Getting around in the Nile Delta

Speaking of the Nile Delta, we obviously mean the embouchure of the river Nile where its waters mingle with those of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The problem, however, is to picture the ancient cities and harbors along that coastline. There are several elements to be taken into account. 

Historically, we best know the role played by Alexandria and Pelusium, situated on opposite sides of the Delta, roughly 250 kilometers apart. 

[From Pinterest]

Pelusium, about 30 kilometers south of modern Port Said, was looking to the East. This city was the entrance gate for conquerors coming from the east. Alexander entered Egypt through Pelusium, as did the Hittites and Persians before him. For the Egyptian pharaohs, it was their gateway to the lands on the eastern Mediterranean. The city played an essential role as a transit station for the goods coming from and going to the lands around the Red Sea (see: The fame of elusive Pelusium). 

Alexander founded Alexandria after he returned from visiting the oracle in Siwah. It arose on the most westerly end of the Delta, on the Canopic Branch of the Nile. The city was intentionally oriented towards Crete and Greece, creating a close trading route with its homeland.

The Greeks had already established thriving trade emporiums in the area. Best known is Naucratis, settled as early as the 7th century BC (see: Egypt, land of the free for ancient Greeks?) As mighty Egypt allowed them to operate a lucrative business, even granting them special privileges, Naucratis eventually became a melting pot of Greek and Egyptian art and culture where they lived in harmony with each other. In its heyday, it was home to at least 16,000 people who appear to have lived in high-rise buildings three to six floors high, not unlike the mud-brick houses we encounter today in Yemen. 

Archaeological research has found proof that the Canopic Branch of the Nile was navigable all the way down to the heart of the city. However, Herodotus gave us the impression that the freight from the ships arriving from the Mediterranean was to be transshipped into barges which would sail to reach Naucratis (see: An update about Naucratis). 

A look at the above map illustrates that vessels heading for the harbor of Naucratis had to sail an extra distance from the Mediterranean. Alexandria was obviously more accessible. 

[Mosaic from Madaba, Jordan, showing the Nile with Pelusium]

Another major port was Heracleion, which the ancient Egyptians called Thonis, founded back in the 8th century BC. Known more commonly as Thonis-Heracleion, the site has been discovered under ten meters of mud near modern Abukir Bay (see: Heracleion, an ancient Greek port in Egypt, and Underwater excavation at Heracleion still ongoing). The above map shows Thonis/Thanis on a more easterly branch of the Nile, closer to Pelusium. Recent excavations have exposed 64 ancient, beautifully preserved shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors. Heracleion reached its peak between the 6th and the 4th century BC. 

Halfway between Alexandria and El-Alamein, Ptolemy II Philadelphus founded Taposiris Magna around 280-270 BC. The harbor played a significant role in the trading route for the goods from the east arriving over Lake Mareotis and overland from the Cyrenaica (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). Alexandria, built on the headland between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis, claimed taxes on the goods that transited through the city until the 7th century AD at least (see: Taposiris Magna in Egypt). 

The Egyptians founded the city of Marea, as highlighted on the map, in the 7^th century BC. It actually lies on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis, modern Lake Maryut, and 45 kilometers southwest of Alexandria. Speaking of strategic locations! 

The last major city in the Nile Delta is Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, which Alexander saw in 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 (see: Buried secrets of Heliopolis)! 

This religious center 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. 

For centuries, every single Pharaoh made it to the sacred city of Heliopolis, where the gods would confer their power. When Alexander, who fully understood the importance of this ritual, followed suit, he was accepted by the Egyptians as their new Pharaoh.

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!

A Graeco-Roman building exposed in Pelusium

A substantial building measuring some 2,500 m2 has been uncovered in ancient Pelusium, the city Alexander occupied when he entered Egypt in 333 BC (see: The fame of elusive Pelusium).

[Picture from Archaeological News Network]

Based on archaeological study, this building was most probably used during the rule of the Ptolemies and the Romans. Representatives of the citizens assembled here for the meetings of the Senate Council to take important decisions about the public affairs.

The rectangular construction was made of red brick and limestone originally covered with slabs of marble. The excavations revealed remains of three 60 cm-thick circular benches inside

During this season’s excavations works, the main street of Pelusium was also exposed.

So far nothing related to the Alexander era has been retrieved, but then the city was used as a quarry during the 5^th and 6^th century AD. This means that lots of information has been lost over time.

