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Powerful Historic Family Dynasties that Are Rotten to the Core

Khalid Elhassan June 8, 2022 38 min

The Koch brothers, Charles, left, and David. Competition Policy International

19. The Great Conqueror’s Corpse Was Vitally Important for the Prestige of the Ptolemaic Dynasty

Dynasty Facts - Emperor Augustus visits the tomb of Alexander the Great — Emperor Augustus visits the tomb of Alexander the Great, by Lionel Royer. Pinterest

Alexander the Great’s key lieutenants had worked out a preliminary rough division of his empire amongst themselves by the time the great conqueror’s corpse began its journey back home. One of them, Ptolemy, ended up with Egypt as his share. He decided that the prestige of his new realm and dynasty would be greatly enhanced if it hosted the body of Alexander. Specifically in the city of Alexandria, founded by and named after the great conqueror. So Ptolemy set out to hijack the great conqueror’s corpse. In 321 BC, he intercepted Alexander’s funerary procession, seized the body, and took it back to Egypt.

Ptolemy and his Ptolemaic Dynasty successors built and maintained an impressive mausoleum for Alexander in Alexandria. It became one of the city’s biggest attractions. Over the centuries, powerful figures such as Julius Caesar, Augustus, and other Roman emperors, stopped by to pay their respects. Augustus accidentally broke Alexander’s nose, while other emperors pilfered mementos from the coffin. Over time, however, interest in the mausoleum waned. In 400 AD, a visitor noted that the Alexandrines did not know where Alexander’s tomb was. In the centuries since, there were scattered reports by visitors who claimed to have seen Alexander’s tomb, but without enough specificity to allow archaeologists to pinpoint a location. As of 2022, Alexander the Great’s final resting place is one of history’s unsolved mysteries.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.