Rumor says Alexander the Great could be buried in Australia

Sydney, March 20 (ANI): A man has claimed that Alexander the Great, whose tomb has been missing for nearly 2,000 years, could be buried in Broome in Western Australia.

Tim Tutungis told ABC News that he first heard about the rumor from his old friend, Lou Batalis.

"We just got onto the subject of Alexander The Great's tomb, and he said, 'They'll never ever find it, no matter where they look, because Alexander the Great is buried in Broome, in Western Australia'," Tutungis said.

According to Tutungis, approximately 50 years ago, a man went into a cave in Broome and he saw some inscriptions in there that looked like ancient Greek.

He reported it to the government, and when officials went to the site, they confirmed there were some inscriptions there, he added.

When the officials enquired from the Greek community if any one can read ancient Greek, Louis Batalis volunteered and defined the inscriptions as saying, in ancient Greek, 'Alexander the Great'.

"The government did say to him at that time, 'You didn't see this, OK, this never happened'," said Tutungis.

Alexander the Great died on June 11, 323 BC, probably from malaria, alcoholism or poisoning.

One traditionally accepted story says that his body was placed in two gold caskets in a gold carriage. Another says his body was preserved in a clay jar filled with honey and that this was placed in a glass coffin.

Some historians say that Alexander's general and friend, Ptolemy, stole the body and took it to Alexandria, while others say Roman Emperor Caligula looted the tomb and stole Alexander's breastplate.

According to some sources, Emperor Septimius Severus closed Alexander's tomb about 200 AD, and little is known of the body's whereabouts after that.

Tutungis said that he is 99 percent convinced Batalis told him the truth, because people "have looked everywhere" for Alexander's grave, to no avail.

"I drew my own conclusion because the war of the Macedonians ended up in India and I assumed that some of the soldiers went back to Macedonia on foot," he said.

"Some of the soldiers must have caught a ship. Why can't we say that Alexander did catch a ship; they lost their way in the treacherous ways up there," he added.

"Look where India is, look where Broome is; a ship could easily get wrecked in Broome," he further added. (ANI)