Searching for Cleopatra's Tomb

Antiquities chief and Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and Kathleen Martinez, a Egyptologist from the Dominican Republic believe that they are close to discovering the location of the tomb of where Cleopatra may have been buried.  They are searching three sites west of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

The three excavation sites were choosen by radar scan of the temple - Tasposiris Magna, which was bilt in honor of the ancient Egyptian deity known as Isis.  This was built in the Greco-Roman time period by Ptolemy II (300 BC).

The forty year old Martinez and her team have been working onthat site for three years.  

There have been security concerns with the dig sites since they are close to the summer home of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Martinez said, "There are historic proofs in the works of (Roman chronicler) Plutarch where he says Cleopatra was buried with Marc Anthony."

So far, her team have discovered 10 mummies, two of them gilded, in 27 tombs.  It was also discovered coins engraved with the images of Cleopatra and Alexander the Great.  There's also coins made of bronze showing Cleopatra's profile.  

"..Plus, there was an alabaster bust of the queen found at the site showed that the queen was a 'beauty.'" said Hawass.  "The coins... shich show her face and neck... reufte what some scholars have said about Cleopatra being very ugly." Zahi Hawass added.  

As for Cleopatra's history, she ruled Egypt more than 2,000 yers ago.  She was allied with Marc Anthony, one of the three men who ruled the Roman Empire after Julius Caesar's assassination.  In fact, she and Marc Anthony were married.  The marriage to Anthony ceded the Roman land to Cleopatra heped set the stage for his (Anthony's) fellow Roman leaders to rally against him and thus start the civil war.  When things were lost, both Anthony and Cleopatra both committed suicide.

(Just another excuse to post my Indiana Jones action figure pictures).

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Ref.  World News, April 17, 2009 (http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1015836/Radar-finds-possible-burial-site-of-Cleopatra). 

comcast.net April 20, 2009 ( http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20090419/SCIENCE-US-EGYPT-CLEOPATRA/).