Honestly, figuring out why Cleopatra’s tomb ain’t been found drove me kinda nuts this week. Let me walk you through my mess.
Down the Rabbit Hole Again
It all started Monday night after a few too many documentaries. Everyone talks about finding tombs, right? Valley of the Kings, Tuts place… even Alexander the Great’s bones turn up occasionally. But Cleopatra? Zip. Nada. Her palace sank into the harbor, her tomb’s vanished… total mystery. I started scribbling notes everywhere – bathroom mirror included.
First thing Tuesday, my desk looked like a papyrus factory exploded. Books on Ptolemaic Egypt piled up, maps printed off sketchy history forums pinned to the wall with takeout flyers. My main question: WHERE DID THEY ACTUALLY LOOK?
- Taposiris Magna: This temple near Alexandria gets all the hype. Zahi Hawass dug there for years. They found coins with Cleopatra’s face, mummies… but HER tomb? Still nada.
- Alexandria Underwater: Like, her palace complex is literally underwater now. Cool divers find stuff, but hunting a sealed tomb under centuries of mud? Forget it.
- The Giza Plateau? Random theory popped up. Some dude online swore she was buried near the Sphinx. Yeah… no proof anywhere.
By Wednesday, I was annoyed. You’d think with radar tech and satellites, we’d have scanned every square inch around Alexandria. So why NOTHING?
Realization Hits (Sorta)
Thursday morning, hunched over soggy cereal, it clicked: Maybe we’re looking in totally the WRONG place. The history nerds argue that Roman accounts say Antony and Cleopatra were buried together OUTSIDE the city walls. Taposiris is way out… but what if… what if it wasn’t fancy enough?
Hit the books harder. Found arguments that Augustus kept their burial site hidden on purpose. Why let rivals rally around their grave? Smart move. Then learned Alexandria’s got layers – literally. Roman ruins, modern cities… Cleopatra’s time is buried deep. It’s like trying to find a specific parking spot under ten collapsed parking garages.
And here’s the kicker: No one actually knows what her tomb even LOOKED LIKE. Rich temple? Secret cave? Building blocks recycled by Romans? Entirely possible.
Why Do I Bother?
Friday. Gave up. Went to clean up the archaeological disaster zone formerly known as my living room. Tripped over a stack of books. Papers everywhere. Kicked them angrily. Why am I even doing this? Why waste a week?
Here’s why: My kid came home last month from school all proud. Learned about Cleopatra. Teacher said she vanished, tomb never found. Kiddo asked me “Daddy, why didn’t they look harder?” Tried explaining… failed miserably.
Couldn’t answer my own kid. Felt stupid.
So yeah. Went down the rabbit hole. Now I can tell the kid: Augustus probably trashed it. Her city drowned. And anything left is buried under SO. MUCH. STUFF. Plus, nobody really knows what they’re looking for. Sometimes history hides things too well.
Will we find it? Maybe someday when someone digs under a modern apartment building and gets lucky. Till then… mystery stays buried. Like my motivation after cleaning up all those bloody papers.
