The birth of Egyptology under Napoleon

Napoleon was fascinated by Alexander the Great, and for that reason, he deserves some attention as France celebrated the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death on 5 May 2021. 

The young general launched his Egyptian campaign in 1798 in order to cut off the British route to India. At the same time, he intended to free Egypt from the Mameluk warriors. With his fleet, he landed in Alexandria and fought his way inland to Cairo and the Pyramids. Unfortunately for him, the British Royal Navy, under the command of Lord Nelson, sunk the French fleet on the Nile, and Napoleon was forced to return to France, leaving his troops behind – something Alexander would never have done! 

However, Napoleon somehow managed to turn his disastrous campaign into a cultural and scientific victory. Egypt, in those days, had little or no interest in the legacy of the great pharaohs from antiquity, which they dismissed as pagan. 

Inspired by Alexander, Napoleon added a large number of scientists, engineers, artists, cartographers, botanists, mathematicians, and art connoisseurs to his army. History does not remember most of their names, but it is worth mentioning, for instance, Mathieu de Lesseps, whose son Ferdinand built the Suez Canal half a century later (see also: The canal of the pharaohs, the Suez Canal of antiquity). Napoleon founded the Institute of Egypt with four distinctive sections: Mathematics, Physics, Political Economy, and Literature and Arts. 

Napoleon’s scientific expedition made extensive studies of the pyramids and temples of Egypt, and in particular of the statues of Pharaohs like the head of Amenhotep III, which can still be admired in the Louvre today. At that time, a slab of black basalt was discovered at Rosetta, some 35 miles from Alexandria, displaying a trilingual inscription in Greek, Demotic, and Egyptian hieroglyphs. 

After the Battle of the Nile in 1798, Napoleon lost most of the excavated objects to the British, including the Stone of Rosetta and the Sarcophagus of Nectanebo II, which, among other items, ended up in the British Museum. 

Importantly, the French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the hieroglyphs using the Greek text on the Stone of Rosetta to guide him. This was a huge step forward in discovering and studying the culture of ancient Egypt. Interestingly, the inscription on the stone honors Ptolemy V, who lived from 210-180 BC. 

During his extensive campaigns, Napoleon didn’t shy away from acquiring whatever artifact pleased him or was of some value. Most of his collection ended up at the Louvre and included, for instance, the Horses of San Marco in Venice (which originally stood in the Hippodrome of Constantinople) and one splendid frieze from the Parthenon in Athens.

Buried secrets of Heliopolis

Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, was the religious center of Egypt for more than 3,000 years. Unfortunately, the only surviving testimony of this glorious past is the obelisk of the Temple of Ra-Atum on the outskirts of modern Cairo. This 21-meter-high red granite needle was erected by Sesostris I, who reigned from 1971 until 1926 BC.

What brings me to Heliopolis is Alexander, of course. After entering Egypt at Pelusium, his fleet sailed up the Nile to Memphis while he led his troops on foot to Heliopolis. Arrian simply states that the king arrived at Heliopolis and proceeded from there to Memphis to make his offerings to Apis, the sacred bull.

These lines raise many questions. In my mind, it would be evident that Alexander would seek the blessing of the gods to be enthroned as the new pharaoh of Egypt. Strangely enough, I found nothing in our historical sources to confirm this. Moreover, there is a general tendency to place his official proclamation as pharaoh in Memphis instead.

The fact remains that Alexander saw the City of the Sun still in its full glory, with its countless temples and at least 30 towering obelisks. The sunrise over Heliopolis must have been a sight for sore eyes when the first sunrays hit the golden pyramidal point on the obelisks! For centuries, Heliopolis had been the old religious center for the Egyptians. Every pharaoh made it to the sacred city where the gods would confer him their power. So, what happened? Why did this practice change? And more importantly, when did this change occur?

According to the Egyptians, in the beginning, there was the Ocean. Atum was the first god who existed, but nobody knew. Atum rose from the primeval waters and settled on a hill he had created. From his body emerged the first godly couple: Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of fire. They, in turn, gave birth to Geb, the god of war, and Nut, the goddess of heaven. Their children were Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. These nine gods and goddesses ruled the world, and much later, they transferred their power to the pharaoh. This is how the legality of the king was tied to his ancestral link to the gods. The sun, Ra, of course, occupied the primary role. Hence, the name Atum-Ra or Ra-Atum is used when referring to the first god.

The oldest inscription to that effect carries the name of Djoser, who, in the first half of the 2700^th century BC, recognized the importance of Heliopolis and built several monuments in that city. About 2100 BC, Thebes erected its principal temple to Amon-Re, inspired by the largest temple of Heliopolis. When he became pharaoh in 1353 BC, Akhenaton ordered the destruction of all the existing temples in his empire, except those of Heliopolis.

