Hunt for Alexander's tomb: Greece, Egypt, Persia, India, Broome

Posted Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:00pm AEDT
Updated Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:24pm AEDT

Alexander the Great, whose tomb has been missing for nearly 2,000 years, could be buried in Broome in Western Australia, a Perth man says.

Macedonian-born Tim Tutungis told ABC Kimberley that he first heard the 'Broomer' from his old mate, Lou Batalis.

"We just got onto the subject of Alexander The Great's tomb, and he said, 'They'll never ever find it, no matter where they look, because Alexander the Great is buried in Broome, in Western Australia'," Mr Tutungis said.

"Approximately 50 years ago, some guy went into a cave in Broome and he saw some inscriptions in there and they looked like ancient Greek.

"He reported it to the government, then the government went and saw it and they confirmed there were some inscriptions there.

"They went to the Greek community and they asked the community, 'Is there anyone here who can read ancient Greek?'

"Naturally Louis Batalis put his hand up and said, 'Yes, I went to school in Egypt, I got educated, I can read it'. So they took him up there and he defined the inscriptions as saying, in ancient Greek, 'Alexander the Great'.

"The government did say to him at that time, 'You didn't see this, OK, this never happened'."

History's mystery
Alexander the Great died on June 11, 323 BC, probably from malaria, alcoholism or poisoning.

One traditionally accepted story says his body was placed in two gold caskets in a gold carriage. Another says his body was preserved in a clay jar filled with honey and that this was placed in a glass coffin.

Some historians say Alexander's general and friend, Ptolemy, stole the body and took it to Alexandria, while others say Roman Emperor Caligula looted the tomb and stole Alexander's breastplate.

According to some sources, Emperor Septimius Severus closed Alexander's tomb about 200 AD, and little is known of the body's whereabouts after that.

Mr Tutungis says he is 99 per cent convinced Mr Batalis told him the truth, because people "have looked everywhere" for Alexander's grave, to no avail.

He says his friend is a very old man now and has virtually lost his memory, and others who heard the story had dismissed it.

But he says Mr Batalis was "a man of substance" who was very educated, and the story stuck with him.

"I drew my own conclusion because the war of the Macedonians ended up in India and I assumed that some of the soldiers went back to Macedonia on foot," Mr Tutungis said.

"Some of the soldiers must have caught a ship. Why can't we say that Alexander did catch a ship; they lost their way in the treacherous ways up there.

"Look where India is, look where Broome is; a ship could easily get wrecked in Broome."

Mr Tutungis says a new documentary suggests that when the war ended, Alexander the Great ordered thousands of ships to built.

He takes that as further evidence to support his theory and has written to a detective from Scotland Yard who is looking for Alexander's grave.

"Nobody ever, ever suspected that Alexander could have died in Broome," he said.