The Search for the Body of Alexander

SOMA

SWMA

                               By

                   Gian J. Quasar

A young archeologist, Dr. John Monsieur, is puzzled when he finds himself the object of several ruthless collectors who believe he has a golden sandal from the burial of Alexander the Great and the knowledge how to relocate his lost tomb under the streets of modern Alexandria, Egypt. He is plunged unwillingly into the sordid and clandestine world of international antiquities smuggling to quickly uncover murder, a web of intrigue, and to find himself the target when he discovers too much.

Introduction

 

For hundreds of years the tomb of Alexander the Great has been sought by adventurers, historians, antiquarians and treasure hunters. These real life expeditions have unearthed a ton of information which tantalizingly points to
the fact Alexander’s body and tomb are still intact under the city of Alexandria, Egypt, where he was enshrined 2,400 years ago. With this intermeshing historical backdrop, this search for Alexander’s body takes on a real and adventurous aspect not possible in a mere fabricated story.

 

SOMA is more than a Greek word meaning body. It is a concept. The word evokes one thing: the lost body and tomb of Alexander the Great. In the 3rd century BC he was enshrined in a great public tomb in Alexandria Egypt, crowned on the head with a golden diadem and eventually placed in a crystal coffin. His tomb was stuffed with vast treasures from all over the world. So magnificent was the site, so famous the icon who lay there in state, that an entire complex and district of the city was built up around it called The Soma.

   Alexandria grew to become a city with 500,000 people. Its center was the towering edifice housing the body of the greatest conqueror in history. Great and small came to see his mummified remains and donate gifts.

   Alexander the Great’s tomb is arguably the greatest monument of antiquity, perhaps in the world, waiting to be rediscovered. It disappeared under the rubble of earthquakes that racked Alexandria in 365 AD. After over 700 years of splendor, it was lost and never relocated.

   Alexandria lay in rubble and dirt until the 19th century when new interest in the site and its strategic trading location on the Nile began its modern emergence. What had been reduced to a fishing village of 6,000 people has now been transformed to become Egypt’s second most populated city with 3.5 million inhabitants.

   But Alexandria was built over without any excavations ever having been done. For hundreds of years legends have persisted that Alexander’s tomb and body are preserved under the medieval vaults of the Nabi Daniel Mosque protected by the Cheihs of Islam.

   Although this book is fiction, and any resemblance of the characters to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental, the historicity behind it is factual, down to every historical quote, person, and location. Quasar intricately weaves this together with the plot until the reader becomes convinced this story could have happened. The adventure that follows is certainly plausible given the object of the quest.

Outline

Sarcasm, murder and international intrigue relentlessly cling to this adventure from its beginnings in a Roman café until its end under the streets of modern Alexandria, Egypt. On the way, Dr. John Monsieur finds himself the partner of a notorious weasel, the Earwig. He also becomes attached to a pestering newswoman who insists on helping him. He dodges a bloated, ruthless collector, and uncovers two dead Greeks, a strange cult, convoluted stories, and a Persian who agrees to spare his life if he takes him in as a partner.  Before it’s all over 5 people are dead, nobody is what they appear to be, and in such a group of distrust the most surprising discovery is made in an ancient marble tomb.