as
master, and whom they undoubtedly wor.
shipped as god during the remainder OF
his life.
saida, where the sarcophsgus has been
found. is the Arabic name Of ancient ST.
don. which YVES for many years tho princi-
nal CITY of Pbnaicia. 1t is on the Syrian
coast. midway between Sur Tyre and Bel
rnt TIE ancient city extended some eight
hundred wards further inland The barbor
st present is in wretched state, as it was
/ 10 some extent purposelv filed up. In the
neighborhood Of Saida are some very ex-
tspsive Pboeaician burial places. Many sar-
oophagi are found, among which, on Janu-
arv 20. 1855. VAS that of EshmunaZar, which
4 is now Ia the Louvre. Ia the gear 6o!-S
Sidop was taken By the Arabs. During the
/ crusades it was sometimes in the power OF
one party, sometimes in that of the other.
/ II was taken foaily by the Mohammedans
! ia 1891. Since the close of the eighteenth
century lis commerce has gradually passed
away and its power has steadily declined.
/ About the time that the sarcophagus OF
Kjne Eshmunazar was found several pots OF
cold coin of the age of Alexander were dis
/ entombed. The contents were worth
$40 600. One of these coins was sent to the
/ late Rev. E. H CumptoD, Presbyterian
minister, formerly of this city, and was ex'
hibited in this Office by that gentleman
tarae or four gears ago. The coin was OF
about the size of five-dollar gold piece, and
uuon one side bore the vignette and name ol