The Ancients - Alexander the Great’s Corpse & the Greatest Heist in History

Episode Date: August 1, 2021

Alexander the Great is one of the most famous generals and empire builders in history, but the story of his death is almost as remarkable as his life. For this episode, our host and Alexander the Great superfan, Tristan Hughes, joins Dan Snow to tell the almost unbelievable tale of what happened after Alexander died. The ensuing titanic struggle for power and control over Alexander's empire involves war, body snatching, extremely slow carriage chases and a thousand soldiers being eaten alive by crocodiles in the Nile.

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in particular, a focus on one of the most remarkable heists in the whole of history, at least in the whole of ancient history, and this was the hijacking of Alexander the Great's body by one of the most influential figures in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death, a man called Ptolemy. He would go on to create the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, which would ultimately end with Cleopatra in 30 BC. Her death, I believe, was around this time of year in 30 BC. We're going to be focusing

in on the hijacking. We're going to be focusing in on the death of Alexander the Great. And we're also going to be focusing in on the key figures of Ptolemy and his arch rival, the incredible figure, often overlooked, forgotten, horrific, gruesome figure that was Alexander's former second-in-command, Perdiccas. And what ultimately happened to Perdiccas and his army when they attempted to retrieve the body from Egypt after Ptolemy hijacked it. Spoiler alert, it includes crocodiles, maybe even some hippos. As I'm sure many of you are already well aware, Dan is an absolutely fantastic host. It was wonderful to chat to him about this topic. So without further ado, here's Dan and I talking about what I believe to be the greatest heist in history.

Tristan, long overdue. Great to have you on the podcast. Dan, it's so wonderful to be here. The tables have turned. It's so nice. Thank you. Tables have turned, man. You're all grown and slept. You've got your own pub with hundreds of thousands of downloads a month. I mean, it's crazy, but this is going to be your biggest coup yet, because I love this story. The greatest heist in history. Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's overused ancient cliches, but I'll say it right at the start just to get the interest going. It's the ancient Game of Thrones meets the greatest heist in history, which ends up in at least a thousand soldiers perishing in the banks or in

the River Nile itself, and some of them being eaten alive by crocodiles. So it is an incredible story. The death of Alexander, it just feels like one of those gigantic turning points in ancient history. What did the world look like before he fell sick with the illness that would ultimately lead to his death? Right, so when Alexander dies in June 323 BC, he's only 32 years old, but of course his empire by that time stretches from the Pindus mountain ranges, modern day northwest Greece, modern day Albania in the west, all the way through to the Indus River Valley in the east. It way through to the indus river valley in the east it's a huge empire one of the largest empires that the world had ever seen up to

that point but then of course alexander dies just aged 32 in june he'd been planning to go west and like conquer the mediterranean basin hadn't he there are thoughts i'm very much of the opinion that actually one of the main places he wanted to go first was well it's setting the said in the sources of Arabia, he was planning a conquest into Arabia. But I think also one of the places he was really looking at was Athens, the city-state of Athens, which at that time had been rebuilding its military strength and had already been showing that it wasn't too friendly towards Alexander. So there's also talk that he was constructing this huge fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, which does come to fruition following his death. So yes, there's very much plans at around the time of his death in 323 BC that Alexander was planning to head west. Still a young man, he could have had decades,

and could he have cemented that heterodox empire and created something that endured? That's one of the big if questions, and I don't think we'd ever really know the answer to that. If you look at the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death, and ultimately you see the creation of these incredible Hellenistic kingdoms, such as the Seleucid Empire in the East, possibly. But I think the real answer to that is that we'll never know, because Alexander didn't really have the time to, shall we say, consolidate the empire because of his early death. And ultimately, that will spring into the wars of the successors and this incredible period right in the aftermath of Alexander's death, in particular, the immediate aftermath of his death.