Another unusual situation developed when the Nubian Piankhi conquered Egypt in 744 BC. As a non-Egyptian, he definitely needed to be recognized and legitimized as the new dynastic ruler. Heliopolis still played its role and confirmed Piankhi as the new pharaoh of Egypt.

The Persians, who invaded the country in 525 BC, had no intention whatsoever to submit to the Egyptian gods. They plundered and raised the sacred enclosure by one square kilometer. Somehow, Heliopolis managed to recover and build or rebuild several temples. The last pharaoh in Heliopolis's records is Nectanebo in 379 BC. He could avoid a new Persian attack in 374/373 BC. His son ruled for only two years, as his brother betrayed him and put his son on the throne. This was Nectanebo II, who was defeated by the Persians at Pelusium in 343 BC. This was the situation when Alexander arrived in Egypt in 332 BC to become the new pharaoh.

From the above history, we know for sure that at the end of the 4^th century BC, Heliopolis still functioned as the sacred city where the new pharaoh was confirmed in his functions. It does not sound too far-fetched to assume that Alexander went to Heliopolis just for that purpose. Why else would he have traveled that way? If his intention was not to be confirmed as pharaoh in the City of the Sun, he could have sailed down to Memphis directly instead.

Arrian's reference to Alexander's sacrifices to Apis in Memphis may make us assume that the ceremony was tied to his official recognition as pharaoh. But that is not necessarily the case, for this protocol could have been performed in both locations. On the other hand, it is plausible that Arrian, living in the 2^nd century AD, mentions Memphis because, in his days, Heliopolis no longer played any role. It has been established that Alexandria eventually became Egypt's political capital under Ptolemaic rule and Memphis' religious capital. Heliopolis was slowly abandoned, it seems. The reason for this shift remains obscure.

The city of Heliopolis is enigmatic because close to nothing remains for us to see. The constructions that survived after the site was abandoned in favor of Memphis were mainly taken down, and the readily available construction material served to build medieval Cairo. The stones used at Heliopolis came from a local quarry of quartzite that appeared in a rather unique shading of colors. The top layer was beige, the middle one dark brown, and the bottom pink. Despite this gradation, it is nearly impossible to track down these blocks as they were randomly inserted in medieval and later buildings. Heliopolis thus emptied of its walls, and statues eventually disappeared from the surface of the earth.

Recently, Heliopolis has been in the news because the empty parcel of land next to the lonely obelisk is to be turned into a building site. Suddenly, rescue excavations are taking place to map the scant remains still hidden in this tiny section of the ancient city. I'm afraid the results will be meager, but every little bit of information will contribute to creating a valuable picture of this majestic old city.

Another aspect that deserves to be underscored is that Heliopolis was a notorious learning center. Its so-called House of Life was a meeting place where the priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks, like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon, consulted the available library that contained the entire history of Egypt. This seat of learning was eventually moved to Alexandria once the city was completed. However, it is unclear whether Heliopolis and Alexandria shared a similar interest or if the House of Life was transferred entirely to Alexandria to become its Museum (see also: Libraries in Antiquity, a short overview).

The ultimate fate of Heliopolis remains obscure because no systematic excavations could be carried out underneath modern Cairo. Also, many decorative elements from Heliopolis have been moved elsewhere.

 The Ptolemies brought many sphinxes from Sun City to Alexandria. Obelisks were an eye-catcher that impressed the world, and they were carried away as booty. Italy, with its Roman heritage, may possess the most significant collection. Rome, for instance, has examples standing in front of the Pantheon, at the center of the Piazza del Popolo and the Piazza Montecitorio, outside their central train station, and in front of the Basilica of the Vatican. Florence displays an obelisk in the Boboli Gardens of the Palazzo Pitti. One of "Cleopatra's Needles" arrived in London from Alexandria, and another traveled to New York to be re-erected between Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Istanbul has yet another obelisk standing at the center of the ancient hippodrome.

If such widespread plunder has been traced for the obelisks and the sphinxes, who knows what happened to Heliopolis' rich collection of statues, reliefs, and other decorative elements!

Admiration for Alexander, or adulation, or veneration?

Alexander, more than any other conqueror or King, has fired the imagination of scores of people over the centuries. In many eastern countries, his memory is still alive as locals can point you to a road he took, a mountain path he climbed, or a fort he built. Cities, lakes, and strongholds are named after him, and legends are still being told as bedtime stories and by traveling bards.

It must have started right after Alexander died in Babylon, by his generals and soldiers alike. We will remember how the men insisted on saying their goodbyes to their dying King. Despite their differences, they carried him in their hands when they refused to join him in his attempt to reach the outer eastern ocean, the end of the world as they knew it. Alexander's generals fought for nearly forty years to rule over at least part of his empire, maybe out of greed or ambition. Still, it all goes back to their admiration for Alexander and desire to follow in his footsteps.

