Editing Alexander the Great (section)

===Post-death events===
{{see also|Tomb of Alexander the Great}}
Alexander's body was laid in a gold anthropoid [[sarcophagus]] that was filled with honey, which was in turn placed in a gold casket.<ref name="sarco1" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/ron/CVNC/byline/bugs_96mar.html |date=Mar 1996 |title=Bayfront Byline Bug Walk |publisher=UCSD |access-date=25 March 2013 |archive-date=3 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203070121/http://casswww.ucsd.edu/archive/personal/ron/CVNC/byline/bugs_96mar.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], a seer called Aristander foretold that the land where Alexander was laid to rest "would be happy and unvanquishable forever".<ref name="Aelian" /> Perhaps more likely, the successors may have seen possession of the body as a symbol of legitimacy, since burying the prior king was a [[royal prerogative]].{{Sfn |Green|2007|p= 32}}

[[File:Mid-nineteenth century reconstruction of Alexander's catafalque based on the description by Diodorus.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|19th-century depiction of Alexander's funeral procession, based on the description by [[Diodorus Siculus]]]]
While Alexander's funeral cortege was on its way to Macedon, Ptolemy seized it and took it temporarily to Memphis.<ref name="sarco1" /><ref name="Aelian" /> His successor, [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]], transferred the sarcophagus to Alexandria, where it remained until at least [[late antiquity]]. [[Ptolemy IX Lathyros]], one of Ptolemy's final successors, replaced Alexander's sarcophagus with a glass one so he could convert the original to coinage.<ref name="sarco2" /> The 2014 discovery of an [[Kasta Tomb|enormous tomb]] in northern Greece, at [[Amphipolis]], dating from the time of Alexander the Great<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29239529 |title=Greeks captivated by Alexander-era tomb at Amphipolis |publisher=BBC News |date=22 September 2014 |last1=Christides |first1=Giorgos |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=21 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140921235011/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29239529 |url-status=live }}</ref> has given rise to speculation that its original intent was to be the burial place of Alexander. This would fit with the intended destination of Alexander's funeral cortege. However, the memorial was found to be dedicated to the dearest friend of Alexander the Great, Hephaestion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/30/excavator-ancient-grave-in-greece-honored-alexanders-pal |title=Archaeologist claims opulent grave in Greece honored Alexander the Great's best friend |website=usnews.com |date=30 September 2015 |access-date=15 April 2020 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305153254/http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/09/30/excavator-ancient-grave-in-greece-honored-alexanders-pal |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/09/30/hephaestions-monogram-found-at-amphipolis-tomb/ |title=Hephaestion's Monogram Found at Amphipolis Tomb |newspaper=Greekreporter.com |date=30 September 2015 |access-date=15 April 2020 |archive-date=1 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001135401/http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/09/30/hephaestions-monogram-found-at-amphipolis-tomb/ |url-status=live |last1=Papapostolou |first1=Anastasios }}</ref>

[[File:Alexander Sarcophagus Battle of Issus.jpg|thumb|Detail of Alexander on the [[Alexander Sarcophagus]]]]
[[Pompey]], [[Julius Caesar]] and [[Augustus]] all visited the tomb in Alexandria where Augustus, allegedly, accidentally knocked the nose of Alexander's mummified body off. [[Caligula]] was said to have taken Alexander's breastplate from the tomb for his own use. Around AD 200, Emperor [[Septimius Severus]] closed Alexander's tomb to the public. His son and successor, [[Caracalla]], a great admirer, visited the tomb during his own reign. After this, details on the fate of the tomb are hazy.<ref name="sarco2" />

The so-called "[[Alexander Sarcophagus]]", discovered near [[Sidon]] and now in the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museum]], is so named not because it was thought to have contained Alexander's remains, but because its [[bas-relief]]s depict Alexander and his companions fighting the Persians and hunting. It was originally thought to have been the sarcophagus of [[Abdalonymus]] (died 311 BC), the king of Sidon appointed by Alexander immediately following the [[Battle of Issus]] in 332.<ref>{{harvnb|Studniczka|1894|pp=226ff}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Bieber |first=M |title=The Portraits of Alexander |journal=Greece & Rome |series=Second Series |year=1965 |pages=183–88 |volume=12 |issue=2 |doi=10.1017/s0017383500015345|s2cid=163858858 }}</ref> However, in 1969, it was suggested by [[Karl Schefold]] that it may date from earlier than Abdalonymus's death.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sismondo Ridgway |first=Brunilde |year=1969 |title=Review: Der Alexander-Sarkophag by Karl Schefold |journal=[[American Journal of Archaeology]] |volume=73 |page=482 |doi=10.2307/504019 | url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=arch_pubs| jstor=504019}}</ref>

[[Demades]] likened the Macedonian army, after the death of Alexander, to the blinded [[Cyclops]] due to the many random and disorderly movements that it made.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0045:chapter=1:section=4|title=Plutarch, Galba, chapter 1, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=27 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227032246/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0045%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0116:chapter=1:section=4|title=Plutarch, Galba, chapter 1, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224185759/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0116%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D4|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0191:chapter=27|title=Plutarch, Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata, Ἀλέξανδρος|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224161752/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0191%3Achapter%3D27|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, Leosthenes also likened the anarchy between the generals, after Alexander's death, to the blinded Cyclops "who after he had lost his eye went feeling and groping about with his hands before him, not knowing where to lay them".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg087.perseus-grc1:2.4|title=Plutarch, De Alexandri magni fortuna aut virtute, chapter 2, section 4|website=perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=20 February 2021|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224150622/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0007.tlg087.perseus-grc1:2.4|url-status=live}}</ref>