Tag: History Unleashed

Where is the tomb of Alexander the Great, one of the most successful rulers and military strategists of all time? He was only 33-years-old when he died in Babylon in 323 BC.

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was born in Pella in 356 BC. He was the son of King Philip II of Macedonia and the student of the great Greek Philosopher Aristotle. He had his first military victory when he was only 16-years-old. Despite his obvious strengths as a king’s son, Philip and Alexander had a falling out when Philip chose a new wife of Macedonian birth. There was talk of producing a “legitimate” heir. This angered Alexander and he and his mother were exiled.

Nonetheless, Alexander became king when his father was assassinated during his daughter’s wedding. He was 20-years-old. By the time he was 26-years-old, he had conquered the Persian Empire.

Body Laid in Memphis, Egypt

He said before his death that he was leaving his kingdom to “the strongest.” If he had wanted his empire to exist in peace after his death, he chose the wrong words. His men took this to mean that the strongest of them would take the place of Alexander. This naturally led to fighting.

Amidst all of the bickering, plans for the burial of the king were being made, which they also argued about. Plans were made and changed several times. Ultimately, Ptolemy I Soter hijacked the body in 321 BCE before its transfer to Aegea and laid Alexander’s remains to rest in Memphis, Egypt.

The Coffin

According to Diodorus Siculus in Book XVIII:

[blockquote align=”none” author=”Diodorus Siculus, Book XVIII”]First, they prepared a coffin of the proper size for the body, made of hammered gold, and the space about the body they filled with spices such as could make the body sweet-smelling and incorruptible. Upon this chest there had been placed a cover of gold, matching it to a nicety, and fitting about its upper rim. Over this was laid a magnificent purple robe embroidered with gold, beside which they placed the arms of the deceased, wishing the design of the whole to be in harmony with his accomplishments.[/blockquote]

Revered in Death

Because of Alexander’s great success in life, brought about by his tenacity and daring, he was greatly revered in death. This is how we know where his tomb was in certain places at certain times. There are records of such people as Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Caligula (who may have had his breastplate stolen out of his sarcophagus) visiting his tomb. We also know that Alexander the Great’s body may have been placed in a golden sarcophagus.

Either Ptolemy I Soter or his son Philadelphus moved Alexander’s body to a new tomb in Alexandria in the late 4th or early 3rd Century BCE. The tomb was placed in a Mausoleum and reported to still exist in 274 BCE.

The tomb in Alexandria was replaced with another by Ptolemy Philopator around 215 BC. Philopator had a mausoleum erected in the center of Alexandria. In it, he placed some of his ancestors and Alexander the Great.

There is a record of Alexander the Great’s golden sarcophagus being melted down and sold in 89 BC. It was replaced by a glass sarcophagus.

The last definite record we have of the tomb of Alexander the Great dates to roughly 215 AD, when Caracella visited the tomb.

A Period of Turmoil

War came to Alexandria during the 3rd century. The city was attacked and ransacked repeatedly over the course of many years. It is possible that the tomb of Alexander the Great was destroyed, partially destroyed and/or robbed at this time.

Mother Nature and Christianity

If the tomb remained standing after these events, as some accounts suggest, then it is likely that it was destroyed during the famous earthquake and tsunami that struck Alexandria in 365 AD.

If by some chance the tomb or the corpse survived the tsunami, it is likely that the tomb was lost around 400 AD when the Christians began demanding that pagans cease to worship false gods. As Alexander the Great was worshipped in his death, he would have been a prime candidate for destruction. If the revered king’s body and tomb were still intact at this time, they may not have stood a chance against the Christians.

Rising sea levels may also have a hand in hiding the tomb. According to National Geographic, the sea level around Alexandria has risen upwards of 12 feet since Alexander’s death.

No Further Trace

After this time period, there is no reference to the location of Alexander the Great’s tomb. To this day, no trace of any of his three tombs has been found. His sarcophagus, body, or any of the relics supposedly buried with him have never been found. If his tomb had been looted, we may stand a chance of finding these things elsewhere than Alexandria. If it was destroyed by the massive tsunami that presumably took other treasures with it, chances are we will never find any trace of it.

The Final Location

The general consensus, and most likely truth, is that the tomb of Alexander the Great is in the center of Alexandria, Egypt. Several scholars have deduced the tomb is somewhere in the area of what was Canopic Street, now known as Horreya Avenue.

There have been claims that Alexander’s tomb may be found elsewhere and that there is evidence for such. However, the evidence that it was in Alexandria when it was either destroyed or looted beyond recognition is overwhelming by comparison.

Nonetheless, we must conclude at this point that the fate of the tomb of Alexander the Great is unknowable as it stands.

The biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are synonymous with sin and divine punishment. According to Genesis 18-19, God destroyed them with a rain of sulfur and fire. The Old Testament is chock full of geographical and historical details of the twin cities, before and after their destruction. However, historians and archaeologists debate both the veracity and locations of these fabled ruins.

The Dead Sea and the Cities of the Plain

Reference to the two cities appears throughout the Old Testament, but Genesis chapters 14 through 19 offer the region’s lengthiest descriptions. Sodom and Gomorrah were only two of many kingdoms around the Jordan River valley and the Dead Sea region, also called the Valley of Siddim. The so-called cities of the plain were Sodom, Gomorrah, Zoar, Admah, and Zeboiim. According to Genesis 14.10, before the destruction, “the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country.” This passage introduces critical geographical features of note in the search for these ruined cities.

Men of the City of Sodom

The real story of Sodom and Gomorrah surrounds a bargain between the patriarch Abraham and the Lord God. In Genesis 18, the Lord recognized the wickedness growing in the land but promised Abraham that if ten righteous people were found in Sodom, He would not destroy the city. The angels sent by the Lord received hospitality from Lot upon entering the city but were set upon thereafter by a mob of wicked men: “both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; and they called to Lot, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them’.” (Gen. 19:4-5).

Sins of the Sodomites

Biblical scholars debate the actual crime of the men of Sodom, who sought to “know” (Hebrew: yada) Lot’s visitors. Hospitality to strangers, as Lot showed, was a preeminent virtue of ancient civilizations. When the people of Sodom broke this convention, Lot tried to spare his visitors by offering the mob his two virgin daughters instead. Whether the crime of the Sodomites was sexual immorality or a violent denial of hospitality remains debated. In either case, God’s punishment was now certain for Sodom and its twin city.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

The angels of the Lord told Lot of the imminent destruction, warning him not to “stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills,” and not to look back upon the ruin.

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground… Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace (Genesis 19:24-25; 27).

Gathering his family, Lot arrived at the city of Zoar when the sulfur and fire rained down from the heavens. Famously, his wife did gaze toward the disaster and became a pillar of salt.

Historical Clues

In the Septuagint, the earliest books of the Old Testament, we garner some clues of the location and context of these lost cities. Abraham is thought to have lived during the Third Dynasty of Ur, around 2100 BCE. This timeline is critical, as the Middle Eastern climate in 2100 BCE was cooler and wetter. Areas now dominated by desert were hospitable to agriculture and ground cover. The Jordanian plain would have boasted numerous cities, but which were the real Sodom and Gomorrah?