The fame of elusive Pelusium

When in 333 BC, Alexander took possession of Pelusium, situated on a branch of the Nile that has shifted since, it was a wealthy settlement as it contributed to his treasury with 800 talents (20 tons of silver and gold). It was his first stop in Egypt, as it was for all conquering armies before and after him.

Pelusium was not only the point of entry for invaders but also the departure point for Egyptian expeditions to Asia. In short, it was a place of substantial strategic importance and the second port of Egypt after Alexandria, as it served as a transit station for the goods coming from and going to the lands around the Red Sea.

Yet, despite its fame and importance in antiquity and the many sources, among which Herodotus, Polybius, Diodorus, Curtius Rufus, Arrian, Strabo, etc., the site of Pelusium, associated with modern Tell el-Farama has never been properly excavated. Antique sources describe the city as a bustling harbor with magazines and customs offices trading in salt, textiles, pottery, and fish. On the site, which is believed to be almost six kilometers long, we find the remains of a fortress and marble columns from a possible Roman Theater that closely resembles the one in Alexandria. There are remains of several necropolises, a hippodrome, fish tanks for garum, Roman baths with mosaics from the 3^rd century AD, a stadium, many temples, and even a military installation.

However, the little we know about Pelusium is now threatened by the construction plans for a massive canal through the northern part of the Sinai Desert. This waterway is meant to bring fresh water to the city of El Arish, 60 kilometers from the border with Israel. Unfortunately, in that part of the world, nothing is simple. As early as 1991, archaeologists launched a project to survey the course of this canal to pinpoint any site that may be worth recovering before being destroyed by the dig works or, if possible, divert the route to save vast remains. It is no surprise that by 2010, both the canal and the archaeological project have been put on hold.

It seems that ancient Pelusium will not soon resuscitate from its ruins.

[Pictures from Egypt Today]

Picking up Alexander’s traces in Cyrene (Libya)

Cyrene, now part of Libya, does not come to my mind right away when following Alexander's track, and I must admit that I didn't expect to meet him there either – yet I did!

It happened at the local museum, although "museum" is a great word for the austere storage room hidden behind a courtyard with heavy metal doors. There are only a handful of small barred windows high up the walls, but large flickering neon lights are being switched on in honor of the visitors. I walk among Roman sarcophagi and statues, meeting familiar statues of Apollo, Aphrodite, Heracles, Isis, Hekate, beside the Three Graces, and even Marcus Aurelius. Grumpy Demosthenes is looking very sour, and I suddenly realize why: Alexander is standing nearby, larger than life-size, with poor remains of his beloved Bucephalus at his feet! Oh wow! I'm digging hard in my Alexander history to fit in Cyrene. Thoughts rush through my brain, tumbling helter-skelter, pushing each other aside – I have to straighten this out!

So, I pick up Alexander after the siege of Gaza when he arrives in Pelusium, his first stop in Egypt. From here, he went to Memphis, the capital of Egypt in his days, where he received a delegation from Cyrene that brought him horses among their gifts. There is a beautiful relief at the Cyrene museum praising these horses for their stamina, especially on the battlefield – a quality that cannot have escaped Alexander's awareness for this noble animal.

A couple of years ago, I attended a lecture by Olaf Kaper, who speculated that the gift of horses may have invited Alexander to visit Cyrene, a Greek colony at that time and famous for its horses. He assumed he intended to visit the city but traveled to Siwah instead. This lecture's whole story was published earlier under "Alexander the Great in Egypt. Lecture of 24 November 2010". Fascinating stuff!

 

My visit to Cyrene was part of a tour of Libya (before the Arab Spring). I knew that in antiquity, it was one of the major cities of North Africa (counting tens of thousands of inhabitants as early as the 5th century BC), together with Leptis Magna and Sabratha in Libya, Volubilis in Morocco and Douga and El Jem in Tunisia. Yet I never made the link with Alexander or even with the Ptolemies who ruled over Egypt to include Cyrene. Besides, in spite of the above information, I had no idea that Cyrene was that extensive – massive excavation works have been widely rewarded!

