Alexander the Great's Tomb

Here's a trick question for you: where is Alexander the Great buried?

• (a) Macedonia
• (b) Babylon
• (c) Alexandria
• (d) Western Australia

If you answered (a) you probably remembered that Alexander was Macedonian, not Greek as many people think, but sadly that's not the right answer.

If you answered (b) you might know a bit of history, and that Alexander basically drunk himself to death in Babylon after returning from India, but that's not the right answer either.

If you answered (c) congratulations! This is where, according to ancient sources, Alexander's body was taken after he died, but his tomb was later looted by both the Pharoahs and the Romans, and no one is quite sure what happened to his body after that.

If you answered (d)... well I'm not sure what would possess anyone to answer (d), unless of course you read this article recently which suggests just this very thing- that Alexander the Great's final resting place is in a cave near Broome, Western Australia.

Plutarch (writing some 400 years after the event) describes the death of Alexander in Babylon, though he neglects to tell us what happened to the body afterwards.

On the eighteenth of the month, he slept in the bathing-room on account of his fever. The next day he bathed and removed into his chamber, and spent his time in playing dice with Medius. In the evening he bathed and sacrificed, and ate freely, and had the fever on him through the night. On the twentieth, after the usual sacrifices and bathing, he lay in the bathing-room and heard Nearchus’s narrative of his voyage, and the observations he had made in the great sea. The twenty-first he passed in the same manner, his fever still increasing, and suffered much during the night. The next day the fever was very violent, and he had himself removed and his bed set by the great bath, and discoursed with his principal officers about finding fit men to fill up the vacant places in the army. On the twenty-fourth he was much worse, and was carried out of his bed to assist at the sacrifices, and gave order that the general officers should wait within the court, whilst the inferior officers kept watch without doors. On the twenty-fifth he was removed to his palace on the other side the river, where he slept a little, but his fever did not abate, and when the generals came into his chamber, he was speechless, and continued so the following day. The Macedonians, therefore, supposing he was dead, came with great clamors to the gates, and menaced his friends so that they were forced to admit them, and let them all pass through unarmed along by his bedside. The same day Python and Seleucus were dispatched to the temple of Serapis to inquire if they should bring Alexander thither, and were answered by the god, that they should not remove him. On the twenty-eighth, in the evening, he died. This account is most of it word for word as it is written in the diary.

At the time, nobody had any suspicion of his being poisoned, but [some say he was poisoned with] water, deadly cold as ice, distilling from a rock in the district of Nonacris, which they gathered like a thin dew, and kept in an ass’s hoof; for it was so very cold and penetrating that no other vessel would hold it. However, most are of the opinion that all this is a mere made-up story, no slight evidence of which is, that during the dissensions among the commanders, which lasted several days, the body continued clear and fresh, without any sign of such taint or corruption, though it lay neglected in a close, sultry place.

sputnik

I wrote a post about a guy called fusionman the other day, with some advice from Daedalus and Icarus (stay away from the sun!). Now I notice there's a guy with the nickname sputnik doing a similar thing- flying unassisted at 250km/h.

In the Metamorphoses when Daedalus creates wings to help him and his son escape from Crete, Ovid comments that he is 'changing nature' (naturam novat); it's not natural for people to fly, but it seems like there are a few people out there who just won't accept that.

fusionman

I hope that fusionman has read the story of Daedalus and Icarus in Ovid's metamorphoses, and takes Daedalus' wise advice:

instruit et natum “medio” que “ut limite curras,
Icare,” ait “moneo, ne, si demissior ibis,
unda gravet pennas, si celsior, ignis adurat
inter utrumque vola. nec te spectare Booten
aut Helicen iubeo strictumque Orionis ensem:
me duce carpe viam!”

Daedalus equips his son, and says "Icarus, I warn you to fly by the middle course, so that the waves won't weigh down your wings, if you go too low, and so that the fire of the sun won't burn them, if you fly too high; fly between the two. I order you not to look at the bear-watcher, nor Helike, nor the drawn sword of Orion: take to the sky with me as your leader."

Of course, we all know what happened next:

cum puer audaci coepit gaudere volatu
deseruitque ducem, caelique cupidine tactus
altius egit iter. rapidi vicinia solis
mollit odoratas, pennarum vincula, ceras:
tabuerant cerae; nudos quatit ille lacertos
remigioque carens non ullas percipit auras,
oraque caerulea patrium clamantia nomen
excipiuntur aqua, quae nomen traxit ab illo.

The boy began to revel in his daring flight, and deserted his leader, and touched with a longing for the heavens, he steered his course higher. The nearness of the scorching sun softened the sweet-smelling wax, the bonds of the feathers: the wax melted; he shakes his bare arms, but lacking the power of his wings he cannot catch any air, and his mouth, calling the name of his father, is swallowed up by the dark-blue sea which now bears his name.

[Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII.204-9, 223-30]

Elvis Rex

In case you missed it, this past week has been Elvis Week- 30 years since the (rumoured) death of Elvis Presley. I'm not much of a fan, but someone who is, is Jukka Ammondt, who has released a recording of Elvis' songs in Latin. Why? In his own words: "Latin is an eternal language and therefore I believe it is important to document Elvis' songs also in this eternal language." You can order his CDs (including his most recent hit 'Three Songs in Sumerian') from his website.

These are a few of the songs he has covered; see if you can work out their English titles:

• non adamare non possum
• tenere me ama
• ne saevias
• glaudi calcei

cabbage

I have never much liked cabbage, but Cato, who by all accounts was a sensible guy, thought it was pretty good for you. Here's some of the health benefits he thought you could derive from cabbage:

et hoc amplius lotium conservato eius qui brassicam essitarit, id calfacito, eo hominem demittito, cito sanum facies hac cura (expertum hoc est). item pueros pusillos si laves eo lotio, numquam debiles fient. et quibus oculi parum clari sunt, eo lotio inunguito, plus videbunt. si caput aut cervices dolent, eo lotio caldo lavito, desinent dolere.
De Agri Cultura 157

Heat the urine of a person who eats cabbage habitually, bathe the patient in it. He will be healed quickly (this remedy has been tested). Likewise if you bathe babies in this same urine they will never be sickly, and those with bad eyesight will see better. It also relieves pain in the head or neck.

Personally, I'd rather wear glasses. See here for more of the wonders of cabbage.

Not dead, just sleeping

I found an interesting article during the holidays. Finland (which has always struck me as an odd place) is running the European Union for the next six months, and has decided to publish weekly news bulletins in Latin. Why? I'm not quite sure, but it sounds fun to me. Here's what Dr Pitkaranta (who translates these bulletins into Latin) said: "Latin is not dead- it is still very much in use in different forms across the world today... Italians, French and Spaniards all speak a new form of Latin. I hope EU documents are soon translated into Latin which is such a clear language." The Finns have actually been broadcasting the news in Latin for over 15 years, which is a bit odd as the Finnish language itself is not a descendant of Latin. But as Dr Gibson (a Latin professor from England) said in the same article "perhaps the Finns realise Latin still provides a common linguistic and cultural heritage to Europe." You can subscribe to the news bulletins by going to this website.