Natural Disaster

Putting aside the prospect of divine destruction, scientists and archaeologists continue to search for a natural explanation for the destruction of the cities, attentive to the physical evidence from the plain of Jordan. Many mythological traditions are born from natural disasters, rendered into parables focusing on divine retribution. The Greeks called this an etiology, a story that explains the cause of some natural feature or event. This may be the case in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Earthquake

Prone to major earthquakes, the region may have suffered twin catastrophes. An earthquake would have devastated mudbrick buildings, as seen in the 2003 destruction of the Iranian city of Bam. Earthquakes also release horrific secondary forces. Earthquakes can literally liquefy the ground, causing the cities to collapse or sink. Landslides from the northern hills could have buried the cities. Finally, a seismic activity could have caused an explosive release of gasses from the ground. The bitumen deposits of the region, particularly in the southern Jordanian valley, could have poisoned both the soil and the air. Abraham’s view of the smoke coming off the land like a furnace in Genesis 19 lends some credence to this theory.

Related: Where was the Garden of Eden

Finding the Cities: Archaeological Theories.

Biblical archaeologists have scoured the Jordanian plains and the region around the Dead Sea for nearly two centuries, seeking out these cities’ ruins. Scholars have proposed both northern and southern locations.

Tall el-Hammam 

Close to the mouth of the River Jordan, northeast of the Dead Sea, archaeologist Dr. Steven Collins has worked at Tall el-Hammam since 2005. A massive Bronze-Age city, Collins’ excavations have revealed features expected of the Bronze Age (circa 3500-1500 BCE), such as massive city walls, palace and temple complexes. Some pottery and cuneiform tablets from the site were fired and vitrified, covered in a glassy coating. The discovery of zircon crystals on the site, present only in environments of intense heat, led Collins to propose that an exploding meteor slammed into the site around 1700 BCE. However, some archaeologists and geologists reject Collins’ theories based on the late destruction date and the absence of a crater or impact site.

Bab edh-Dhra and Numeria

On the shallow, southeastern shore of the Dead Sea, the sites of Bab edh-Dhra and Numeria have also been pronounced as the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Many early Bronze Age cities are found in the southern region, typically smaller than the site at Tall el-Hammam. The southern theory closely adheres to the geographical descriptions in Genesis, as these sites are found in proximity to sulfur-rich bitumen and petroleum deposits. Skepticism surrounds this proposal as well. Numeria is considered too small to fit the description of Gomorrah. Secondly, both the chronology and absence of a dual destruction fail to match the biblical evidence.

Conclusion

The fertile climate of the Middle Bronze Age and the geographical advantages of settlement in the Dead Sea region clearly supported many cities in the Biblical era. Locating the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah, though, relies upon careful analysis of too few clues in Genesis. Many towns rose and fell across the Middle East during the Bronze Age, whether through human intervention or natural disaster. Archaeologists and historians will continue their search to locate the famously smote cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the site-rich Jordanian valley.

In 1957, Homer H. Dubs, the author of A Roman City in China, made a controversial proposal about the lost Roman legion of Marcus Crassus. He believed that around 50 BCE, the soldiers ended up as prisoners of war. Eventually, they became mercenary soldiers for the Han Chinese who gave the Romans land in the Gansu province. There, the Romans founded a city called Lijien (also Liqian or Lijian), the word that the Chinese used for legion. Some of the people who live in Lijien — today, “Zhelaizhai” — have Caucasian features. Consequently, Dubs believed that the residents of Zhelaizhai may be the descendants of the lost Roman legion in China.

These Uyghur girls are genetically similar to a few residents of Liqian, today’s ZhelaiZhai. Public domain.

Marcus Crassus and His Legion of Roman Soldiers

In 53 BCE, a humiliating defeat for a Roman army set off a chain of events. Consequently, this may have led to the furthest eastward expansion of the Roman Empire’s military and cultural influence. The defeat took place at the Battle of Carrhae, located in eastern Turkey, where the Roman fought against 10,000 Parthian archers against seven Roman legions led by Marcus Licinius Crassus.

Prior to this battle, Crassus had amassed a degree of fame after he defeated Spartacus’ rebellion in 71 BCE. However, his success would not last. Despite his prior conquests, many people questioned his military leadership. The leader’s inexperience became apparent the day he led 45,000 soldiers into battle against the very prepared and mobile Parthian cavalry in Carrhae, now known today as Harran, Turkey.

By nightfall, the battle was all but over. The Parthians beheaded Crassus’ son and killed 20,000 Roman soldiers. While the two sides were negotiating an end to the fight, the Parthians captured Crassus and also beheaded him. Approximately 15,000 Roman soldiers managed to escape, but 10,000 others became prisoners.

What Happened to the Lost Roman Legion?

The fate of the 10,000 captured Legionnaires remained a mystery. They became known as the Lost Roman Legion. In 20 BCE, under Caesar Augustus, negotiations regarding the return of these soldiers only compounded the mystery.

The Parthians stated there were no prisoners to repatriate. However, Paul Brummell, the author of Turkmenistan, says that the Parthians moved many prisoners from the Battle of Carrhae eastward to Merv, Turkmenistan, where they used the fighters against invasions.

Lijian — Legion?

Chinese records indicate that in 36 BCE at the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han captured the Xiongnu, led by Zhizhi Changyu in Central Asia, in a place known today as Dzhambul, Uzbekistan, in 36 BCE.

Chen Tang, one of the Han generals who fought the Xiongnu, recorded fighting soldiers who used the yu lin zhen, fish scale, formation. This tactic of tightly squared units utilized shields for the first row to cover their body. The following rows covered their heads. However, the Roman legions used this strategy throughout the empire and called it the testudo (tortoise shell).

Roman Testudo tortoise shell formation. CC 2.0 Neil Carey.

Charles Hucker proposed that the Roman legionaries may have been amongst the Xiongnu soldiers. Following the Battle of Zhizhi, the Han possibly captured over a thousand prisoners. Emperor Yuandi established a new county called Lijian (Liqian) or Li-jien, which, according to Hucker, is a name that reflects the Roman legion.

The Theory of Liqian

As the story goes, the Han victors were highly impressed by the skills of the soldiers. Therefore, they moved them further east to the new outpost of Liqian (Li-Chien) in the Gansu province. From there, the mercenary soldiers helped the Han Chinese defend against Tibetan raids.

A map of China’s Han Empire available during this same period showed a county named Liqian. According to Fan Ye’s 5th century “Hou Han Shu”, Liqian was what the Chinese called the Roman Empire.

Zhelaizhai residents with European characteristics.

Archaeological Findings

Archaeologists now believe Liqian became present-day Zhelaizhai, China. Excavations in Zhelaizhai unearthed a trunk with stakes, which the Romans commonly used to build fortifications. Additionally, they found Roman coins and pottery.