Before entering the city, I am confronted with the Temple of Zeus – a truly big and imposing temple. Strangely enough, it feels familiar, as if I have seen it before. The Temple of Poseidon in Paestum (Italy) comes to mind, followed by the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (Greece) and the Parthenon in Athens, which are approximately the same size. Yet, this one looks less refined and more solid. The Doric columns date from the 6th century, but the temple has suffered many restorations and reconstructions over the centuries, including the addition of Egyptian-style capitals. Like in Olympia, the naos held a massive statue of the Father of all Gods, a seated Zeus with marble feet and arms attached to a plaster body, a copy of Phidias' work known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The temple was heavily damaged during the Jewish uprise of 115 AD, but thankfully Emperor Hadrian rebuilt it, adding a smaller room inside the old complex. Eventually, the temple collapsed during the strong earthquake of 365 that drew a path of devastation along the entire coast of Northern Africa.

I thoroughly enjoy this peaceful setting, walking over pavements scraped by scores of sandals in eons past and exploring every minute detail, of which there are many: a marble threshold, a marble plinth, a Greek inscription between the regulae and the friezes but also on the architrave, the majestic steps inside the cella that must have led to the colossal Zeus, the tired marble floor-tiles of the peristyle between the cella walls and the outside columns, etc. Enough to trigger my imagination, an idyllic place where I could stroll on and on. In front of the entrance to the temple, huge stone blocks have been assembled to piece the oversized letters together to read the inscription Jovis Caesar that once framed the portal.

Cyrene's most remarkable religious development was the introduction of a new god, Amon (with one single "m"), which we know from Siwah in Egypt. It didn't take long for the Greeks to identify this divinity with their own supreme Zeus, calling him Ammon (with double "mm") since "ammos" was the Greek word for sand, hence Sandy Zeus. From here, the cult spread all over Greece by the end of the 6th/early 5th century BC. It is here in Cyrene that the picture of Zeus with rams' horns is born, the Ammon-Zeus, as opposed to the later Zeus-Amon. This image caught Alexander's attention while he was in Egypt and eventually appeared on Alexander's coins in later years.

[For further reading, click here: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks]

Alexander the Great in Egypt. Lecture of 24 November 2010

I attended this fascinating lecture about Alexander the Great in Egypt. It was given by Prof. Olaf Kaper at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. He had my undivided attention since he has been working on the site of Siwah for several years, and he managed to give me the information I wasn't aware of before.

He started introducing Alexander the Great with his itinerary from Pella across the Hellespont, mentioning the battlefields of Granicus and Issus and the siege of Tyre and Gaza until he arrived in Pelusium, his first city in Egypt. From here, he went to Memphis, the capital of Egypt in his days, where he received a delegation from Cyrene that brought him horses among their gifts. When I was in Cyrene (now in Libya), I remember how their horses in antiquity were praised for their stamina, especially on a battlefield, so it felt like meeting up with old friends. The speaker speculated that this may have been an invitation for Alexander to visit Cyrene, a Greek colony at that time. In any case, it has to be clarified whether Alexander was heading for Cyrene or already for Siwah when he left Memphis for the northern coastline, when he chose the location to build Alexandria. He must have traveled along the mainstream of the Nile to Naucratis, another Greek city that lived off the commerce with the Egyptian hinterland, before turning westward. 

The choice for the location of Alexandria is, geographically speaking, excellent, with the natural outline of a harbor and an inland lake with fresh water. Strangely enough, I heard from Richard Miles on the BBC that these waters were brackish, a huge mistake of Alexander. It would have been Ptolemy's doing to build a 30 km long canal to the Nile and appropriate underground cisterns to provide the necessary water for the city! I can't believe Alexander would make such a mistake, for whoever in their right mind would found a city where there is no water? Certainly not Alexander! Besides, the cisterns shown in this documentary looked Roman to me. Back to the lecture, though, we are shown a few pictures with temple remains of Paraetonium, another Greek colony on the Mediterranean, from where Alexander turns south towards Siwah, leaving Cyrene for what it was.

Olaf Kaper then draws a comparison and parallel between the Temple of Zeus-Ammon in Cyrene, built in Greek style (note that this temple in Cyrene is larger than the Parthenon in Athens!), and the Temple of Ammon-Zeus in Siwah, built in Egyptian style. Yet the temple of Siwah shows several Greek characteristics, like the intermittent use of large and small stones in the walls and the half-Doric columns at the entrance, for instance. He assumes that Greek architects from Cyrene were hired to build the Siwah temple. Then follow a couple of views of the empty desert landscape, a stretch of 300 kilometers which Alexander and his close companions covered on horseback in eight days, getting lost a couple of times, as we know… Then there are some great pictures of the Siwah oasis, which turns out to be more than 60 km wide! I had no idea of the size! 