Had he made plans for his death and succession? This is the interesting question because we do have in some of the sources, there are these incredible tales that Alexander says just before his death, his bodyguards are all around his bed. Then these fabulous stories that Alexander goes just before his death, his bodyguards are all around his bed, and then these fabulous stories that Alexander goes, who do you leave your empire to? And Alexander responds very pithily, very laconically, to the strongest, or I see great funeral games in my honour following my death. All of these done in hindsight by later historians as because they know what will follow is the tumultuous period that is the wars of the successors. In truth, Alexander, when he does die, he's mute. So it seems like these stories

are very much fabulous and actually not historical. In regards to plans for his death, it's very difficult to say because Alexander does die without a clear heir. But important in this, and I find really interesting, is that he had left at least some plans, as it were. Because this key story here is that in a few of our sources, it mentions how Alexander, just before he dies, he takes off his signet ring and he gives it to the leading adjutant, his most senior subordinate at that time in Babylon. And this is the key figure that is Perdiccas. subordinate at that time in Babylon. And this is the key figure that is Perdiccas. Now, the handing of his signet ring to Perdiccas, it wasn't to say, right, Perdiccas,

you are going to be my successor. You're going to be the next in line. It was more to say, right, Perdiccas, you are the figure who is going to oversee my succession. You are going to oversee what's going to happen next. But unfortunately, as we're going to doesn't run that smoothly so he dies fairly suddenly right so yes once again there are various stories surrounding this too but in two key sources which is plutarch's life alexander and in arian we have surviving almost completely similar accounts which are the royal journals the fmra days which really talk about the last week week week and a half of Alexander's life. And it really goes as follows, the main events, and I'll summarise quickly. Alexander, he goes to a drinking party of one of his companions, Medius of Larissa. He drinks there well into the night, then he heads home, has a bath, wakes up the next day, but very soon he develops a fever

and his condition worsens over the next few days. Initially, he's able to still do his routines, he does his sacrifices, he talks to his generals about future campaigns, where they're going to be doing their future campaigns. But soon his condition worsens to such an extent that he is bedridden and he has to stay in the royal palace. And the bodyguards come to him. And at that point, Alexander does become mute. He's unable to speak. So that is the main story. And over the days following that, his condition worsens, it deteriorates even more so that on the length of June he does ultimately die. How he dies, there's debate. Some say malaria, some say typhoid, some say it was a mixture of his excessive grief for the death of his feistian the year before, also his many wounds he suffered on

campaign and of course there's also the poison theory which is always an interesting one but it's almost certainly a later fictional story and burying the previous king is a symbol of kingship in itself isn't it so his body has power even in death yeah and i know you've used this statement before when you're looking at napoleon napoleon's death and the importance of his tomb in his body some men are worth just as much dead as they were alive. And this is very much the case with Alexander and his body. Because Alexander, when he dies, many believe that he becomes this divine figure. He's gone to take his seat among the gods. And this is reflected in the design of his funeral carriage. But it also means, because of the suddenness of Alexander's death and the whole turmoil that surrounds his death and the immediate aftermath that his body becomes the heritage of the empire, shall we say. Whoever controls possession of Alexander's body holds great sway in this new post-Alexander world. So his body and control

of his body, it becomes this talismanic symbol of authority for those seeking power and legitimacy in the immediate aftermath of Alexander's death. Well, tell me what happens. They bury him in a golden sarcophagus, don't they? We have an incredible description. I'll tell you through these some interesting stories that happen with Alexander's body in the immediate aftermath of his death, because for two years, Alexander's body stays in Babylon where he dies. But Babylon is always going to be a temporary measure. That's not going to be where Alexander's going to be a temporary measure. That's not going to be where Alexander's going to be buried long term. And we don't know that much about what

happens to Alexander's body in those two years, but there are some great stories. And the first one occurs roughly 48 hours after Alexander's death on the 11th of June. Now, right after Alexander's death, there is this crisis in Babylon following this meeting of the soldiers and the generals deciding what's going to do, their various proposals put forward as to what's going to happen to Alexander's empire. But ultimately it ends with the soldiers of Alexander, these veterans, getting really angry and annoyed at the generals for the generals not accepting their choice of new king, which was Alexander the Great's half-brother, Aridaeus, now called Philip Aridaeus III. Why they hadn't chosen Philip Aridaeus III? Well,