Evidence shows that the people of Zhelaizhai had lined the ancient streets with tree trunks. This was a uniquely Roman practice. Also, at least one Roman helmet with Chinese lettering puzzled researchers, and a strange passion exists for bulls. However, neighboring cities do not.

Arguments Against the Lost Roman Legion in Liqian Theory

• The fish-scale formation was known to China, which had been using the strategy during the first millennium BCE. (Yuan: 2018).
• Indo-Europeans had spread out into Central Asia well before the Imperial Roman period. The Tarim mummies of Xinjiang, China, are just one example of this.
• Celtic mercenary soldiers fought in Central Asia and Asia in Turkey, Judea, Syria, and against the Seleucid Empire pre-imperial Rome. (Listverse). 

DNA Tests in Zhelaizhai

A 2005 DNA analysis of residents in Zhelaizhai indicates that approximately 56 percent have genetic sequences similar to Europeans. However, the analysis did not determine that they derived from Southern Europe, as experts would expect if they originated in Italy. On the contrary, their DNA was similar to that of the Uygurs of the Xinjiang Province of Western China, who possess Northern European ancestry (Khan).

Another study from 2007 determined that according to paternal (Y) lineage DNA, the people of Zhelaizhai are not descendants of Romans. Instead, they are very similar, genetically, to Han Chinese with a small amount of Mongolian aspect. Scientists indicated that a complete study of mtDNA (maternal lineage) is necessary to complete the assessment.

Although the locals of Zhelaizhai have, in their minds, accepted the idea that they originate from the lost Roman legion in China, it appears that the evidence so far indicates that they do not.

In 1968, British newspaper The Sunday Times sponsored the first ever round-the-world yacht race. Guaranteed excellent publicity from the paper, nine contestants enlisted, drawn by the glamor of winning such a race, as well as the £5,000 prize for the fastest time (as much as $120,000 today).

Competitors could start the race at any point between 1 June and 31 October 1968. One such competitor, who set off on the very last day, was Donald Crowhurst.

An Ambitious Man

Donald Crowhurst was not a professional sailor but had some knowledge and experience about sailing. He was an inventor and electronics engineer, and hoped to use this to his advantage during the race.

To aid in his navigation, he created a radio-direction finder that he named “Navicator” and he would make the attempt in a very unusual boat design, a trimaran called the Teignmouth Electron. Trimarans could theoretically travel much faster than monohull boats, but had not been tested on such a grueling expedition.

Crowhurst hoped to stabilize his business with the publicity and money that he would get by winning this race, but the upfront costs were steep. To take part, he raised financing from some businessmen and mortgaged his home as well.

This allowed him to finish work on the Teignmouth Electron which he had constructed specially for the voyage. The boat-builder promised Crowhurst that the boat would be speedy but warned about stability issues in heavy seas.

But on the first sea trial of the boat, a few noticeable problems came up. The deadline was rapidly approaching and it wasn’t possible for Crowhurst to equip new parts and repair the vessel properly to make it ready for the race.

He only had two ways and was faced with a dire choice: either sail and take part in the race with a doubtful boat, or give up to face bankruptcy and humiliation. Crowhurst, fatefully, took the first option, setting sail in a boat untested in either design or practice.

The Race Begins!

Just like the boat wasn’t ready, the weather wasn’t favorable for the race as well. Clare, Crowhurst’s wife, suggested to him not to take part in it, as there was a great risk. But as she saw Crowhurst sobbing with the thought of humiliation, she and their four kids tried to make Crowhurst believe he could do anything. They didn’t want him to regret the thought of giving up.

On 31st October 1968, the weather miraculously calmed and gave Crowhurst his opportunity to start the voyage. Crowhurst kissed the forehead of each of his children and asked the elder ones to take care of their mother, and launched the Teignmouth Electron.

Soon after the race began, Crowhurst observed that the boat was already leaking like a sieve. And he realized right at that moment that this boat wouldn’t be able to take the blow from 30 or 40-foot (9 – 12 m) waves in the Southern Ocean, writing in the logs that the ship would probably sink once it entered heavy seas.

Trapped and with no options left, Crowhurst started to come up with a plan! He didn’t want to give up and live with humiliation forever, he would rather cheat than lose.

The Crooked Plan of Donald Crowhurst

GPS didn’t exist back then, and so the only way of checking the position of the boats after the race was through a review of the logbooks and the charts carried on each boat. Donald Crowhurst intended to use this to his advantage, saving his boat and completing the race.

Therefore, he started sending radio messages to the organizers giving false positions. He charted a false course down into the south Atlantic, and then, fearing his transmissions might give him away, he then disconnected the radio contact completely off the coast of Brazil.

Even these waters were too much for the Teignmouth Electron. His boat was so damaged at one point that he had to stop at a fishing port in Argentina to make some necessary repairs.

Crowhurst’s plan was to maintain two logbooks, one for his real journey and one for his fictitious race experience. The pressure of keeping two logbooks would have been extreme, and was made worse when he realized that his fictitious log wouldn’t be justifiable at close scrutiny if he won the race.

The logbooks would need to contain weather conditions during the course of his voyage. Crowhurst had no idea what the weather was like where he was supposed to be, and the fictitious log reflects some of this in its hazy descriptions.

Claiming to be making good time, Crowhurst wandered in the Atlantic until, finally, his made-up voyage started to catch up to his actual position. At this point the race leader was Nigel Tetley, who was making excellent time. Crowhurst intended to let Tetley win, with himself coming second to avoid much of the log-book scrutiny.

In May 1969, Donald finally turned back for home. But again he had miscalculated, as his apparent pace panicked Tetley. Forced to race at breakneck speed to keep up with Crowhurst’s apparent pace, Tetley’s boat failed and he capsized.

This meant Crowhurst was now far in the lead and on course to get the £5,000 prize for being the fastest competitor. With this victory he felt sure his cheating would be exposed.

After 243 days at sea, Crowhurst made his last entry in his logbook on 1st July 1969. He wrote, “It is finished, It is finished. It is the mercy.” And that was the last anyone heard of Donald Crowhurst.

Lost at Sea

12 days after his last logbook entry, the Teignmouth Electron was found drifting in the ocean. There was no sign of Donald Crowhurst. It was believed that he had jumped off the boat with his fictitious logbook, leaving behind the actual one on the deck by way of confessing his sins.

Crowhurst’s wife maintained that he would never commit suicide, but the evidence of the logbook was telling. He had hoped to become a British folk hero who conquered the seas, but in the end his sin was that of pride.

And so his life ended, trapped by his lies. Here was a man who believed he could sail across the world but couldn’t even make it past the Atlantic, and who believed he could fool the world, but ultimately left nothing behind but his confessional logbook.

Around the 8th century BCE, the Euboean Greeks founded the settlement of Cumae close to Lake Avernus just west of Naples, Italy. The lake is an extinct crater that sits in an enormous caldera called the Phlegraean Fields. Abundant fumaroles and geothermal hot springs dot this dramatically volcanic zone and inspired dark religious beliefs. Avernus Lake became an important place of pagan ritual and worship and is famous for its rich mythology describing chthonic gods, oracles, and sacrifices. Virgil made it famous in the Aeneid. But it was really the Greeks who first associated it with infernal elements. For them, it was a doorway to the underworld of Hades where all dead souls dwelled.

