History Hit's Tristan Hughes travels to Egypt to explore its extraordinary links to one of the most famous names from antiquity, Alexander the Great. Of all the lands in the Eastern Mediterranean, it is Egypt that has the most fascinating - and enduring - connection to this ancient conqueror.
It’s a connection that began during Alexander’s lifetime, but endured and evolved significantly following his death, thanks to Alexander’s talismanic corpse, hijacked and fought over between former brothers in arms in an ancient 'Game of Thrones' - with a gruesome climax on the River Nile.
From the holiest of holies at Luxor Temple to the Pyramids at Giza, join Tristan as he explores fascinating links to Alexander that can be found all along the Nile - if you know where to look.
In the depths of an ancient temple, Tristan finds pharaonic depictions of Alexander, a Macedonian king making offerings to Egyptian gods, and looking no different to famous names such as Ramesses II and Tutankhamun.
And he investigates the fascinating links to Alexander at the magnificent necropolis of Saqqara - from the stunning subterranean Serapeum, complete with massive granite sarcophagi designed for the mummified remains of sacred bulls, to a mysterious semi-circle of half-destroyed, Greek looking statues that may well have marked the first tomb of Alexander in Egypt.
This is a story where Alexander’s death was just the beginning...
Up Next in People Who Made History
-
Queen Victoria at Kensington Palace w...
BAFTA winning historian and Joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces Lucy Worsley takes Dan on a tour of Kensington Palace, one of the principle royal residences since 1689. It was the childhood home of Queen Victoria who was born on the 24 May 1819. The rooms of the royal residence are bein...
-
Atahualpa: Death of the Last Inca Emp...
On 26 July 1533, a rope was tightened around the neck of Inca Emperor Atahualpa in the central plaza in Cajamarca in what is now Peru. The general who ordered his execution, Pizarro, is said to have shed a tear as the life drained from the condemned's body. On paper, the man died a Catholic by th...
-
Hitler's Last 48 Hours
What happened to Hitler's body? When did he die? What really happened in the last 48 hours of his life? In this extraordinary episode of 'As It Happened', historian Emma Craigie and Dan Snow discuss the final moments of the Fuhrer's life in the bunker beneath the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Emm...
28 Comments