we don't know what condition he had, but he had something which meant he wasn't able to rule on his own. And although the soldiers had wanted him as king, the generals didn't want that as king. They wanted other figures, including Perdiccas himself and others to be the most powerful figures in this new regime. But this erupts into open conflict in Babylon within 48 hours. The soldiers, the Red Mister descended, they go to the royal palace and their intent on at least bludgeoning, perhaps even killing many of these generals, including Perdiccas, including another key figure, that is Ptolemy. It sounds a little bit like the modern Republican Party with its members and its elected representatives. Let's keep going.

It may very well indeed. But these soldiers, they stormed the royal palace. Perdiccas, Ptolemy and 600 others, they locked themselves in the room where Alexander the Great had died and Alexander's body still lay. The soldiers burst into the room and there's a fight. There's a fight in the room where Alexander had died barely two days or so before, so much so that blood stains the walls of this room where Alexander had died only so recently and his body still lay. So that's the first incredible story we have of the body. But the next one happens roughly five or six days later when this crisis has subsided.

Perdiccas has really emerged the victor. And then many of the figures decide, well, let's now go back to Alexander's body. Let's make sure that his body is treated. And this is an incredible tale, so it may well be fictional, but I do love the story nonetheless. They go to the body and this is June 323 BC in Mesopotamia in the sweltering Babylonian summer heat. We're in a heat wave right now, but this would mean even more so. And they go to the body and you'd expect the body to be completely rotten, having been on its own for so long.

But they go to the body and apparently it's still in pristine condition. Looks like it hasn't been touched at all. Now, could this very much be fictional? Yes, very much so. But there's another theory, and I love this theory. I'm not a scientist, so I don't know if it could possibly be true or not. There's a theory that Alexander didn't die on the 11th of June, but because maybe he had malaria, he entered a coma or went into a catatonic state. So that actually Alexander was still alive,

and hence this may be an explanation for why his body was still in pristine condition all these days later. As I say, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know if that is actually what can happen or what actually does happen. But it's a theory to think if Alexander actually didn't die on the 11th of June and that he was still in a coma seven days later. But if he wasn't dead then, he was certainly dead within the next few hours because they then decide, they see Alexander's body and they decide it's time for the embalmment. It's time to embalm Alexander's body in the ancient Egyptian method. So obviously his organs are pulled out, his body is aromatised and it's put on display somewhere in Babylon. And there it remains for the next two years until, as you mentioned, the whole idea of burying the body is super important. Now, two years later, it's time for Alexander's

body to go to where it's ultimately going to be buried, somewhere, a destination further west. People think Macedon, do they? They do. In the sources, there's an interesting divide because there are some sources which say that, first of all, Alexander wished not to be buried in Macedonia, the traditional resting place of the royal Macedonian family, which is the royal tombs at Agai, Monde Vagina. But that Alexander wanted to be buried at the Oracle of Zeus, where he'd been declared the son of Zeus earlier in his campaigns.

And that's in Egypt, isn't it? That's in Egypt, ancient Libya. So further west than the Nile, but yes, in Egypt. Other sources say that actually, the destination was actually, yes, it was going to be Macedonia. I think to sort the fact from the fiction on this, you have to consider the figures who are involved in 321 BC when this happens. And this is Perdiccas and Ptolemy, both former adjutants of Alexander the Great, both highly confident, incredible individuals in their own right, but they have a big animosity towards each other there's a

lot of hostility between the two now perdiccas at that time he is arguably the most powerful figure in what was alexander's empire he is the regent he is in control of there are now two kings alexander's infant son and king philip aridaeus the third and ptolemy is the governor of egypt or the satrap he was in charge of the province of the governorship of Egypt and they don't get on now we've already talked about the importance of Alexander's body as a symbol of authority and legitimacy for these figures seeking power following Alexander's death so Perdiccas he wants control over Alexander's body he wants to dictate the funeral the burying of Alexander's body, shall we say.