About the Lake

Lying close to the Mediterranean coast, Lake Avernus has a circumference of nearly two miles and reaches a depth of 213 feet. Green slopes, once thick with cypress woods, rise from their base up to a height of 360 feet. Views from the rim of the volcano include the Tyrrhenian sea with its islands of Capri and Ischia. The name Avernus (Latin) stems from Aornos, meaning without birds in Greek, for the belief that toxic gases rose from the lake and kept all the birds away.

Lake Avernus Mythology

Ancient Greeks and Romans associated all of nature with their pantheons of gods. Thunder and lightning meant that Zeus was on a rampage. Rough, deadly seas and earthquakes resulted from an angry Poseidon. Therefore, it seems natural that a region with fumaroles and hellish gas emissions from the hot ground could be interpreted as a portal to Hades.

In fact, the word inferno — the Italian word for underworld or hell — is related to Averno, the Italian form of Avernus. At one time, people living around the lake believed that it was bottomless and called it the Styx (Tesoriero:221). Running between Earth and the Underworld, the Styx carried the departed to Hades. So strong was this belief, that residents refused to drink from the stream nearby that ran underground out to the sea.

Many people believe that Homer (c. 850 BCE) wrote about Lake Avernus. Although he did not name the exact place, his geographic descriptions in the Odyssey have some similarities to the area. In the story, Odysseus holds a meeting with the ghosts of the dead at a temple on the shores of a lake at the entrance to Hades. Homer also wrote about the Cimmerians who dwell in the subterranean caves around a lake and never see the light of day. (Strabo).

Virgil Immortalizes Avernus

Like Homer, the author and poet Virgil blended Greek mythology with real geographical areas in Aeneas’ adventures in the Aeneid. However, unlike the former poet, Virgil specifically names Avernus. The plot involves Aeneas who flees the war in Troy and conquers the Latins to found Rome on the Italian Peninsula. Avernus enters in Book Six when Aeneas seeks out the prophetess sibyl at the Greek settlement of Cumae for her help. Aeneas wishes to descend into the underworld to speak to his father who died on the sea voyage from Troy. In an ecstatic trance, the sibyl channels the god Apollo to foretell Aeneas’ great future and gives him tasks that he must accomplish before he can enter Hades.

One of the tasks requires Aeneas to collect a golden leaf in the woods of Avernus to offer as a gift to Proserpina, the queen of Hades. After finding the leaf, the Sibyl leads Aeneas to a deep cave with a wide entrance near the lake where they sacrifice four young bulls. The blood is collected in bowls, and the entrails are placed on the fire at the altar built in honor of Pluto (god of the dead). After a night of intense witchcraft, invocations of gods, and more sacrifices, they enter into the wide cave to descend into Hades.

[blockquote align=”none” author=”Virgil”]“Straightway they find a cave profound, of entrance gaping wide,
O’erhung with rock, in gloom of sheltering grove,
Near the dark waters of a lake, whereby
No bird might ever pass with scathless wing,
So dire an exhalation is breathed out
From that dark deep of death to upper air:—
Hence, in the Grecian tongue, Aornos called.”[/blockquote]

The Oracle of the Cumaean Sibyl

Aside from the stuff of poems and epic tales, seer-healers and divination were very real aspects of early Greek, pre-Roman, and Roman societies. In fact, this is true of most early cultures. Thus, oracles were common and undoubtedly existed around Lake Avernus. The term oracle usually refers to a seer or a place where a seer prophecies. The Cumaean Sibyl was one such oracle who was probably a real priestess living in Cumae at one time. However, there were many seers around the ancient world, the most famous of which was Pythia at Delphi, Greece.

Where is Sibyl’s Cave?

The actual temple or cave where the priestess lived is still uncertain. However, in 1932 the Italian archaeologist Amadeo Maiuri excavated a tunnel in the hillside at Cumae. He believed it to be the Sibyl’s Cave with the “Seat of the Sibyl” at the back of a 140 m. long gallery where a chamber opens into three niches. On the left of the chamber, a stone bench lies outside a niche that contains yet three smaller nooks.

Interestingly, the chamber at the end of the cave resonates with amazing acoustics and a circular opening in the roof of the tunnel leads directly up to the floor of the Temple of Apollo. Whether or not this was an original feature or was a later addition is uncertain.

Some experts believe the architecture of the tunnel and chamber niches appear funerary in nature. However, “recent studies attribute to the structure a defensive function” (Iannace) that probably occurred in Augustus’ time. In their paper, The Acoustic of Cumaean Sibyl, Iannace and Berardi speculate that the cave was several things through the years: Sibyl’s Cave during the Greek period, possibly a defensive structure during the Roman occupation, and a Christian graveyard.

The Oracle of the Dead

In addition to the Cumaean Sibyl, old stories of another oracle exist. In his book Geography, Strabo (63 BCE-23 CE) wrote that other writers made claims about an Oracle of the Dead living at Avernus. Some people believe that the site of this oracle is in Baiae, just next to the lake on the coast. In the 1960s, the amateur explorer Dr. Robert Paget was searching for Sibyl’s Cave when he found a sulfuric, hot opening amongst the ruins of the ancient Roman baths.

A complex of narrow but tall tunnels shocked Paget. About 140 feet underground and 600 feet from the entrance of the cave, he found a river with flowing hot water. Some propose that this probably fed the huge Roman thermal bath resort directly above. However, Paget and others believe that this was part of an elaborate ritual in which perhaps a priestess led people on a physical journey down the river Styx to the imagined underworld. (Dash). The Oracle of the Dead could then channel loved ones who had passed on.

Gods and Sacrifice at Lake Avernus

Naturally, any underworld or even any body of water involved the Greek and Roman gods. This meant that Lake Avernus was once a highly sacred place of cult ritual. “Sacrifices were regularly made here to the chthonic deities that lurked beneath the murky surface” (Dunford). Not only did Virgil write a detailed description of sacrifices before Aeneas entered the cave to the underworld. Hannibal actually visited the lake in 214 BCE, where many believe he prayed and made sacrifices and offerings to the gods. He may have been seeking their favor, as he had high hopes for conquering the whole region and, in fact, subsequently attacked Cumae unsuccessfully. (Smith).

[blockquote align=”none” author=”William Smith”]”Avernus was also regarded as a divine being; for Servius speaks of a statue of Avernus, which perspired during the storm after the union of the Avernian and Lucrinian lakes, and to which expiatory sacrifices were offered.”[/blockquote]

Temple and Bathhouse in Ruins

Ruins of a Roman building still stand on the southeast bank. Unfortunately, only the dome is now visible as it lies under much sediment. Most people know this structure as the Temple of Apollo. However, many scholars dispute this. Others say that it was in honor of Proserpina, Pluto, Hecate, or that it was simply a Roman bathhouse and nothing more. Pietro Micheletti who authored History of the Monuments of the Realm of Two Sicilies believes that it was a temple honoring the deity of the lake, also called Avernus.

