Will tunnel beneath the sands lead to the tomb of Cleopatra?
SEARCH THAT COULD SOLVE 2,000-YEAR-OLD MYSTERY
CLEOPATRA’s death by clasping a venomous snake to her breast and letting it bite her is one of the bestknown legends of antiquity.
But where the fabled Egyptian queen and seductress was then buried has remained a mystery.
Now the search for her tomb has taken an intriguing new twist with the discovery of a vast tunnel carved through rock in Egypt.
The tunnel was discovered about 43ft beneath the ancient temple of Taposiris Magna – or Great Tomb of Osiris – by Kathleen Martinez from the University of san Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Dr Martinez and her team of archaeologists have been searching the area for Cleopatra’s tomb since 2005. she has long believed that it is under the temple.
The tunnel measures around 4,300ft long, is 6ft high and has been described as a ‘geometric miracle’ by the Egyptian ministry of tourism and antiquities.
Other experts believe Cleopatra – thought to have died aged 39 in 30BC – was buried some 30 miles further east along Egypt’s northern coast in Alexandria, the city where she was born and ruled. Alexandria was devastated by a tsunami in 365AD.
Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony both died after losing the naval battle of Actium in the Ionian sea to Octavian, Julius Caesar’s great-nephew and heir who was battling them for control of Rome’s empire.
Dr Martinez has previously spoken of her theory that Cleopatra negotiated with Octavian to allow her to bury Mark Antony in Egypt. she wanted to be buried with him so that they would be reunited in the afterlife with the help of the Engptian gods.
‘After their deaths, the gods would allow Cleopatra to live with Antony in another form of existence, so they would have eternal life together,’ said Dr Martinez.
During the excavations and an archaeological survey of the tunnel a number of ceramic vessels and pots were found under sediment.
Two heads made of alabaster were also found near the temple, one of which dates to the Ptolemaic period. Cleopatra was the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty, which itself was the last dynasty to rule ancient Egypt before its conquest by Rome.
The architectural design of tunnel resembles the Tunnel of Eupalinos on the Greek Island of samos, which served as an aqueduct and is considered one of the most important engineering achievements of the Classical world, experts say.
The Egyptian ministry of tourism and antiquities said the discovery that part of the tunnel was underwater confirmed the archaeologists’ suspicions that part of the temple’s foundations are also submerged.
The archaeologists’ work on the temple has been difficult beacuse at least 23 earthquakes hit the region between 320AD and 1303AD, which caused part of the temple to collapse.
Previously, however, the team has uncovered important artefacts inside the temple, including coins that featured the names and images of Cleopatra and Alexander the Great.
After defeating Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Octavian made Egypt a Roman province.
He later took the name Augustus and became the first and one of the greatest of Rome’s many emperors.
‘Eternal life together’