So the one place he definitely does not want the body to go is Siwa, because who's the closest figure to Siwa? It's his arch rival Ptolemy. He doesn't want Ptolemy getting control of the body and using it for his own ends, largely to cement, to affirm his independence from Perdiccas in this new post-Alexander era, to create Egypt as this bastion of strength for Ptolemy. So it seems more than likely that Perdiccas, sometime between 323 and 321, he sends orders back to Babylon because Perdiccas isn't in

Babylon at that time, he's in Central Asia Minor. And he orders the head of the escort that's going to take the funeral carriage west, he orders him to take it to him in Central Asia Minor so that when he receives the body and the funeral carriage, he will then take it with the royal army, with the token kings, with Alexander the Great's widow. He will take it back to Macedon and bury it in the royal tombs to further affirm, to further show that he is Alexander's true successor. So in answer to your question, there is this debate in the sources, but it seems likely that because of the nature of Perticus and Ptolemy, the destination is intended to be Macedonia. Have you heard of the teenage werewolf prosecuted in 1603? Did you know that the 17th century British government relied heavily on female spies?

And do you want to know about chin-chucking and thigh sex? Of course you do. I'm Susanna Lipscomb, and my new podcast, Not Just the Tudors, is a deep dive into what I like to think of as the long 16th century. We'll be talking about everything from Aztecs to witches, Velazquez to Shakespeare, Mughal India to the Mayflower. Not, in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. Subscribe to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts. He doesn't get there, does he, Tristan? He doesn't indeed, because Ptolemy knows that this is part of Perdiccas' big plan, his big imperial plan.

Because Perdiccas got control of the body, he's already talking with Alexander the Great's only full sister, Cleopatra, about marriage. And if he gets the body, he can really enact his imperial plan to go back to macedon to bury alexander the great to come back as the husband of alexander the great's full sister to be greeted by his mother olympias to have the royal army to have the body of alexander to have the son of alexander the wife all of that he would be unstoppable he would be the clear heir of alexander but for that he needs the body to come to him in central Anatolia, in central Asia Minor,

in central Turkey. And Ptolemy knows this. He knows very well that he's got to stop the body getting to Perdiccas, in my opinion. So he devises this heist, this great plot. And it seems that he's been planning this for some time. Although he was in Egypt, he was in communications with the head of the funeral carriage escort in Babylon, a man confusingly also called Aridaeus, but we're going to call this Aridaeus. This is a general Aridaeus, not Philip Aridaeus. One of the most confusing things about this period, Dan, which sometimes pushes people off is that there are so many names which are similar. But we're going to try and keep it as clear to follow as possible. So Ptolemy is talking with Aridaeus about whatever Perdiccas says you're not going to take it to him in Turkey, you're going

to take it to Egypt, you're going to take it to me. Maybe he says we're going to abide by Alexander's wishes and we're going to bury it at Siwa. Whatever convinces Aridaeus he is convinced and possibly there is also aid by two other key figures which which are Laomedon, who controls the neighbouring region of ancient Syria, modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and modern-day Syria. And also the governor of Babylon, Archon. And all these figures combined make sure that this heist, it's agreed and it begins, as it were. Because the funeral carriage is incredible covered in gold it's almost a temple on wheels with an incredible description of it surviving really slow pulled by 64 mules but it reaches eastern ancient syria probably near the euphrates probably near modern day aleppo and rather than continuing west to perdicus and as Minor, Aridaeus then alters the escort to turn south,

towards Damascus, towards Jerusalem. And that is the start. The heist is afoot. It's unbelievably audacious, isn't it? It's unbelievably audacious when you also think it's one of the most bizarre heists in history. When you think of a heist, you think of speed. You might think of the Italian job or something like this.

