The Oracle Code

17



39 Miles Southwest of Herat

Herat Province

Afghanistan

February 14, 2013

Lourds’s excitement built as he followed Boris down the passageway. Electrical cables ran the length of the tunnel, and bright lights ripped away the darkness. Somewhere from deep in the cave system, a generator thumped out a steady rhythm. Uniformed ANP guards stood at junctures in the cave system.

“I’ve been very careful to preserve the site since I found it.” Stone dust coated Boris, and he sounded tired.

“You found it last night?”

“Yes. And started calling you immediately.”

“And the media in between that.”

“Of course. This has the potential to be stupendous. Did you know that no one knows where Alexander the Great’s final resting place is?”

“Yes.” Lourds negotiated a sharp turn and reflected on what he could remember of the Macedonian ruler from the information he’d reviewed on the plane trip. “Alexander died in 323 BCE—”

“Of mysterious circumstances.”

Lourds nodded. “Possibly mysterious circumstances. He might have died from an overdose of hellebore.”

“That was never proven.”

“No, but it is known that Alexander was grieving over the death of Hephaestion, one of his generals and a nobleman in his own right. They had been friends since childhood.”

“Yes, and Aristotle wrote of them that they were ‘one soul abiding in two bodies.’ There is some conjecture that they were also lovers. But that is neither here nor there. So much about Alexander isn’t known, not the least of which is how he was able to conquer so much of the known world. And remember that Hephaestion’s death was also a mystery.”

Lourds’s interest was piqued. “What we do know is that after Alexander died, he was laid to rest in a gold sarcophagus that bore the shape of a monkey or an ape. That was placed inside another gold casket.”

“Then Ptolemy hijacked the funeral procession and took it to Memphis. Memphis, Egypt, of course, which contributed its name to the Decree of Memphis that collected the second round of the Ptolemaic Decrees.”

“Ptolemy kept Alexander’s body for a time. Supposedly to fulfill a seer’s vision that Alexander would be laid to rest in a place that ‘would be happy and unvanquishable forever.’”

“Yes. There was already talk circulating that possession of Alexander’s body would bring fortune and favor from the gods.”

“The Greeks, Macedonians, and Egyptians all looked to the gods for everything under the sun. That was the way their cultures were set up.”

“I know. And there Alexander lay, until he was moved to Alexandria. He didn’t fare so well after that. Ptolemy IX Lathyros, the last of the Ptolemys’ offspring, had many problems, not in the least of which was a fickle mother—”

“Cleopatra III. Reportedly a madwoman.”

“—who forced him to marry his sister—”

“Cleopatra IV.”

“—and then forced him to divorce her and marry still yet another sister, this one younger than the first.”

“Cleopatra Selene I.” Lourds often marveled at the family histories he uncovered in his studies. “The Kardashians pale by comparison. People these days don’t know how convoluted familial relationships and injustices can be.”

“True.” Boris shot him a glance. “I cannot believe you even know who the Kardashians are.”

Lourds shrugged. “I teach college. I have to keep up with popular culture so I can speak to students in their own language. I speak Lady Gaga as well.”

“As much as the world changes, the more I think it stays the same. Most people will forever be enthralled by gossip and theatrics.” Boris took another left and continued on. “Cleopatra IV was angry at being ousted from her marriage to her brother and being replaced by her younger sister. She went off to Cyprus and married Antiochus IX Cyzicenus, the ruler of the Greek Seleucid Kingdom, which was created from conquests made by Alexander the Great in the Near East and in Asia.”

“Where Turkmenistan, Pamir, and some of Pakistan is located today.”

“Yes. In the meantime, Cleopatra III ruled for a time with Ptolemy IX, then claimed he tried to murder her and had him deposed. She put her favorite son, Ptolemy X—Ptolemy IX’s younger brother—on the throne.”

“You know, I don’t understand how the Greeks didn’t invent psychology back when things like this would have been going on. Freud would have had a field day with mothers like her.”

“I agree. At any rate, she started a chain reaction of murders while playing her games with her sons. She grew tired of Ptolemy X and put Ptolemy IX back on the throne. Ptolemy X killed his mother and resumed the throne, only to be killed in battle. When Ptolemy IX resumed the throne yet again, the kingdom was strapped for cash. He replaced Alexander’s gold sarcophagus with a glass one and had the gold melted down and converted into drachma to pay off his debts.” Boris halted in front of a carpet that had been draped on one wall of a passageway that ended in a tumble of rock. “That angered the citizens of Alexandria, and they rose up and killed him. A case could be made that Alexander was not lying at rest in a land that was ‘happy and unvanquishable forever.’ In fact, it almost seems that a curse followed Alexander around.”

Lourds surveyed the carpet but didn’t move toward it. He didn’t want to rob his friend of his presentation. But he was anxious to see what was on the other side of it.

“The citizens of Alexandria took Alexander’s body back to their city for safekeeping. While the body lay there, the Roman emperors came calling. According to documentation, Pompey, Julius Caesar, and Caesar Augustus visited the tomb.”

“It’s a wonder that Augustus didn’t trigger a war when he accidentally knocked Alexander’s nose off.”

“That’s a story that was never verified. Caligula was also supposed to have taken Alexander’s breastplate. Then, in 200 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus, who sacked the Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian Empire, closed the tomb to the public.”

“Enough time had passed by then that the Alexandrians didn’t protest.”

“Also, the Roman Army was in full bloom. The emperor would have dealt harshly with any kind of uprising. Supposedly, his son—Caracalla, one of the most evil emperors ever to spring from the loins of the Caesars—visited the tomb because he was a great admirer.”

“That man would have never held a candle to Alexander the Great.”

“Agreed. Alexander would have killed Caracalla for the massacres and other atrocities he committed.”

“Not in the least of which was his granting of Roman citizenship to all freemen so he could tax them. They became Romans whether they wanted to or not.”

“And they paid their taxes or faced the consequences.” Boris nodded. “You also know of the Alexander Sarcophagus that was found in Sidon in 1887?”

“Of course. But it never belonged to Alexander. It was only named that because it had bas-relief images of Alexander fighting the Persians at the Battle of Issus.”

“Exactly. That sarcophagus is believed to be the final resting place of Mazaeus, a Persian noble and Babylonian governor.” Boris smiled and his weary eyes gleamed. “Through all of that, no one knows the final resting place of Alexander the Great. But you and I, Thomas, through our good fortune—”

“I would attribute whatever fortune we have to your dogged perseverance, and that’s how I’m going to present it to those news people waiting outside.”

Boris nodded. “As you wish. By whatever means, we now have a chance to find out where Alexander the Great has been laid to rest.” Pulling the carpet aside, he waved Lourds into the tomb.