The circular building came into existence at the time of Agrippa or shortly thereafter, around the end of the first century BCE. It did serve as thermal baths for the increasing population and Roman workers at the lake. However, the gods were always involved in everything, and features at Roman baths were commonly dedicated to certain gods. The real question is, what existed at this spot before the bathhouse? Although some experts speculate that earlier altars probably existed here, no one is certain.

Roman Use of the Crater Lake

An unfortunate end to the mythological beliefs and dark superstitions at Lago d’Averno came in the last century BCE. At this time, Sextus Pompeius was launching attacks of strategic shipping ports in his quest for control of the Mediterranean trade. Thus, defeating him became a huge priority for Augustus.

At the same time, Agrippa hired Lucius Cocceius Auctus to build a secret tunnel. This gallery cuts through the mountain connecting Lake Avernus to Cumae. Through Cocceio’s Cave, they hauled supplies to the lake for the construction of a fleet of ships that would attack Pompeius by surprise. This arrangement was ingenious, as Avernus was a secure location that could not be seen from the sea.

The End of the Avernian Underworld

After Pompeius’s defeat, the Romans abandoned Portus Julius due to silt deposits that had collected on the lakebed. This made navigation difficult. Even before the construction of Portus Julius, Caesar had already cleared the trees around Avernus turning the land into farms to support the growing Roman resort town of Baiae. This, in addition to the larger naval engineering projects, changed the atmosphere of the lake into a much brighter, happier place free of ghosts and oracles. By then, there were no emissions of toxic gases — at least not from the lake itself — if they ever existed at all. In one fell swoop, the introduction of the Roman Republic into the area displaced all that was mysterious and hellish around what became Lago d’Averno.

Avernus Today

Now life abounds at Lake Avernus as it peacefully lies in the modern town of Pozzuoli. There is no longer any evidence of the dark underworld, aside from occasional wafts of sulfur from the Solfatara crater a few miles away. With plentiful vineyards, orchards, fish, birds, and a few restaurants, the crater lake has become a destination for tourists and locals out for a run or a quiet walk.

Feathered residents include both ducks and geese, and a slew of birds fly overhead, including crows, seagulls, and sometimes small bats that dwell in Cocceio’s Cave. A pleasant footpath encircles the shore of the lake. Pedestrians can walk to the temple ruins on its east end and the Grotta di Cocceio to the north. Though no longer believed to be the entrance to Hades, the stunning beauty of the crater lake makes this place no less magical.

Once video games entered the market, titles began to spring up almost out of the woodwork. Among the more popular were Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, and Pac-Man. But others had a loyal and cult following. Some of these arcade machines have gone down in history for their mass appeal and virtual dominance of the market of that time. One alleged game of that generation called Polybius has become popular for an entirely different reason.

Game Controversy and its Nefarious Purpose

Legend states Polybius was an arcade game that made its initial appearance in Portland, Oregon in 1981. The machine wasn’t there for very long, perhaps a period of several months. Many gamers that played this game suffered adverse reactions ranging from amnesia to night terrors. Some players allegedly gave up video gaming altogether and became outspoken critics of the pastime.

Despite all of these apparent problems, the game is said to have been immensely popular in its short existence. So much so that scuffles and altercations took place over who gets to play it first.

Occasionally, technicians wearing dark suits tended to these arcade machines. They seemed as though they sought out something specific from within the machine. Allegedly, the technicians are in some way connected to the Government. They are there purely to collect empirical data on the psychological effects the game had on players.

Others dispute this idea and state the game was some kind of training tool or initiation for the military. This is not too dissimilar to the plot of ‘The Last Starfighter‘, a popular science fiction film from the early 1980s.

Anonymous Author Mentions it on Coinop

The first known mention of this game occurred on the coinop.org homepage in August 1998 by an anonymous author. As well as the title of the game, the game’s developers or publishers were cited as Sinneslöschen. No other details were really forthcoming and almost nothing mentioned in regards to gameplay or even plot.

However, the name Sinneslöschen can be loosely translated as sensory deprivation. Perhaps it was this that led some to insist that something was going on that more than met the eye.

Confusion Between Polybius and Tempest Arcade Game?

Like all urban legends or conspiracy theories, there are people who do not believe a word of it. In the case of Polybius, those who write it off as fantasy or an invention are more than prepared to admit that perhaps Polybius may be confused with Tempest.

Tempest was a genuine arcade game that had genuine and documented effects on a number of players within the span of a week. One suffered from his first-ever migraine. Another person fell ill after a marathon 28-hour session and two more, unfortunately, died from heart failure trying to match this achievement.

Polybius in Mainstream Media

Whether or not there was a real arcade game called Polybius, it has secured its place in pop culture. The game has subsequently appeared on numerous television productions.

In The Simpsons’ “Please Homer, Don’t Hammer ‘Em“, Bart strolls through an arcade, passing a Government-issued machine.

In The Goldbergs “The Age of Darkness“,  an unnamed young girl scrutinizes an unused machine.

A Myth Referencing a Fact Checker

Gamers have questioned the authenticity of the game for quite some time now. Perhaps the clue is in the title. For example, Polybius was a real person in Ancient Greece. This historian advocated factual integrity and the use of first-hand accounts in recording events. This was an unconventional or revolutionary stance to take during that time. The same charges can be levied at the modern-day internet, where conspiracy theories and personal opinions dominate.

The popular consensus is that this game is simply a myth. However, others say it is a real game that some people are desperately trying to portray as a myth.

For centuries, Great Zimbabwe has led to spirited debate about its place in the heritage and history of Africa. But all the debate and theorizing comes down to one, insurmountable basic question: what exactly is Great Zimbabwe?

Structurally, Great Zimbabwe appears to be a medieval African city near Masvingo in Zimbabwe, with a large conical tower and circular curtain wall. Right from its beginning around 1100 AD, people used to live in Great Zimbabwe.

However, during the 15th century, it was abandoned due to unclear reasons, and only the stone remains can be seen today.

Great Ruins Of The Zimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe is believed to have been constructed over centuries, between 1100 AD and 1600 AD. Towards the end of this period in 1531, the name of Great Zimbabwe was recorded by Vicente Pegado. “Zimbabwe” is known to be a Shona (indigenous farmers) name given to the ruins, referring to the stone houses found in the ruins.

According to the researchers, Great Zimbabwe was not built on a central plan. Instead, it was designed in such a way so as to be able to adapt to its changing population and roles. The historical site was clearly successful in this, growing to an area of nearly 720 hectares (1,779 acres).

The center of Great Zimbabwe consists of three main areas, namely, the Great Enclosure, the Valley Ruins, and the Hill Complex.

The Hill Complex is the oldest among the three, with some studies suggesting that it may have been constructed as early as 900 AD. It forms a structural ruin series located on the top of the steepest hill of Great Zimbabwe, and is believed to be the religious center of the historical site.

