¶1There's also a very interesting story about what happens to the body >> Yes. >> of Alexander the Great. Now, that I hear that this could be one of the greatest heist jobs since some recent chaps broke into the Louvre and stole stole some jewels. >> I would certainly argue that as well. Just quickly on that what I should also mention is that there are a few revolts when Alexander dies.
¶2And so a few of these generals try to use these revolts to get more glory, to go get more fame. Some succeed, some don't. And also the figures who succeed in some of those crushing those revolts hadn't been present in Babylon when that partition happened. And they are also big figures in the years to come because they feel that they've basically been they haven't been consulted in what happened to Alexander's empire. So I always wanted to mention that as well briefly.
¶3But yes, let's go into what I would call the greatest heist in history. So this is we're going to fast forward some two years from Alexander the Great's death. And you have by and large the people who have been you know, put in their positions across the Macedonian empire largely still in their positions. Ptolemy is in Egypt. Perdiccas is he has been in Babylon for quite a bit of time, but he's now started to move a bit westwards with his army to fight against a powerful rebel in eastern Anatolia or powerful Iranian warlord who he defeats in two battles.
¶4And although we hear very little about it, it feels very much like this is his equivalent of Gaugamela or something like that because of the amount of people is tens of thousands of soldiers on each side and Perdiccas wins and this is that's massive for his authority to win like those couple of battles. Um however it's becoming clear that there are certain governors who are not abiding by his authority, by his commands, by what he's telling them to do to assist certain other governors and in quelling revolts and the like and them basically deciding that they don't want to abide by Perdiccas' authority, that they want to in in many way mode they just can't stomach it. So, Ptolemy's already doing that in Egypt. He is starting to build up his forces a little. He's looking to extend his control over the North African coast as the place called Cyrene and Cyrenaica in Libya today.
¶5Extraordinary Greek cities that he will take over. He's also looking at Cyprus and he's looking at Syria. Perdiccas is keeping an eye on that so he knows that one day sooner or later he probably will come to blows with Ptolemy. But there's also Antigonus in Asia Minor who has been basically not listening to what Perdiccas wants him to do in Asia Minor. So, Perdiccas has got these problems um he's got some problematic governors to deal with that's been happening.
¶6But at the same time he's treading a fine line because he needs a good reason to displace them when he goes about doing that and he needs to justify it to his soldiers and the like and the Macedonians especially when it breaks out into like open war. But Perdiccas also has big ambitions of his own. He's done quite well so far. You know, he's won this major battle. He's got control of the two kings, Alexander's wife as well.
¶7And he's looking to get to the next level I would argue. I think he's very much got ambitions on becoming like being actually just named the next king. Um either either in line with Alexander the Great's family or well, probably almost certainly yes in line with Alexander the Great's family but not killing off his son and his brother. Now, I'll explain how in a moment. But part of this as this is all been going on in Babylon um the greatest kind of craftsmen from across the empire have been gathering to build a magnificent funeral carriage for Alexander the Great.
¶8And this is unlike anything the world has seen before. And we have a beautiful description of it surviving in Diodorus. And he says that it's covered in gold." And like you have different scenes of different parts of Alexander the Great's army on all sides of the on all four sides. And you got to imagine it's like a mini temple on wheels. So, it's got elements of Greek temple architecture in it.
¶9It's like kind of got columns and a continuous freeze on top with like images of Alexander the Great's army. You've got the casket where Alexander the Great's body will be in the middle with his with his arms and armor and a gold glimmering um veil, I guess, kind of drooping down from the top. So, they're kind of shimmering. So, it's like if you're trying to look through to where the body is, it's almost like you're looking into another world, the divine world where Alexander is now gone. Uh it's on wheels as well at the same time.
¶10And it's supposedly pulled by some 64 mules of the like, all each with a golden bell on. So, this is like an extraordinary funeral carriage, unlike anything that's ever been created. It takes 2 years to build. And the question is, where is it going to go? Where is Alexander the Great's body be buried?
¶11Um There's the idea Alexander wants it buried in Egypt. There's also but Perdiccas and the others probably want him to be taken back to Macedonia. Like all kings had before him. And so, 2 years after Alexander the Great's death, this funeral carriage with a with a gar with a guard as well starts moving away from Babylon and up towards the eastern Mediterranean where Perdiccas is at that time in Anatolia. I think the plan is to kind of join up with Perdiccas and he will take that funeral carriage, take Alexander the Great's body back to Macedon, and oversee the burial of Alexander the Great's body.
¶12He will have at that time the army, the kings, he'll have the wife of Alexander the Great. He'll also by this time he has an alliance with Alexander the Great's mother and Alexander the Great's only full sister, Cleopatra, who he plans to marry. And that's >> was wondering why he didn't marry Roxana. >> There you go. So, that's why and that's why I think when you got all that together, you've got other prominent um governors at the time like Antipater who's the governor in Macedonia, uh uh a very old governor at that time, but very powerful and prominent, and Craterus as well.
¶13But with all of that backing, overseeing the burial of Alexander the Great, I don't think anyone could have challenged him becoming the next king, right? Batey him and marrying into the family, so he's got that royal connection as well. So, I think that's very much his his plan. But Ptolemy knows that, too. And he wants the body of Alexander the Great.
¶14He's been conspiring with the guard who are taking the body back westwards. And what happens in northern Syria as the body's going all of a sudden, the funeral carriage, this is big thing, it's not going fast, right? But it diverts south. So, it goes through what is present-day Syria, what is present-day Israel and Palestine, down that way. And it's very clear that Ptolemy has colluded with the guard of this funeral carriage, you're not going to take it to Perdiccas, you're not taking him, you're going to take it to Egypt.
¶15And that's what happens. Perdiccas gets wind, he sends a fast force out to try and catch up with it, you know, the light like cavalry and the like to try and get the funeral carriage back on track because this is incredibly important. But by the time they catch up with it, which is probably, we don't know exactly where, but it is probably in kind of Judea area today. Ptolemy has already arrived with his own army to reinforce the guard guarding this funeral carriage, and they managed to fend off this Perdiccas relief force. And so, Ptolemy successfully brings the body to Egypt in this funeral carriage.
¶16And he takes it to where his capital is at the time, which is Memphis, so the traditional ancient Egyptian capital. Um at that time, so modern-day near Cairo. Um because Alexandria at that time is still being built. And Ptolemy takes it there, crosses the river Nile, and oversees his burial. So, he does the all-important thing of overseeing this legendary king, this basically divine king who everyone wants to emulate, his burial, and he does it in Egypt.
¶17And this is This is one of the sparks for the first great war of the successors to happen, you know, being Perdiccas versus Ptolemy in that area of the world. And it, you know, you get the chaos that follows. But it's an amazing story. We don't know what happened to the funeral carriage cuz Alexan- as beautiful as that funeral carriage was, as exemplary with all that amazing art and architecture, the real treasure was the body itself. >> [music]