The fight over his corpse is another sign. We must be thankful to Ptolemy that he snatched Alexander's funeral carriage from Perdiccas' escort to Macedonia. Had Alexander's body arrived in his homeland for burial, as was customary for all Macedonian kings, we may never have heard of the adulation and veneration he enjoyed in the following centuries. It took some chaotic years till Macedonia had a new ruler, and when this happened, it turned out to be Cassander, Parmenion's son. We know how he treated Alexander's son, Alexander IV, his wife Roxane, and his mother, Olympias! There would have been little or no hope for any respect or consideration for Alexander's body had it fallen in Cassander's hands.

We owe it to the Ptolemaic dynasty, which ended with Cleopatra of Egypt, that Alexander's body was kept "in state." In Egypt, the Great King's shrine was visited by many, the best known being the Roman Emperors. Julius Cesar is said to have wept over his tomb; Octavian, the later Emperor Augustus, laid a golden crown on the mummified corpse breaking off his nose in the process; the half-witted Caligula dressed up with Alexander's breastplate taken from the mausoleum; Vespasian must have visited the tomb since he reigned out of Alexandria instead of Rome; Hadrian crowned himself with the elephant headdress on specially issued coins in Alexandria, in an imitation of Alexander; Septimius Severus is reported to have been shocked by the accessibility of the dead King's remains and ordered the burial chamber to be sealed off; Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, claimed to be the reincarnation of Alexander and is said to have taken some cups and weapons from the tomb. Clearly, the Roman emperors' admiration turned into adulation as they set out to imitate Alexander, whom they saw as their example and hero.

One of the most striking and best-known images of Alexander is, without doubt, the mosaic discovered in the Villa of the Faun in Pompeii. We do not know who lived in that house and ordered this magnificent floor, but he must have been quite an admirer of Alexander, an adulator even.

Even in our modern times, I hear many tales of people creating Alexander shrines in their homes, enhancing their interiors with copies of statues, and wearing Alexander coins around their necks. In the third century already, a Roman aristocratic family wore coins with Alexander's image as jewels or stitched onto their garments. They reportedly ate from plates carrying a picture of his face and used unique bowls telling his life story! And this was only the beginning, of course. Shortly afterward, it became fashionable among the people of Constantinople to wear an Alexander coin on their heads to protect them from evil. Alexander's effigy soon appeared on coins and medallions of all sizes and shapes. Pure veneration, isn't it?

In the footsteps of the Roman Emperors, later rulers would be treading. Napoleon wishfully considered that he had found Alexander's tomb during his campaign in Egypt, but it turned out to be that of Nectanebo II. The so-called Alexander sarcophagus, now in the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul, depicting a fighting Alexander, never contained his body; it was found in Sidon and was made by a Phoenician admirer of the King.

Tsarina Catherine of Russia was inspired by Alexander and named her grandson after him, telling him about the extraordinary exploits of his illustrious namesake. In a way, her ambition to build a vast empire was similar to Alexander's. In fact, when the Russians adopted the orthodox religion from the tenth century onward, the Alexander tradition had been carried over, and he became their hero.

King Louis XIV of France took great interest in Alexander the Great and proclaimed himself the new Alexander – why not? He commissioned a series of paintings by Charles Le Brun to enhance his palaces. Since the French King's fashions were copied by other European courts, we see painters at work in the palaces of Italy, Spain, Germany, and Austria, bringing the saga of Alexander back to life once again.

Whether or not Alexander thought of himself as a god or simply from godly descent, once he was dead, many people considered him to be a god or at least a hero. In our modern world, either definition is hard to value as nobody anymore reaches the state of godliness. Christianity has handily replaced all the gods of the ancient pantheon with saints, so today, we would speak about sainthood and then only in the context of the Christian belief, which has nothing in common with Alexander's great exploits. The church counts many saints called Alexander, but none refer to Alexander the Great. 

On the other hand, today's heroes can only be found among those achieving heroic deeds like saving a stranger from a fire, drowning, or rescuing a comrade in war. The heroics of antiquity were of a different kind, attributed to men who, in their achievements, surpassed those of ordinary people and were placed somewhere between heaven and earth. Men like Achilles and Alexander, of course, but also dynastic leaders among the Ptolemies and Seleucids. We know that when Hephaistion died, the army honored him as a hero (not waiting for the official confirmation by the Egyptian priests) – they could not have done less for Alexander.