The second area, the Great Enclosure, lies just below the Hill Complex and is a circular, walled area dating back to the 14th century. The circumference of the enclosure is about 820 feet (250 m), and the height of the walls is 32 feet (10 m). The actual function of the Great Enclosure is not known. However, a number of archaeologists believe that it could be a symbolic facility used for storing grains or a royal residence.

The third significant area of Great Zimbabwe is the Valley Ruins. The Valley Ruins include a number of mud-brick houses located close to the Great Enclosure. The number of houses and their distributions hinted that Great Zimbabwe had a huge population, of nearly 10,000 to 20,000 people.

Great Zimbabwe is quite unusual not just in terms of the size but also in terms of the stonework. A number of structures present at the site were constructed from rectangular blocks. In some places, the stonework is surprisingly sophisticated.

At the entrance of a number of houses, there were rounded steps that looked carefully carved. Certain walls were decorated with chevron designs. All of this points to a city of decoration and beauty.

Not a “Lost City”

Many researchers refer to Great Zimbabwe as a lost city. However, the real fact is that it was never lost. The Zimbabwe people have always known about the ruins.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, European explorers reached Great Zimbabwe, took some artifacts, and promptly started claiming that the city was not built by the Africans. Led by misguided prejudice and racism, they refused to accept that an African culture could have built such a structure.

Instead, they decided that Phoenicians or groups from Europe or Asia were actually responsible for building Great Zimbabwe. Karl Mauch was among the earliest Europeans who described Great Zimbabwe. He claimed that the Queen of Sheba, a Biblical figure, was behind the building of Great Zimbabwe.

However, all such claims have been dismissed by mainstream current archaeologists. Today, it is believed by scholars that Great Zimbabwe has indeed been built by ancestors of the Shona, and other groups in Zimbabwe.

The People And The Climate

When it comes to people living in Great Zimbabwe, many have concluded that a type of Shona-speaking people named Karanga were the rulers of the ruins, but this is far from settled in the scientific community.

Certainly, evidence such as the pottery found in ruins suggests that Karanga people lived in Great Zimbabwe. However, this is not conclusive, and there is another theory relating to the people living in Great Zimbabwe.

According to that theory, it is believed that the people were descendants of the people at Leopard’s Kopje, an Iron Age site located at a distance of approximately 100 miles (161 km) from Great Zimbabwe.

Nevertheless, the reason for choosing the site appears clear from the perspective of the weather. Great Zimbabwe has a tropical savanna climate that receives rainfall from October, through to the month of April or May.

A majority of rainfall in ruins occurs in the form of a fine mist, brought in by the southeast trade winds. The climatic conditions were quite favorable in the region and were entirely suitable for supporting a growing population.

Treasures Of The Great Zimbabwe

Throughout its human occupation, the material culture of Great Zimbabwe mainly consisted of imported glass beads, local pottery, grinding stones, spindle whorls, and finished metal objects. But there were treasures to be found here as well.

The most significant artifacts discovered from Great Zimbabwe were eight birds made of soapstone, each about 13 inches (33 cm) high. Most researchers believe that the eight birds are birds of prey. However, the species has not been identified clearly, and the carvings seems to combine avian and human elements.

According to Paul Hubbard, a researcher at the National Museum and Monuments of Zimbabwe, some of the birds had human lips. Moreover, all the birds had four or five fingers or toes. Each of the eight birds had a unique marking or pattern. However, none of them had any resemblance to the local creatures.

Out of the eight birds, six of them were found in a location in the Great Zimbabwe called the Eastern Enclosure, on a hill. A large amount of cultural evidence found in the Eastern Enclosures indicates that it was mainly used for ceremonial functions.

Other notable artifacts found in Great Zimbabwe include iron gongs, copper and iron wire, bronze spearheads, copper crucibles, and ingots, worked ivory, iron holes, sheaths, pendants, gold beads, and bracelets. Various artifacts were also recovered from Great Zimbabwe which evidence its long-distance trade routes.

These include porcelain and glass beads from Persia and China, and an Arab coin of the 14th century. Syrian glass, iron spoons, bronze bells, coral, Persian faience bowls, and celadon dishes of China were other artifacts that seem to have been acquired from distant lands.

Great Wealth

Great Zimbabwe certainly seems to have been a wealthy city. Aside from trade, the wealth of the site was mainly generated through gold and cattle production. Towards the west side of Great Zimbabwe, there are various mines at a distance of nearly 25 miles (40 km).

According to one popular theory, the rulers of Great Zimbabwe did not have any direct control over these different gold mines, instead trading for it with the miners. They used to buy huge quantities of gold in exchange for their cattle. And for this Great Zimbabwe was perfectly placed, in a central location which allowed it to trade across Africa and beyond. There are definitely links with the great trading towns of the East African Coast like Malindi, Mogadishu, and Kilwa. The trade networks even extended to different towns in the Persian Gulf, China, and the western region of India.

Decline Of Great Zimbabwe

By the 15th century, Great Zimbabwe appears to have been in decline. The actual reasons for the abandonment and decline of the site are still unknown. Researchers suggest that some of the possible reasons for the decline of Great Zimbabwe could be political instability, water shortages and famine due to climatic changes, declining trade, or exhaustion of the gold mines.

While there are a number of theories relating to the decline of the city, one of the most prominent is the environmental one. It is believed that drought and overgrazing resulted in the exhaustion of the Zimbabwe soil.

According to the estimations made by the researchers, about 30,000 people used to live on the land of Great Zimbabwe and in nearby areas. The drop in productivity from their lands resulted in famine and would have made survival quite difficult for the people of Great Zimbabwe.

Another prominent explanation of the decline of Great Zimbabwe is that the people had to shift in order to enhance and grow their gold trade networks. Whatever the cause, by 1500 AD the Great Zimbabwe site was completely abandoned, its people scattered to the north and the south.

Misappropriation and Plunder

After its abandonment Great Zimbabwe lay abandoned for about 200 years, occasionally used for some religious ceremonies. But by the late 1800s Europeans reached Great Zimbabwe, attracted by legends of the gold mines of King Solomon.

Sadly, this influx of adventurers led to the archaeological record of the site being completely damaged. What is left is very hard to interpret. Karl Mauch, the German explorer mentioned previously, first arrived at Great Zimbabwe in 1871.

He befriended Adam Render, another German and a Karanga leader, who guided him to the site. Simply viewing the ruins, Mauch immediately concluded that Great Zimbabwe was not built by the Africans. As the culture of the site was advanced, and the stonework was sophisticated, he believed that it could only be the works of Israelite settlers or Phoenicians.

After Karl Mauch, Willi Posselt, a less scrupulous man, visited Great Zimbabwe. He looted the carved birds and went on to hide other artifacts of the site, so that he could return and collect them later.

Following Posselt, there were a number of other visitors who went to the site and took away gold and other valuable assets. Much of what was not valuable to them was destroyed.

Clumsy Archaeology

James Theodore Bent was known to be the first true archaeologist who visited Great Zimbabwe. However, his methods were not ideal, and in 1891 he created more confusion by digging at the conical tower in the Great Enclosure.

