Alexander missed Eratosthenes by less than a century

Eratosthenes was born in Cyrene in c.275 BC, less than fifty years after the death of Alexander the Great. I can’t help wondering about the impact this mathematician, astronomer, and geographer would have had on Alexander and his campaign had both men known each other!

When Eratosthenes was about forty years old, Ptolemy III appointed him as chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria – a position he occupied until he died in c.195 BC. The Library was attached to the Museum, and together they were meant to be a university and research center. One may wonder whether the initial idea came from Alexander himself or was developed by Ptolemy I Soter. 

On the other hand, Eratosthenes was the first to write a chronology of Greek history and literature. Some people do live an amazingly well-filled life! 

The reason for bringing Alexander into the picture is double. Firstly, he was the founder of his major city of Alexandria, in 331 BC. His architect, Dinocrates of Rhodes, had roughly been planned, who complied with Alexander’s wish to create a megapolis. That is precisely what happened as the two main streets were designed to be 30 meters wide and all the other streets 15 meters. They were oriented in such a way as to profit from the sea breeze, while at the same time, they would provide shelter from the wind.  

The city walls were impressive also and ran over a distance of 15 kilometers. A mole had to be constructed to link the island of Pharos to the mainland. As a result, Alexandria would have two large harbors protected from the northerly winds. From experience in Libya, I can confirm that the strength of those winds cannot be underestimated! 

The second reason for mentioning Alexander is because of the great merit of Eratosthenes to be the first to draw a map of the world based on the imaginary lines of longitude and latitude, which enabled him to calculate the circumference of the earth.  

Pythagoras was the first to declare that the earth was a sphere, but he could not calculate its size. This is what Eratosthenes did. At noon on the summer solstice, he recorded simultaneous measurements at  Alexandria and at Syeme (close to Aswan) 5,000 stadia further south. The sun stood straight overhead in Syeme but not in Alexandria. Using a stick to measure the shadow, Eratosthenes found none in Syeme, whereas, in Alexandria, it cast a shadow with 7 degrees. Both cities lie near the same longitude line encircling the earth, 360 degrees. At this point, Eratosthenes calculated that 7 degrees are about 1/50 of 360 degrees. In other words, this means that the distance between the two cities must be 1/50 of the entire meridian. Hence, he multiplied the 5,000 stadia by 50, and he obtained an estimate of the earth’s circumference of 250,000 stadia. To simplify calculations, he rounded this figure up to 252,000, which is evenly divisible by 360. Although scholars cannot agree on the length of a stadium, their best estimate is 157 meters. As a result, Eratosthenes’ calculation of the earth’s circumference was 39,250 kilometers against 40,000 kilometers today.

 

That is an astonishing result given the lack of instruments and means Eratosthenes had at his disposal. 

Now imagine that less than a century earlier, all Alexander knew was that the earth was flat and surrounded by the Outer Ocean. How would he have looked at our planet, and how would this knowledge influence his campaigning? Had he known, his plans could have been designed in quite a different way!

The Tomb of Amphipolis is making headlines again

There is not much news to tell about the ongoing excavations of the Tomb of Amphipolis, although for reasons beyond my comprehension it is making headlines all around the world once again.

[The two sphinxes guarding the entrance of the ancient Macedonian tomb  [Credit: INTIME NEWS]]

Excavations at Amphipolis started in 2012 (see: Has the Tomb of Roxane and young Alexander been located?) and more information was divulged in the course of 2013 (see: Roxane’s Tomb linked to the Lion of Amphipolis? and Nonsense about Alexander’s grave in Amphipolis). There is evidently the link with Alexander the Great as speculations tie this tomb to his wife, Queen Roxane who was killed by Cassander in 311 BC and to her son by Alexander the Great, Alexander IV. Nothing has been proved yet though.

The only new elements I can distill from all these news articles is that apparently the entrance to the tomb has been opened since they state that two sphinxes were guarding it. Behind them there is 4-5 meter-wide corridor covered with frescoes although no pictures have been released. I read about columns and decorations of white marble from Thasos but their whereabouts is vague (see this article in: The Greek Reporter)

All indicates that this is the burial site of a prominent Macedonian, maybe a royalty, from 325-300 BC and also that the nearby Lion of Amphipolis may have stood on top of this tumulus now under excavation. It may well have been built by the famous architect Dinocrates, a close friend of Alexander the Great.

My first idea for all this recent commotion is because the Greek state desperately needs funds to continue their excavations, for so far there is no sensational find or any exceptional key element to trigger our attention. 

Roxane’s tomb linked to the Lion of Amphipolis?

Much sooner than I expected, there is a sequel to my short article “Has the tomb of Roxane and young Alexander been located?” In spite of financial shortcuts, it seems archaeological work on this site has not been halted.

We all know that it was Cassander who, as king of Macedonia, sent  Queen Roxane and her son by Alexander the Great to Amphipolis to murder them both shortly afterwards. Under these circumstances, it sounds very strange to hear that this tomb was erected by Dinocrates, builder of Alexandria in Egypt, and the favorite architect of Alexander the Great. Alexander had a soft spot for Amphipolis, from where his fleet sailed east with him in 334 BC, and the city he intended to honor with a magnificent temple – a plan that never materialized due to the king’s untimely death. 

Since my story appeared in October 2012, about three-quarters of the total perimeter of the so-called Kasta Tumulus  has been exposed, making this tomb almost as large as the one in Vergina. The wall of the monument is built of limestone blocks covered with marble slabs from Thasos. It is clear that part of the stones have disappeared or have been removed for use elsewhere over time. It is surprising, however, that archaeologists have been able to establish that the blocks of marble used in the reconstruction of the nearby Lion of Amphipolis actually pertain to this very tomb. It is obvious to whoever has visited this lion monument that a great number of loose blocks and columns are lying around. One of the architects working on the present excavations, M Lefantzis, went so far as to assume that the tomb itself once was covered with soil and topped with a lion, the one that has been reassembled further uphill and known as the Lion of Amphipolis.

During the second century AD, the tomb was deliberately and thoroughly destroyed by the Romans, dragging most of the blocks, including the lion, into the Strymon River. Why this happened and why in such a violent way, I don’t know. At the time of the Balkan wars (1912-1913), Greek soldiers dug out a great deal of blocks from the Strymon riverbed, which led to reassembling the lion monument at the spot where we see it today. A great many pieces could not find a reasonable place in the reassembling works, and they were left behind at the foot of the monument.

Today’s archaeologists are once again collecting and categorizing the numerous marble blocks from the river bed as well as from around the Lion of Amphipolis, and because they have not found a penis, have come to the conclusion that we are looking at a lioness instead. While a lion statue may be used to honor a male hero or king, a lioness traditionally crowns a female tomb. Because of the large size of the Roxane tumulus, it is automatically linked with a female of royal blood, and who else would be important enough here in Amphipolis at the end of the fourth century BC but Roxane?

The inside of the tumulus still remains a secret, and it is quite an exciting thought that it might be the burial site of two persons so dear to Alexander, even if he has never seen his son and heir by Roxane.