bad 
_ 1804. | 
{Defcr. of the Eaft. I. 4.). Norden pars 
ticularly ftates that ‘* The tomb of Alex- 
ander, which, according to the’ report of 
an author of the fifteeeth century, fub- 
fitted ftill in his time, and was refpected 
by the Saracens, is no longer to be feen; 
even the tradition of the people con- 
cerning it is entirely loft, I have fought 
without fuccefs for this tomb; I have in 
vain endeavoured to inform myfelf about 
it.”” (Travels, p. 21). Niebubr has faid 
nothing on the fubject ; and Bruce, having 
ftated in few words the account of Martol, 
thinks the exifience of the tomb by no 
means probable. 
Such are the writers of a later period, 
whofe inquiries have in any way tended 
to illuftrate this curious point. .Sonnini, 
it appears, though minute in his defcrip- 
tion of the Sarcophagus now at the Mu- 
feum, had no idea that it could have any 
relation to the Macedonian hero; and 
Denon, though he thought the hierogly- 
phics infcribed upon it would furnifh ma- 
terials for wirole volumes of Difleriations, 
never guefled that Alexander would be 
the fubject of a fingle chapter. 
Sonnini’s defcription of tne Sarcopha- 
gus, as he faw it in the moique of St, 
Athanafius, deferves attention. 
‘© J had heard mention made,” he fays, 
“(Of a curious monument, a kind of antique 
tomb depofited in a mofque without the 
precincts of Alcxandria. To no purpofe did 
T exprefs a defire to fee it; I was aflured 
that the attempt would be dangerous, and 
withal impracricable. ‘The French con- 
ful and’ M. Adanfon earneftly entreated 
me not to think of it. M. Auguitus, 
however, lefs timid, engaged to conduét 
me thither by ftealth, and without the pri- 
vity of other Frenchmen, A Janizary of 
the fa€tory accompanied us: the Scheick 
of the mofque; Iman, as called by the 
Turks, Curé by the Chriftians, was, wait- 
ing for us; and we were permitted to ex- 
amine every thing tolerably at our our 
Jeifure, in confideration of a certain dou- 
ceur agreed upon between M. Auguitus 
and the prieft. This temple is very an- 
cient; it was reared by one of the Caliphs ; 
_ the walls are incrufted with marbles of va- 
rious colours, and there are ftili to be feen 
fome beantiful remains of Mofaic work. 
The tomb, the object of our curichity, and 
which may be confidered as one of the 
mott beautiful morfels of antiquity pre- 
Served in Egypt, had been transformed by 
the Mahometans into a kind of little 
pool, or refervoir confecrated to contain 
the water for their pious ablutions. It is 
wery large, and would form an oblong 
/ 
‘tained. 
_ Sarcophagus of Alexander. — o 
rectangle, were not one of the fhorter 
fides rounded in fhape of a bathing tub, 
Tt was probably of old time covered with a 
lid; but no traces of it are now vifible, and 
the Javeris entirely open. It is all of a fin- 
gle piece, and of a fuperb marble fpotted 
green, yellow, reddifh, &c. on a ground of 
a beautiful black; but what tenders it 
peculiarly interefting, is the prodigious 
quantity of fmall hieroglyphical cha- 
racters witn which it is imprefied both 
infide and outwardly, A month would 
{carcely be fufficient to copy them faith. 
fully: we have not hitherto of courfe had 
exact drawings of them. ‘That which I 
faw on my return from Egypt in the pof- 
feflion of the Minifter Berthin at Paris, 
could only ferve to convey an idea of the 
monument, the hieroglyphics having been 
traced purely from imagination, and as 
chance directed. It is nearly the fame 
thing as if, in trying to copy an in{crip- 
tion, one fhould content himfelf with 
writing down the letters, without order 
and without connection. Neverthelefs, 
it is only by copying with fcrupulous ac-~ 
curacy the figures of this fymbolical lan- 
guage, that we can attain the knowledge 
of a myfterious compofition, on which de- 
pends that of the Wviftory of a country once 
celebrated. When that language fhal! be 
underftood, we may perhaps learn the 
original of the farcophagas, and the hiftory 
of the puifflant man whofe fpoils it con- 
Till then it is but the vain an 
flitting field of conjecture. 
«¢ By the fide of the coffin, on a piece of 
grey marble, of which the pavement of 
‘the mofque is compofed, I perceived a 
Greek infcription, but in Roman cha- 
racters ; as they were in a great meafur- 
obliterated, it muft have required more 
time than we could {pare to decypher 
them. All I was able to’ diftinguifh at 
the firft glance was the word CONSTAN- 
TINON.” 
Thefe, with a few additonal obferva- 
tions relating to the difficulty found by 
Europeans in gaining admiffion to the 
mofque, are all that Sonnini makes on 
the Sarcophagus. 
Denon, the latt traveller who faw the 
the Sarcophagus in its -pofition in the 
mofque, throws no additional light upon 
its hiftory; ‘* Adjacent tothe baths, (he 
remarks), ftands one of the principal 
mofgues, formerly a primitive church,. 
under the name ef St. Athanafius. This 
edifice, equally ruinous and magnificent, 
ferves to give us an idea of the carelefinefs 
of the Turks toward thefe objects of which 
they are themfelyes moft jealous. Betfore 
Brass? sas : our 
= 
