I'm an Archaeologist Excavating Alexander the Great's Buried City

Since I was a child, Alexander the Great was my hero. I don't know why or how that came to be. But I am Greek, and for the Greeks, Alexander is a great hero.

His campaign to the end of the known world—his victories and his achievements—was the most glorious period of Greek history.

For me, the admiration was particularly intense. Archaeology was also my destiny.

So with these combined loves, I arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, 28 years ago. I began my research and faced many difficulties. But I managed to stay in Alexandria, and continue in my work, and the results are very impressive.

I consider myself a lucky archaeologist.

When I'm excavating, I'm always full of hope that something very impressive and important will appear. Maybe a finding that will change the whole understanding of the project we're working on.

I have lived many of these moments. I know now through my experiences with excavations that anything can appear and anything can happen.

The fact that we found an ancient statue of Alexander the Great in 2009—in a small trench of 15 square meters with a depth of eight meters, full of soil, debris and water—was a miracle. It is one of my favorite ever discoveries.

I cannot put how this moment felt into words. This is the reward for an archaeologist. It just shows how lucky I am.

Other discoveries that stay with me are the foundation blocks of the vast ancient Alexandrian monumental building; the city's original royal road; and the Ptolemaic period carved tunnel. All of these were great moments for me.

In the last weeks of the previous excavation season, we discovered the beginning of a Hellenistic wall parallel to the monumental building. We have to excavate the whole area to the building's south to see if this is a surrounding fortification wall.

This could be a very important discovery that tells us about the potential significance of the building. So we're focusing on this and, if possible, excavating all of the parallel walls to learn more.

The priority now is to identify this building. We are in the royal quarter. We know from ancient sources which buildings were recorded. So this building that we have found is one of them. And all of them are very important and famous. But I cannot so far say which one it is.

Alexander the Great's Tomb

I do not know if I will discover the tomb of Alexander. The problem is, after the National Geographic documentary about my work in 2019, The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great, everyone thinks that I am searching for the tomb.

Of course, it's very important for me, and maybe for all archaeologists in the world, to find Alexander's tomb. But I am an archaeologist. I am a scientist. I am also finding very important Hellenistic antiquities in the archaeology of Alexandria.

I don't know if I'll find the tomb. I don't even know what this building is that I've found. I believe I have more possibilities than anybody else of finding something very important because I am excavating in Alexandria and I am in the royal quarter.

I have the evidence and my research, and I'm very happy about that. But who can say whether this will happen in one year or two years or ten? Maybe never.

It's all like a puzzle. Every year, every excavation season, we find something that puts a piece in the puzzle.

The best thing we could find for this unidentified building is an inscription. This hasn't happened yet because the building we are focusing on was completely destroyed.

In archaeology, when you are disappointed and sad, and about to stop, something appears. I'm sure we will find something in our excavations that will help us make sense of this building.

Alexander the Great Was Superhuman

I watched the Netflix docudrama Alexander: Making of a God, which featured my archaeological work in Alexandria. Based on my perception of what Alexander was like, I thought their dramatic depiction of him was about half right.

But I didn't have any power to influence the production. Of course, I made suggestions to the team. But people in showbiz know their work better than me. I know my own work. And the show was a big success.

Alexander the Great was not a normal person. He was a superhuman. What he did in 12 years and eight months—and what he planned to do if he lived longer—was not possible for just anyone. That's why he is considered the greatest of the greats.

We cannot understand or judge him on our level. We are normal people. Not only that, but we also cannot judge or criticize him by our modern "moral" and "ethical" standards. We are so far from the ancient world. It was a completely different era.

He led a military campaign and waged battles, but these were the conditions of that time. If he didn't do that, Alexandria wouldn't exist.

If you conquer the world through a military campaign, bad things will inevitably happen. But in general, the majority of his actions can be explained rationally.

Let's not forget: Alexander wasn't only an excellent general, he was an explorer, a philosopher, and a great diplomat.

In my opinion, he never believed that he truly was the son of a god. But he knew that people would accept and respect him better if he was considered so. He used this as a diplomatic tool. It was very clever.

The Persians, before Alexander, tried to invade Greece many times. But during the time of Alexander, they conquered Greece through money. All the Greek cities were bribed and fighting between themselves.

It was just a matter of time until they were occupied by the Persians. So why not go and attack the Persians, like Alexander did?

Let's not only look at the disadvantages of what he did, but also the advantages. He spread Greek civilization and language to the border of northern India. And it's because of the Greek language that the Christian religion spread.

He founded cities with parliaments and theaters, institutions that were previously unknown in many of these places.

And he founded Alexandria, which became the base of Western civilization. He tried to unite and make equal all the nations he conquered.

There is no such personality in the history of mankind. That's why we still think about and study him to this day.

Calliope Limneos-Papakosta is an archaeologist. She is director of the Hellenic Research Institute Of Alexandrian Civilization, and has been Head of the Excavation Research in Alexandria, in Egypt, since 2000.

All views expressed are the author's own.

As told to Shane Croucher.

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