This not only destroyed the stratigraphy but also made it next to impossible for other archaeologists to determine the real age of the enclosure. Bent even threw away the metal and clay artifacts found on the site as he considered them to be insignificant.

Later, in 1905, the site was again excavated by an Egyptologist named David Randall-MacIver. David had studied under the guidance of the famous archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie. He found a number of artifacts that were similar to those used by Karanga or Shona-speaking people.

He also concluded that the stonework was not Arabic, and that the Great Zimbabwe was built by the native Africans. Two other researchers also agreed with Randall-MacIver’s findings: J. F. Schofield in 1926 and Gertrude Caton-Thompson in 1929.

While archaeological evidence kept mounting over the years, the majority of the European settlers continued to reject these conclusions. Archaeologists like Peter S. Garlake, who were vocal about Great Zimbabwe’s native origin, were imprisoned.

Africans holding similar views were terminated from their jobs. Displays at Great Zimbabwe site were censored, and the locals were prevented from using the site for their ceremonies.

The Rejection Of Colonial Prejudice

Coming back to the present, Great Zimbabwe is symbolic of African cultural development. A number of popular books on Great Zimbabwe have made the site more accessible to the Zimbabwe people.

However, due to the various archaeological mistakes made in the past, the history of Great Zimbabwe is still elusive. The ruins are now offered protection by the “National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe.” Great Zimbabwe has also been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

However, fewer than 10 archaeologists and only 2 conservators are present in Zimbabwe in order to look after and study all archaeological sites in the country, including the Great Zimbabwe. While some efforts are being made, the site will continue to decline, and more secrets of this enigmatic African trading nation may be lost forever.

Top Image: Ruins at the Great Zimbabwe. Source: Marco / Adobe Stock.

On May 6, 1937, the 30-year era of rigid airships came to a sudden, shocking end. The massive, lighter-than-air civilian aircraft known as zeppelins had been the last word in luxury transport for more than a decade, crossing the Atlantic in near silence and bringing Europe and the United States within easy aerial reach for the first time.

But, on that fateful day, it all came crashing down. The mighty Hindenburg, pride of the Nazi regime and wonder of the age, burst into flame as it came in to land at the Naval Air Station Lakehurst, near Manchester Township in New Jersey.

Airships when grounded were tethered to a mooring tower, the most famous of which sits atop the Empire State Building (although passengers were understandably queasy about disembarking there). As the airship came in to its mooring tower, in an instant it caught fire and crashed to the ground. The whole incident took fewer than 40 seconds.

The disaster took 35 lives on that airship, and one ground crew member was also killed, but amazingly 62 out of the 97 passengers and crew did survive this accident. The entire event was sensationalized when reporters and film crews captured the explosion and crash from the ground, with Herbert Morrison recording the famous words “Oh! The Humanity!” as the flaming wreckage came down in front of his eyes

The End of the Zeppelin Era

Thirty years of passenger travel with the commercial zeppelins came to an end on that day. By the time the Hindenburg came in to land, there had been around 2,000 operational flights without a single injury being recorded.

Furthermore, zeppelins were the last word in luxury travel. Passengers onboard the Hindenburg were able to travel from Europe to North and South America in just half the time that the fastest ocean liner took. Moreover, the interiors were also more luxurious than any aircraft before or since, spacious and comfortable. There were dining rooms, a piano lounge, comfortable sleeping cabins and even a smoking room nestled between the vast hydrogen cells that kept the airship afloat.

But was it the hydrogen, the very gas which allowed the Hindenburg to float in the sky, also the cause of the disaster? After all, 7 million cubic feet (200,000 cubic meters) of highly flammable hydrogen gas was stored right above the passenger quarters.

Inherently Flammable

And, after around 80 years of scientific and research tests, this is one of the preferred conclusions for the cause of the explosion. Many believe that the Hindenburg disaster occurred due to an electrostatic discharge or spark, which then ignited hydrogen which was leaking from one of the cells.

Conditions were not unmanageable that day, but there was a thunderstorm in the area and the pilots of the Hindenburg noted a strong, gusting crosswind as they came in to land. Although there was only a light rain, it was also noted that a strong static force had built up in the air, capable of creating a spark at any moment.

When the accident took place, the airship was only 200 feet (60 meters) above the ground of the airfield. The atmosphere was electrically charged, but the metal framework of the zeppelin was grounded with the landing line.

The difference in this electric potential may well have caused a spark to jump off the fabric covering of the ship to the framework of the ship, which was grounded to the landing line. The fabric covering was supposed to prevent any dangerous sparks from reaching the interior structure, but somehow this still happened.

Answers to the Wrong Questions

That the Hindenburg disaster was due to the hydrogen igniting is hardly surprising, however. The fact that hydrogen was highly flammable was well known to the designers and operators of airships, and safety procedures were in place to ensure it could not catch fire.

So the issue with the Hindenburg fire is much more about how the hydrogen could ignite, the first such occurrence in 30 years. And here there are various theories as to the cause, and the original site of the fire which ignited the gas.

Many believe that there was some kind of hydrogen leak caused by the gusting wind in the moments before the crash. This is supported by later testimony from eyewitnesses on the ground, who reported seeing fluttering fabric panels towards the rear of the Hindenburg, just forward of the rear vertical fin.

The fabric should have been taut and it seemed the fluttering could only have been caused by a tear in the surface layer of the ship. This could have allowed hydrogen to escape, and also potentially exposed the metal framework of the ship to a static discharge.

So, is that it? A hole in the Hindenburg allowed hydrogen to escape, and then a spark from the metal framework ignited the leak? Sadly, this does not offer a full explanation and there are other competing theories which merit consideration.

A Poor Choice of Fabric

The Hindenburg’s distinct and beautiful silver color was due to the use of aluminum powder in the fabric covering the ship. This strengthened the fabric and protected it from ultraviolet deterioration, and the impact of water, wind and other small objects.

But aluminum powder is a dangerous and potentially highly flammable substance, every bit as risky as hydrogen under the wrong circumstances. In fact, it is even used as a component of rocket fuel, albeit in a much different configuration to its use on the Hindenburg.

It may seem an unimportant distinction, but in reality these two different causes have massive implications for rigid airships. These may even come to be relevant if, in the future, such designs are ever revived.

If a spark on the exposed framework ignited hydrogen gas then the problem was one of structural strength. Design improvements should consider strengthening the skin of the aircraft and the hydrogen cells within, as without the hydrogen leak the aircraft would have landed safely.

However, if a spark was able to ignite the fabric itself then the problem is with the material used in her construction. If another, more safely inert material were to be used the fire could not have started, and crucially this suggests the structural design of the Hindenburg herself was not at fault: She was strong enough to survive that day.

The Last Flight of the Hindenburg

Over the years, other, more outlandish theories have been suggested. Could the Hindenburg have been struck by lightning, or destroyed due to sabotage within or without?

None of the other theories are really plausible, however. The camera footage of the accident and statements from the witnesses on the ground do not show evidence of any lightning strike, and it is clear that the fire starts on the upwards rear surface of the zepellin, and not from some internal explosion.