We know that Alexander entered the Temple of Siwah alone, but now I'm told that the temple was used only to ask the question(s) to the god, whereas the answer(s) was(were) given in the temple on the opposite hill! The announcements there were a public affair, so Alexander's entourage must have heard the god's answers, although they may not have known the questions … There was a holy road connecting both hills of which little or nothing remains today. The temple on top of the hill across from the temple of Siwah itself is almost entirely gone, except for a few low walls. They were relatively complete until the end of the 19th century, when the local governor decided to blow them up to use the stones for his own house. Yet, don't know where that was or is …

I also learned something new about the picture of Zeus with the ram's horns. It seems that this custom was born in Cyrene for Ammon-Zeus (Ammon, the Libyan god, is spelled with double mm, while the Egyptian Amon is written with one m). The idea has traveled from Cyrene to Egypt and has reached Alexander in the process. When I later returned to the Hermitage Museum, I noticed a coin of the “old” Ammon-Zeus with horns that looked something like these examples: 

          

And there is more exciting news, at least for me. When Alexander left Siwah, he traveled East towards the Nile along a known road, which he was told was shorter. That road runs from one oasis to the next. In the second oasis after Siwah, archaeologists have recently discovered a Greek Temple dedicated to Alexander with several inscriptions and pictures related to the great man! Unbelievable and unexpected. 

My knowledgeable speaker also mentions Alexander's instructions to rebuild the "bark" area of the temples of Karnak and Thebes, in fact, the sacred inner area of the temple that held the bark in which the god was carried around on heydays. He also had beautiful photographs of some walls in Karnak where hieroglyphic inscriptions referred to King Philip Arrhidaeus. I have no idea why he is being mentioned here, and I forgot to ask Olaf Kaper… sorry. 

And to conclude, Olaf Kaper warmly recommends the book Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher, a contemporary story in the oasis of Siwah, and gives an excellent idea of the location. So, more reading material is to be put on my wish list!

Alexander’s treasure located at Kyinda / Cyinda?

High atop the Karasis, a mountain in southern Turkey's heart of the Taurus Mountain Range, rises a mysterious stronghold discovered in recent years. Speculations run high whether or not this could be the legendary fortress of Kyinda, where the war booty of Alexander the Great was kept. The location in Cilicia is mentioned by Strabo in his Geography (Book 14-5.10): "Above Anchiale lies Cyinda, a fortress, which at one time was used as a treasury by the Macedonians." Diodorus (Book 18-62.2 and 19-56.5) refers to Cyinda while talking about Eumenes and Antigonus Monophthalmus retrieving money from its treasury during the Diadochi Wars. Still, so far, the location has not been found. (After Eumenes had exploited its resources in 318 BC, some 10,000 talents remained for Antigonus in late 316 BC. Later, Antigonus paid his army for three months out of the money he took from Cyinda for the campaign of Ipsus – see Bosworth, The Legacy of Alexander.

Alexander was the wealthiest man on earth when he died in Babylon in 323 BC. During his campaigns, he had amassed colossal booty, including the treasuries of the Persian Kings in their Royal Palaces of Ecbatana, Persepolis, Susa, and Pasargadae. All this wealth was in the hands of Alexander and, at his death, became a severe subject of dispute and fight among his generals until forty years later, his Empire was finally divided between Seleucos, Ptolemy, Lysimachos, and Cassander. We know about the occupied territories, the underlying killings, and the personal greed of Alexander's successors (the Diadochi), but what happened to his treasures?

Pierre Briant is a marvel in figures, facts, and statistics (see: Alexander the Great. Man of Action/Man of Spirit), and I gladly will quote him while adding up the figure material.

Alexander's first substantial booty was taken in Damascus after the Battle of Issus. Briant accounts for it as follows: "silver earmarked for enormous payments to the army, vestments of a host of noblemen and women, gold place settings, golden horse-bits, tents decorated with royal splendor, and chariots abandoned by their owners and overflowing with unheard-of wealth." At that time, Alexander needed the money badly to pay his army for future campaigns, as he had left Macedonia in debt and with borrowed money, but it gave him a first glimpse of the wealth that could be his.