Time and again, I'm surprised to hear how many people carry Alexander in the corner of their hearts, often with a sense of homesickness for a time they never shared and a man who never had his equal in later history. So many wanted and tried to emulate him, to no avail. Yet he should be proud of his achievements, for he left us such incredible memories. One of his prominent heritages is definitely Hellenism, which spread around the world like wildfire and persisted for centuries in the East and the West. Rome or Alexandria could not have known their grandeur without Alexander's heritage, nor could the Graeco-Bactrian or the Indo-Bactrian civilizations have flourished. Persia's revival under the Sassanid dynasty existed because of Alexander, and Christianity or even Islam could not have caught on without the Greek language, which rested on Hellenism – all this we can thank Alexander for!

[Top photograph: Colin Farrell as Alexander in Oliver Stone's movie]

The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great by Andrew Chugg

The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great (ISBN 0955679001) is not a sequel to Chugg’s 2004 “The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great.” It is more of a 2007 update, meaning that there is no need to be aware of what he wrote previously to dig into this captivating story to find out how much ground he covered over the past three years!

Personally, I like Chugg’s analytical approach to this whole quest. He checks and quotes all the authors from antiquity, the Islamic world, and the Middle Ages down to the most recent books and research, working through them like a police investigator. 

His book includes, for instance, a very clear table of Alexander’s illness in Babylon based on what can be found in ancient literature; a list of all his inflicted wounds; the various sources stating Alexander’s wish to be buried in Egypt; detailed maps of the Serapeum in Memphis and the available tomb of Pharaoh Nectanebo II where he probably was laid to rest pending the construction of the Soma in Alexandria; maps of Alexandria at different epochs, including a very detailed one drawn by Mahmoud Bey in 1865, etc. 

Chugg has researched the most probable date for the transfer of Alexander’s body to Alexandria, the tomb's location, and its shape - probably inspired by the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. He then runs down the list of those eminent persons who have visited Alexander’s Tomb until it vanished towards the end of the 4th century AD. 

An elaborate search then leads the reader to the time where the worship of Alexander as the Founder of Alexandria curiously overlaps that of St Mark, the Founder of the Alexandrian Church shortly after 391 AD. This is a very interesting theory and a very plausible one as well for the disappearance of Alexander’s corpse strangely coincides with the first appearance of St Mark’s tomb at that time. In 828 AD, the corpse of St Mark was abducted by the Venetians, who built a special church to host it. The increasing wealth of Venice, enabled the Republic in 1063 to fund the construction of the more elaborate Basilica of San Marco, the very spot where we still find it today. San Marco was placed in a tomb in the crypt of the Basilica on 8th October 1094, where he rested peacefully until the beginning of the 19th century. It is here that the story is really picking up!

Because of the repeated flooding, the Venetian tomb became at risk in its downstairs crypt and was moved in 1811 to the high altar on the main floor where it is still visible today. This transfer was witnessed by a certain Leonardo Conte Manin stating having seen a head with teeth and the skeleton of a man, while it is generally believed that St Mark’s body was cremated by the pagans of Alexandria in the 1st century AD. I’m quoting the most striking element of Chugg’s investigation but there are many more facts and discrepancies that lead to the question of whether these remains are indeed those of St Mark or if they could belong to Alexander the Great, swapped somewhere back in the obscure days of the 4th century? 

Chugg has contacted the Church in order to obtain a closer look at the remains at San Marco’s Basilica and to request independent research by experts and laboratories. Even a simple visual examination could give enough clues to assert whether or not this body could be Alexander’s, simply based on the wounds he received over the years. But the Church does not allow any access to the corpse or any form of examination whatsoever – of course, I would say.

And then there is an additional clue or incentive to investigate the matter further and that is the huge slab that was uncovered when the corpse was moved from the crypt to the present location. This stone, measuring 140x120x30 cm, clearly shows a Macedonian shield of 70cm in diameter, i.e., life-size. Besides the typical relief of the 8-pointed starburst shield, the slab shows a Macedonian sword, the kopis, and a pair of greaves, exactly like what was found in King Philip’s grave in Vergina and in other Macedonian tombs from the 2nd century AD. Intriguing, isn't it? Without further research or explanation, the slab has been moved to the nearby Cloister of St Apollonia in Venice and despite Chugg’s insistence, there is no way to obtain an independent thorough examination of the stone! One would think that nobody wants to know!

As to Alexander’s magnificent tomb in Alexandria, all the excavations during the past centuries have been in vain. Chugg’s conclusion, however, is that the digs were carried out at all the wrong places. According to his theory, the easiest way would be to locate the temenos of the Soma since the most likely location would be near the medieval walls close to the intersection with Street R3 on Mahmoud Bey’s map. What are the experts, archaeologists, historians, critics, and even money-makers waiting for?

Also available in ebook (ASIN: B0085NSY2A). You can all stay updated on the latest news by visiting the author's website at  http://www.alexanderstomb.com/main/index.html