In the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, there is a small chunk of the internal-support girder of Hindenburg aircraft. People still mourn for the lives lost that day, and the world lost one of its great innovations in transport, gone in seconds and in flames.

Top Image: The Hindenburg bursts into flame. Source: Arthur Cofod Jr / Public Domain.

It’s a somewhat disturbing fable, but is there truth behind the tale? It is a folktale known to most people — the story of a man dressed in multi-color (“pied”) clothes who agreed to remove an infestation of rats from the German village of Hamelin and, after not being paid for his services, lured the children out of the village as revenge.

Some believe that the tale chronicles a real set of events that took place in Hamelin.

Long before the Brothers Grimm chronicled the fairy tale in their anthology of stories, curious writings regarding the piper story appeared.

For example, a document from 1384 about Hamelin’s history states that an unrelated event took place “…100 years since our children left.”

It is interesting to note that at no place in the above manuscripts is there any mention of rats. The rodents don’t get added into the story until Count von Zimmern’s 16th century “Zimmern Chronicle.”

Richard Rowland Verstegan wrote a book in 1605 that states that the children were not harmed, but emigrated to Transylvania.

So if the story is based in reality, what actually happened?

Some theorists of centuries past believe the piper was the devil and spirited the children away for his own nefarious purposes. More recent researchers believe the piper represents a plague that struck the town, claiming mainly children as its victims. Others believe the story tells of a children’s religious crusade to Jerusalem that did not meet with success. And others believe the tale merely chronicles a large but sudden emigration (not only of children but of adults as well) from Hamelin to other places in Europe.

Like many folktales, there may be a germ of truth in the Pied Piper story. Unfortunately, there is not enough evidence passed down through time to determine what actually happened in the small village of medieval Hamelin.

One of the most unusual pyramids in the history of ancient Egypt, the pyramid of Sneferu was one of the first pyramids that was built, located at the Egyptian royal necropolis at Dahshur. It is unique among pyramid development in Egypt.

Sneferu, an Egyptian Old Kingdom Pharaoh, constructed the Bent Pyramid in around 2600 BC. Sneferu was the founder of the Fourth Dynasty, and his stepson Khufu oversaw the construction of the great pyramid at Giza in later years.

The pyramid was built in the desert on Nile’s west bank, 40 km (25 miles) south of Cairo. Pyramids had until this point been built on fertile land, but this represented something new. And instead of being constructed in a perfect pyramid shape, the walls bend inwards for the top section.

The Bent Pyramid is among only five of the old kingdom pyramids that remain in their original form, even after 4,500 years of construction. The pyramid even retains its limestone casing which would make it shine in the desert sun.

Why is the Pyramid Bent?

The pyramid is known as Bent Pyramid owing to the steep change in its slope. The walls of the lower part of the pyramid rise at an angle of 54 degrees. Then, at about 49 m (161 feet) above the base, there is an abrupt flattening of the slope to 43 degrees. This gives the pyramid its distinctive bent shape.

There are several theories relating to the change in the slope’s angle. One of the prominent theories is that Snefuru intentionally reduced the slope angle after he received news of the collapse of a pyramid at Meidum.

Another popular theory suggests that the pyramid took a lot of time to be built. To speed up construction and complete the pyramid faster, Sneferu may have reduced the pyramid’s angle.

Some scholars even believe that the odd shape of the Bent Pyramid was intentionally planned for some religious reasons. However, most Egyptologists have dismissed this theory relating to the shape of the pyramid.

Layout of the Bent Pyramid

A yellowish-grey enclosure wall, made of limestone, surrounds the pyramid complex. The main pyramid, a small temple, a satellite pyramid, and a small courtyard line up within the wall.

The Bent Pyramid itself consists of two entrances. The first entrance of the pyramid lies towards the north and is 12 m (39 feet) above ground level. Wooden stairways have been constructed to provide the tourists with optimum convenience.

The second entrance of the pyramid is towards the west and leads, like the first, to a chamber with a corbelled, high roof. While the chamber of the northern entrance is below the ground level, the chamber of the western entrance is constructed on the body of the Bent Pyramid.

These high vaulted ceilings, although relatively common in later pyramid construction, may have posed problems of structural stability. It may have been this uncertainty about the pyramid which led to the change in angle for the top portion.

The Surroundings

A causeway, paved with limestone blocks, runs from the northeast of the Bent Pyramid towards the small temple. On each side of the causeway runs a low limestone wall, a little curved at the top.

Many believe that the Bent Pyramid may also have a second causeway that links the complex to the landing stage or a dock. However, no trace of a second causeway has been discovered to date.

Towards the east of the Bent Pyramid, some fragmentary remains of the pyramid temple have been found. Similar to the Meidum pyramid’s temple, two stelae are present behind the pyramid temple.

Moreover, no trace of any kind of inscription is found. Even though there are only fragmentary remains of the temple, it is assumed that it had a lot of similarities with the Meidum pyramid’s temple, which would support the theory that lessons learned from the construction at that complex would be applied here.

According to some Egyptologists, a satellite pyramid constructed nearby was designed to house the “ka” of the Pharoah, his “double” of the soul. Located about 55 meters (180 feet) towards the south of the Bent Pyramid, this smaller pyramid is only 26 meters (85 feet) high.

The faces of the pyramid are inclined at an angle of 44 degrees, a similar angle to the shallower top portion of the Bent Pyramid. The entire structure is built using limestone blocks arranged in horizontal rows.

The smaller pyramid contains a burial chamber, accessed through a descending corridor. A horizontal passage then connects this corridor with another ascending corridor which then leads up to a chamber. The design of these corridors is quite similar to the corridors present in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Significance of the Bent Pyramid

The Bent Pyramid was one of its kind, a unique structure constructed in the history of ancient Egypt. It marks the glorious period in which the construction of pyramids evolved and may have been the first pyramid with smooth sides.

It is not only the most unusual pyramid in Egypt but also one of the best-preserved pyramids. Unusually large gaps between the limestone blocks covering the pyramid may have helped to preserve this casing, as the gaps would have allowed room for thermal expansion of the blocks without them touching.

Until the 19th century, there was no archaeological investigation of the Bent Pyramid. It only started in the 19th century when Egyptologists such as Lepsius, Perring, and Petrie began exploring the structure in Egypt.

These were followed by more modern investigations, including that of Ahmad Fakhry during the early 1950s. However even after so many investigations of the Bent Pyramid, several Egyptologists believe that there are secrets still to be revealed.

Whether all the chambers of the pyramid have been accurately located or not is still a question. The archaeological studies were often hindered as strong winds led to the creation of drafts through the passageways.

Owing to this, there are assumptions that some of the passageways or rooms of the Bent Pyramid may have remained undiscovered. Does this unique and ancient pyramid still have some secrets? Certainly, the remains of the Pharaoh Sneferu have never been found.

Top Image: Sneferu’s bent pyramid. Source: WitR / Adobe Stock.

By Bipin Dimri