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Lost tombs of ancient leaders

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R_AK47 View Drop Down
Baron
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  Quote R_AK47 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Lost tombs of ancient leaders
    Posted: 03-Feb-2006 at 15:33
I asked a question in the Q&A forum a while back (before joining AE) about the tombs and bodies of the Byzantine emperors.  It seems that they have all disappeared.  Of course, if anyone has uncovered any new information on that topic it would be greatly appreciated.  However, I am also wondering about other famous rulers/people.  Where are there bodies located now or in the past.  Have they been destroyed or moved or are there locations still known today.  What is the oldest known tomb of a historical figure that we still have knowledge of today.
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  Quote Fort Brooklyn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Feb-2006 at 14:06

Many tombs have probably been ravaged and destroyed over the years of constant wars and whatnot. The invention of planes didn't help preserving the tombs either, considering during wars the amount of tons of bombs dropped on cities around the world. So that'll contribute to incinerating what could've been left of them.

They're accounts of Alexander the Great being in Alexandria though. I did a little research on it a while back and came up with mixed conclusions. Some say the tomb probably broke off into the Medi. sometime during earthquakes while others say he is buried UNDER the city.

Interesting stuff though...

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  Quote Maju Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04-Feb-2006 at 14:59
The funerary complex of Abydos includes the tombs of kings of the 2 first Egyiptian dynasties, probably the oldest named monarchs to have a known tomb.

Before them... just unnamed monarchs, chieftains and heroes... unless I'm missing something about Sumerians.

NO GOD, NO MASTER!
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07-Feb-2006 at 12:49

The persepolis complex of the achemenids in Iran  have been to some extent destroyed I have read ,

 

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  Quote Cunctator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Feb-2006 at 13:32

R_AK47,

With regard to the tombs of the Byzantine emperors, my understanding is that most were to be found (pre-1453) in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Each dynasty had a separate chapel built around the main tomb of Constantine the Great.

After Mehmet II (the Conqueror or Fatih) took the city, he built his mosque on top of that church's ruins -- the Fatih Mosque complex. It was a symbol of what he had accomplished and also of how he saw himself, as the successor to the Caesars.

I would imagine that some of the tombs are still there under the mosque, but no one will be digging there for a while.

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  Quote R_AK47 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Feb-2006 at 23:10
Yes, I have heard that these tombs you speak of may still be buried within the foundations that remain of the Church of the Holy Apostles, beneath the mosque.  Have any studies or excavations regarding their existence ever been done?  The sarcophogas of Constantine's mother, Helena, is apparently in a museum somewhere in the Vatican.  I don't know how it got there, where it came from, or if Helena is still inside.
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  Quote Cunctator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Feb-2006 at 23:10

I would doubt that any excavations have ever taken place under the mosque. Perhaps after the great earthquake levelled portions of the Fatih Mosque complex, back in the late-1700s (I think), some digging would have happened -- but not with any interest in the tombs.

No one will be digging there these days. The Fatih District in Istanbul is a strongly conservative Muslim area of the city. There will be little interest in "desecrating" the mosque complex.

About St. Helena, take a look at http://liceokant.gioventudigitale.net/english/ss-marcellino/ mausoleo.htm

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  Quote R_AK47 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Feb-2006 at 12:08

What about the relics of Helena?  Are they still inside the sarcaphogus?  I can't find it written anywhere if they are or not.  Anything about Constantine's relics?  Perhaps after the 4th crusade someone recovered them and put them somewhere.

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  Quote Cunctator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Feb-2006 at 21:56

R-AK47

I think it is only the sarcophagus that survived. It must have been carried to Rome before the Turks took Constantinople.

I am curious: why the focus on St. Helena?

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  Quote Digenis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 04:25
I dont thing that any specific relics were burried with the emperors.
Its against the orthodox christian tradition.
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  Quote Cunctator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-Feb-2006 at 23:00

Digenis,

I think there is some confusion over language. In the medieval Western tradition, the bodies or bones of saints, such as Constantine (the Great) and Helena (his mother) would themselves be considered relics.

 

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  Quote Heraclius Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Feb-2006 at 17:32

 Its such a shame after 1000 years of Byzantine Emperors there is barely a trace of their final resting places left to us, nevermind their bodies and the items they were buried with.

 You'd think somewhere atleast 1 Emperors tomb has survived relatively intact body and all, I wonder have all the final resting places of the Byzantine Emperors been accounted for? Alot will have been buried in the same place and certainly in and around Constantinople, but you would think some would of been buried in a less obvious location somewhere that may have escaped the sacks and warfare.

 Perhaps not though, maybe the 4th crusade etc accounted for most of them afterall, I know the tomb of Justinian the great was ransacked by the crusaders and unless im mistaken that of Basil II.

 No reason to think similar treatment wasnt given to a load of other tombs, uck! barbarians.

A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough.
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  Quote R_AK47 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25-Feb-2006 at 01:06
Originally posted by Cunctator

R-AK47

I think it is only the sarcophagus that survived. It must have been carried to Rome before the Turks took Constantinople.

I am curious: why the focus on St. Helena?

Constantine and the other emperors are who I was really searching for.  Unfortunately, I can't find any of them.  The sarcaphogas of Helena is the closesest thing I've found so far.  So far, I've found no indication that Helena is still in it.  I think she was buried in Rome though, not Constantinople.  Also, when I speak of relics buried within the sarcaphogases, I am referring to the bodie within it, as they are considered relics themselves, by some of us.

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