Flag of Greece.
Problem
I read that a tomb is about to be opened in Alexandria, Egypt, which might contain the lost remains of Alexander The Great.
Why lost? Many famous people in history hid their graves. Why?
1 To thwart their enemies and successors who would destroy the grave.
2 To thwart tomb robbers.
Hardly surprising, since even today we have students trying to pull down statues in colleges, and tombstones being defaced in cemeteries and memorials desecrated in public places, items taken by trophy hunters, as well as those seeking valuables.
I read through more than one page of comments as to who or what might be found when the contents are revealed. Regarding the discovery announced in July 2018, my favourite amusing comment is from the David who says they will find a badge saying:
World hide and seek champion 2500 BC.
This is funny in so many ways. On second reading I realised the second joke was that the supposed historic writer of the boast could not have written BC, because being before Jesus he would not have known about Jesus or when Jesus would be born.
The Victorians brought in humour on gravestones, funny rhymes. Then the authorities got busy. We are now in an era of be serious in cemeteries.
My favourite real jokey tombstone is that of British comedian Spike Milligan. I told you I was ill.
Where can you see ALEXANDER?
See the bust of Alexander the Great in the British Museum, London, England. Photo from Wikipedia.
Destroying Cemeteries In London
Somebody argues that 'to dig up a modern grave you end up in prison'. Actually in Hendon and Harrow and other areas of London nowadays either the council gives you only 25 years in the ground, a short lease, or they try to dig up the entire cemetery and turn it into housing a shopping mall or car park. See local newspapers.
Digging up cemeteries happens when you have overcrowded cities and new people who are not descendants of the locals, and don't care about local and world history.
Same In Singapore
The same is being done in Singapore, despite respect for the aged, no respect for history. In the past they were pool. Now they want everything new.
Graveyards being dug up, stones moved to make way for shopping malls and motorways. I believe the huge shopping mall Ngee Ann city was build over a Jewish graveyard in Orchard Road.You can read about attempts to photograph stones on site, and other news in the newspaper of Singapore, websites and tours offering last chance to see, or see what remains of old cemeteries.
UK
Something similar has happened with the excavations for building Crossrail railway in London. The Viking Museum did a good job of preserving remains in York, allowing the underground to be preserved, with the new development on top.
GREECE
Back to Greece. Who would kill the groom at a wedding? Who would kill his own father? Alexander. Why? Read my blog post.
Alexander travelled east from Greece to Turkey and on to India and Egypt.
See the statue of Alexander the Great in Istanbul's Archaeology Museum, Turkey. Photo from Wikipedia. See Wikipedia for credits.
Philip, Alexander's father. Photo from Wikipedia.
What is your procedure if want to do gravestone tours?
First - the internet to find the graves.
Then the tour guides and companies - which will tell you the major sites open to the public.
GREECE - what to see in second city, Thassalonika
Thessalonika, Greece, is the place to go to learn about Alexander the Great. Take tours first to the Greek arena to learn about local hero, Alexander the Great, and how he killed his father, Philip, at the wedding ceremony.
I remember standing there and feeling chilled. All those Greek and Roman myths about people killing their father ... It happened here. Why?
Alexander's father had just remarried. Your father marries a second wife. Annoying. Your stepmother is the same age as you are. Annoying. You can see why Alexander was annoyed.
Finally, Philip, and announced his second wife was about to give birth to a child. He announces that the child is his successor. The baby would be given titles and rights which would have taken away Alexander's inheritance!
Second stop on my tour was at the underground museum seeing gold treasures. Pretty and valuable.
But for me, equally, and often more memorable, are personal items found, including valuables and bones which are presumed to be Alexander's father, Philip. The remains show wounds to his body, both old documented wounds from battle, then the final wound which killed him.
Nearby were found the bones of a young woman. She is presumed to be his second young wife, and her unborn child. Read and discuss the arguments for and against with your tour guide and other members of your group.
YOUR SEARCHES
What about modern times, your ancestors and mine? You can also join ancestry groups who photograph cemeteries so that descendants living far away can find out where their ancestors are buried and where to visit.
America has individuals and groups seeking to document veterans of the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam war.
RESEARCH WORLDWIDE
Other groups exist worldwide. If you are visiting another country, or another state, or another city, check your own family history as well as the local cemeteries. You might find individuals and grand memorials commemorating and connecting of cemeteries to disasters such as the Titanic or similarly ships lost in the Atlantic.
On a brighter note, you may find, long-lived individuals with huge families who founded public buildings in the city you are are visiting.
MY RELATIVE MIRIAM MARGOLYES
You might find descendants living today who are your near or distant relatives. I was researching my family history. So was the actress Miriam Margolyes. She contacted me. It turned out that she was descended from my ancestor's second wife, who I had not know existed.
You may be amazed or shocked to learn that a famous person, or one of your own not widely known ancestors, had a hidden second life and descendants. But those ancestors, good or bad, who had second families, or numerous out of wedlock children, have given birth to numerous people whose ever multiplying descendants are now keen to research family history.
I was taken aback to find that my ancestor had started another family which I knew nothing about. However, I was delighted to be in contact with Miriam and have a topic of endless fascination to both of us.
Back to Alexander, interestingly, the Romans imported Spanish soldiers to Hadrian's Wall on the border between England and Scotland. The idea was to prevent locals infiltrating and befriending the soldiers guarding the wall (who could marry only after retirement from their lifelong service as a soldier when they achieved Roman citizenship). Contrast this with Alexander, whose policy was to marry the citizens of East with the citizens of the West, not doing a one way swap of his people into the new lands, but a two way swap sending some of the conquered back to Greece.
Alexander encouraged intermarriage, which meant instead of one groups; children being low pay low status second class citizens and keen for a revolution, the new generation were all on equal footing. That is what I was told in Greece by a Greek guide, for whom Alexander is a hero - and a spreader of civilization.
TOURS WORLDWIDE
UK
Highgate Cemetery, London, England.
Jorvik Centre, York.
London Museum.
Websites and tours for your research and planned visits:
EGYPT
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5949047/Egyptologists-open-giant-granite-sarcophagus-Alexander-Great-buried.html#comments
WORLDWIDE
findagrave.com
GREECE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological_Museum_of_Thessaloniki
UK
https://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/news/local-news/packed-meeting-vows-stop-cemetery-6014222
Highgate cemetery, London, England. (Karl Marx etc)
highgatecemetery.org
National History Museum
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/a-history-of-burial-in-london.html
Museum of London
https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/collections/other-collection-databases-and-libraries/centre-human-bioarchaeology/osteological-database/medieval-cemeteries
FRANCE
Pere Lachaise cemetery
https://en.parisinfo.com/paris-museum-monument/71470/Cimetiere-du-Pere-Lachaise
SINGAPORE
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g294265-d2547770-Reviews-Bukit_Brown_Cemetery-Singapore.html
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/04/lee-kuan-yews-grandfathers-grave.html
USA
Arlington
Civil War cemetery
http://www.beyondbandofbrothers.com/tour/2017_CivilWar_D9
TRAVEL
France
visitfrance.co.uk
Greece
visitgreece.gr
Egypt
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/
Singapore
visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com
Turkey
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/turkey
UK
visitlondon.com
visitengland.com
visitbritain.com
visitwales.com
USA
visittheusa.co.uk
Safety
You can find guides to safety on the government websites of the UK, USA and Canada.
More practical advice is on Wikitravel (which carries ads - could be handy) and Wikivoyage (no ads for those who don't want ads).
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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