When Darius fled the Battlefield of Gaugamela, he left Alexander "a treasure worth roughly 4,000 talents (between 75 and 100 tons of silver), his bow, his arrows and his chariot". Yet Alexander was just starting his march through the Persian Empire, taking possession of one Royal City after the other, and evidently, there was more to come.

The first stop was at Susa, "which boasted one of the Empire's largest treasure stores, where the Great Kings stocked their precious metals. The ancient authors estimated its value at between 40,000 and 50,000 talents –from 1,000 to 1,250 tons of gold- plus 9,000 talents (225 tons) of the gold coins known as darics." By the way, the value of the textiles alone was worth more than 5,000 talents and included more than 100 tons of purple cloth colored with a mixture of dye from the Gulf of Spetses and honey to keep the color fresh. Do we have any idea what this looked like, I wonder?

At this stage, Alexander possessed more than substantial reserves of precious metal, and his financial worries were history. Previously, Pelusium in Egypt had contributed to the royal treasury with 800 talents (20 tons of silver and gold), Babylon with 18,000 talents (4,500 tons of silver and gold), and now he was heading for the grand palace of Persepolis, where the unbelievable sum of 120,000 talents or 3,000 tons of gold awaited him! According to Plutarch, 10,000 spans of mules and 5,000 camels were needed to transfer this enormous load to Susa. The wealth and figures are beyond comprehension, even in antiquity, as according to the standards of the 5th century BC, the booty at Persepolis alone was about 300 times the equivalent of the annual national income of Athens.

After Persepolis, Alexander laid siege to nearby Pasargadae, the former capital of Persia, where another 6,000 talents were added to his financial reserves. Meanwhile, Darius was still on the run ahead of him, supported by a small but faithful band of soldiers, using 7,000 or 8,000 gold talents (175 or 200 tons) from the treasury of Ecbatana before leaving the remaining sum to Alexander. The size of this booty is not mentioned by the ancient writers, but we do know that Alexander left 6,000 Macedonian soldiers in Ecbatana to guard it. However, he could have used every single man for his upcoming campaigns further East. I wonder how many men were ever in charge of guarding Fort Knox.

Anyway, a simple sum of all the figures above gives us the most impressive amount of gold and silver alone, and we only know the main provenances of the money.

     Alexander's booty                                      in talents

     Pelusium                                                           800

     Babylon                                                        18.000

     Gaugamela                                                     4.000

     Susa                                                              50.000

     Susa, golden Darics                                       9.000

     Persepolis                                                   120.000

     Persepolis, Darius personal                           8.000

     Pasargadae                                                     6.000

     Total                                                            215.800

This list does not include the Indian campaigns, which must have yielded vast amounts of precious stones, ivory, and textiles. We get a subtle hint when we read Arrian's account of the gifts from Taxiles when Alexander reaches the Indus: "200 talents of silver, 3,000 oxen and over 10,000 sheep for sacrificial purposes, and some thirty elephants." These were only gifts, meaning Taxiles could easily spare them! There was gold and silver from minor cities and towns, livestock, horses, cattle, slaves, jewelry, etc. After campaigning around the Aornos fortress, for instance, Arrian casually tells us, "the Macedonians took possession of more than 230,000 oxen, of which Alexander chose the finest specimens since they seemed to him of remarkable beauty and stature and he wished to send them back to Macedonia to work the land." A casual remark, it seems, but just try to picture 230,000 pieces of cattle together in a field!

On the other hand, it is evident that Alexander was confronted with huge expenses on logistics; moving and feeding an army of tens of thousands was not a small matter. We know he loved rewarding his friends and granting bonuses to his most meritorious and valorous soldiers. The army ended up spending more money than they ever thought they would possess, and although it helped to boost the world economy of those days, the men got used to living above their means. We'll remember that at the splendid Susa wedding of 324 BC, Alexander had to step in and with a gesture that once more shows his magnanimity, he acquitted their debts, paying the incredible amount of 20,000 talents from his own pocket (this is more than what the treasury of Babylon had yielded!). Another chunk was taken by Harpalos, who, unfit for military service, had been appointed by Alexander as Imperial Treasurer. He led a life of crime and debauchery in Babylon. So when he learned that Alexander was heading back for Babylon in 324 BC, Harpalos cowardly fled to Athens, taking "considerable sums" of the king's money with him.

