A world without Zahi Hawass...

[M. Caecilius]

The tomb of Cleopatra is another story alltogether

I'm waiting for the news story revealing that the asp was buried alongside the queen and Marc Antony. Or possibly one identifying a mummy as Alexander the Great. Should be easy. Didn't Octavian break his nose? :grin:

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

Yes I thought Octavianus did. Caligula stole his armour to wear on parties apparently. There is also a story that the [Genovese] stole the body of St Marcus which apparently might have been the renamed mummified remains of Alexander...

I do not think that Octavianus would have allowed for a state funeral in a magnificent tomb for Cleopatra nor Marc Anthony, but who knows what still lies beneath the streets of Alexandria.

M.VIB.M.

[ERROR]; should be the Venetians

[M. Caecilius]

There's still hope for the modern-day myth-chasing Schliemans. Plutarch, Antony, writes that "Caesar, although vexed at the death of the woman, admired her lofty spirit; and he gave orders that her body should be buried with that of Antony in splendid and regal fashion.".

Really unexpected given Octavian's character up to this point, but I guess he knew that he'd won and could afford to be magnanimous.

Interesting that the body of St. Marc may have been Alexander. I'm confused though, did the Genovese steal it from Alexandria, then the Venetians from the Genovese, or did the Venetians steal it from Alexandria? It's in San Marco in Venenice, I believe. Someone should check the nose. :p

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

ah yes I might have mistaken the Venetians for the Genovese, I know that there was a lot of body snatching going on, even the Bishop of Myra's remains were stolen and re-stolen.

It was the Venetians of course... Funny how Octavianus permits Cleopatra to be buried together with Marcus Antonius but has Caesarion slain and no one knows were his remains disappeared to....

M.VIB.M.

[M. Caecilius]

ah yes I might have mistaken the Venetians for the Genovese, I know that there was a lot of body snatching going on, even the Bishop of Myra's remains were stolen and re-stolen.

The body snatching is a really interesting topic. Apparently, there were some ways of DIY relics. The Pardonner's Tale in Chaucer is but one indication of the huge business around relics at the time. I've just realised that if the body of St. Marc removed from Alexandria by some enterprising Venetians is indeed that of Alexander, the poor guy was stolen for the second time anyway: Ptolemy I Soter's transferal of the body to Alexandria I believe was also designed to put the other diadochs before a fait accompli.

Funny how Octavianus permits Cleopatra to be buried together with Marcus Antonius but has Caesarion slain and no one knows were his remains disappeared to....

Interestingly, though, Octavian treated the children of Antony rather fairly. Most of them. The eldest, Antyllus, was executed, but Cleopatra Selene was married off to Juba, M. Antonius M. f. survived to marry the daughter of Octavia; two more daughters were married to Domitius Ahenobarbus - an ancestor of Nero - and to Drusus respectively. Quite interesting that Octavian integrated the progeny of his arch-enemy into his marriage policies, and the three last Julio-Claudians - Caius Caligula, Claudius and Nero - were as much related to Antony as to Augustus.

Caesarion, of course, had to go. Octavian had gone to some length to ensure he was regarded as the son of the Divine Caesar. An actual (not adopted) son could not be permitted to survive by someone as politically unscrupulous as Octavian.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

...

who knows what still lies beneath the streets of Alexandria.

M.VIB.M.

Sewers...definately sewers!

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

And sand... heaps of it

M.VIB.M.