Excavators search for Cleopatra's burial site

Source: Agencies | April 17, 2009, Friday |

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ARCHAEOLOGISTS will begin excavating sites in Egypt next week in an attempt to solve a mystery that has stymied historians for hundreds of years: Where is the final resting place of doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony?

Archaeologists looking for the tombs of the celebrated queen of Egypt and the Roman general, who committed suicide in 30 BC, will begin excavating three sites at a temple where tombs may be located, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement on Wednesday.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony, whose relationship was later immortalized by William Shakespeare, could have been buried in a deep shaft in a temple near the Mediterranean Sea, the council said.

Archaeologists last year unearthed the alabaster head of a Cleopatra statue, 22 coins bearing Cleopatra's image and a mask believed to belong to Mark Antony at the temple.

The three sites were identified last month during a radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna, the council said. The temple is located near the northern coastal city of Alexandria and was built during the reign of King Ptolemy II (282-246 BC).

Teams from Egypt and the Dominican Republic have been excavating the temple for the past three years. They found a number of deep shafts inside the temple, three of which were possibly used for burials.

The lovers committed suicide after being defeated in the battle of Actium.

Mark Antony is said to have killed himself with his sword, while Cleopatra is believed to have clutched a poisonous asp to her chest.

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Excavators search for Cleopatra's burial site

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