But all this was minor compared to the enormous wealth left after Alexander's death, which his successors undoubtedly divided among themselves. We know, for instance, that Lysimachos' money was safely kept on the Acropolis of Pergamon - a mere 9,000 talents in silver and gold, roughly worth several billion in today's value. A similar or higher amount must have been the share of Ptolemy, Seleucos, and Cassander. Where can one find a safe and trustworthy place to keep such enormous amounts of money, jewelry, and precious stones?

This brings us back to Strabo, who names the stronghold of Kyinda (or Cyinda), which was never found until now. In recent years, a strange-looking ruin was spotted on a nearly 2,000-meter-high mountain top in the remoteness of the rough Taurus Mountains. Could this be Seleucos' secret hiding place? After all, his capital city of Antiochia, modern Antakya, lies only 150 km further south and certainly was not defendable enough to keep the treasury safe.

When Mustapha Sayar, a Turkish archaeologist, and his friend and colleague Adolf Hoffmann, Manager from the German Archaeological Institute in Istanbul, set out by helicopter in search of what could be Kyinda, they could not believe their eyes. A closer look at the walls perched high on the needle rocks in the Cilician landscape reveals ruins of massive straight walls; slowly, their trained eye discovers building after building, thick outer walls and watchtowers, and even a large hall right above the precipice. A secret building complex, hidden from the human eye for eons, as even the local farmers are not aware of anything up there. Soon, an expedition is put together. An expedition it is, for there are no roads on this steep slope, and the climb upwards is demanding and strenuous. Archaeologists, as well as the local manpower, are full of excitement and anticipation. Who were the builders of this fortification on the Karasis? When was it built? And most of all, for what purpose?

Strategically, this fortress is ideally situated. The ruins emerge out of nowhere, and the high, straight walls wrap around the entire mountaintop. It is almost a miracle that the spot has never been discovered before.

Both archaeologists soon agree that this must be a fortress from the days of the Diadochi, Alexander's successors. Wrestling through the thick undergrowth, they marvel at the perfectly cut stone blocks and their precise fitting. The architects from antiquity must have been near geniuses. Pretty soon, they discover a relief of an elephant above one of the doorways, the emblem used by Seleucos and his successors - a solid confirmation that this fortification matches the period they suspected. The elephant was the wonder weapon of the ancients. We all remember Alexander's victory over Porus and his war elephants in 326 BC. Since then, the elephant has been considered a symbol of power, and it was used by Seleucos on the reverse of the coins he minted.

At the bottom of the imposing walls, the archaeologists find a hidden entrance leading through a vaulted tunnel with smooth, close-fitting stone walls. Niches covered with soot lead us to believe that oil lamps once lit the passageway, and high air shafts guaranteed good air circulation. Is this tunnel leading them to the hidden treasure? But then suddenly, the corridor ends, and all that is left to see is a pool of clear water, a treasure of another kind, for, without water, life up here would not have been possible.

Back on the mountaintop, Hoffmann's men figured out that the large hall right above one of the steep faces of the Karasis must have served as a storage area, measuring 60 x 12 meters. By deduction, they estimate that approximately 700 tons of wheat could be stored there, a sound supposition as the room shows a good ventilation system. Thanks to such storage space, the fort could be manned and defended for years in a row. Next to it is a small vaulted room, built in the same fashion as the underground passage to the water spring. This may be where the treasure was kept. Yet not a single coin, no jewelry, and indeed no treasure has been found here either, although the historian Diodorus tells us that the Kyinda treasure amounted to at least 10,000 talents, i.e., 200 tons of pure silver.

The place was practically impregnable, so what happened? Too many questions still need to be answered, despite all the high-tech equipment used to measure the place's layout. It is generally agreed that the Celts swept down to cities like Delphi, Ephesus, and Pergamon to loot the precious gifts stored in their temples. The same may have happened at Kyinda.

Finally, Mustapha Sayar and Adolf Hoffmann end up with an excellent computer reconstruction of what they believe to be the legendary Kyinda, but no trace of a treasure. So the place still remains shrouded in mystery.

I'm curious to hear what happened since this program aired on German television ZDF in March 2006. So far, all is quiet, and even on the internet, very little information is available about Kyinda (or Cyinda). It feels like hunting for the Golden Fleece, but who knows what secrets are buried somewhere? We may need Schliemann's luck to find the treasure of Alexander the Great. Let's keep our eyes peeled!

[Pictures of Kyinda come from the Terra-X program on German TV]