This funeral carriage was a temple on wheels. It's not going fast. It's not going quick. And it's got to get from northern Syria through whole Syria, basically the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, and then down across the Nile to Memphis, to Egypt. But what Aridaeus does have is the head start when he does turn south, because first of all, you've got to get these riders to go to Perdiccas in central Asia Minor to let him know that, hang on, the body's changed direction, you better act about this. But even with that head start, by the time Perdiccas hears word, and imagine his reaction when he hears that possibly his worst nightmare is going to come true and the body's going to end up in Ptolemy's grasp, he reacts very quickly. He assembles probably a lightly armed force under the command of his close adjutant Attalus and his brother Polymon,

and they start heading out as quickly as possible. They head east, they head across the Taurus mountains, down into ancient Cilicia, down into modern-day Syria, in order to try and catch up with the funeral carriage as it's making its way south. It's incredibly audacious and they do catch up with a funeral carriage south, and it's important, south of the ancient important city, still modern day city, of Damascus. But they're in for a shock because Ptolemy has also predicted this. He knows that Perdiccas is going to try and send a force, a retrieval force, to reroute the funeral carriage. And so in the meantime, he has marched up from Egypt with his own army to greet the funeral carriage when it reached Damascus, which is also where Laomedon comes into play, the satrapal capital of Syria. So Laomedon was probably very much on Ptolemy's side.

With all that combined, Ptolemy, we're told in the sources, he goes up with an army, supposedly just to give the funeral carriage the welcome it was worthy of for a conqueror. He was coming up to give the welcome it deserved for the dead Alexander. I mean, it seems more likely that he just really marched up to make sure that he could reinforce the escort so that he could defend his winnings, which is exactly what it does. Because the retrieval force comes down, it then is greeted, shall we say, by this hugely reinforced escort of Ptolemy's soldiers, so much so that Attalus and his force, they're ill-prepared. They're unable to dislodge the escort,

unable to force the carriage to go back north. Ultimately, after trying to harass the carriage, it fails and they have to return to Perdiccas empty handed. Ptolemy, Aridaeus and the escort with the funeral carriage keep marching down past Gaza, past the Sinai desert, into Egypt, to Memphis where the body is interred. And that's the end of the heist. It's one of the most bizarre heists in history, but it's just an incredible story, which then sparks a war over the corpse. Before we get to the war, tragically, we don't know where that corpse is today. It's one of the great lost tombs of Egypt. It is one of the great lost tombs of Egypt, absolutely. Now, I don't know exactly all the

theories about where Alexander's body is now or where it could have been. What is interesting when Alexander's body does come to Egypt is that we do normally associate Alexander's body with Alexandria because that is where it will ultimately be buried. But at the time that Alexander's body comes to Egypt, Alexandria is sometimes described, and I think. But at the time that Alexander's body comes to Egypt, Alexandria is sometimes described, and I think it's in the Alexander Romance, it's described as Rakotis, which means the building site. So it suggests that at around the time of 321 BC, Alexandria was still being constructed. It wasn't the new capital of what would then become Ptolemaic Egypt. Memphis, the traditional capital, was still the centre of Ptolemy's province, of Ptolemy's regime. And so the body was initially taken there. And at the time, I love this story.

There was, at Memphis, a sarcophagus, which was empty, because it was initially intended for the last native ruler of Egypt, a man called Nectanebo II. But Nectanebo had died in exile in the decades earlier because when he'd been evicted by the Persians. And so this sarcophagus lay empty. And it may well be Ptolemy trying to align the last native Egyptian ruler with the dead Alexander, that he placed Alexander's body in this sarcophagus. Because interestingly, we never hear of this incredible elaborate funeral carriage anymore. We hear about it in babylon we hear about the journeys of egypt but then it just disappears and then as you say over the years over the centuries when alexander's body and its tomb in alexandria does eventually disappear in the late fourth century a.d it becomes one of the great mysteries where is this tomb now is it still under alexandria somewhere

could it be in the church of St Mark in Venice? There's one theory about that. Or could it be somewhere else? You are completely right, it is one of these great mysteries of history. By the way, just to finish up, what's going on with the crocodiles eating people? Right, so this is the war that follows between Perdiccas and Ptolemy. When Ptolemy hears that the body is with Ptolemy in Egypt, he can't let this stand. It's a key symbol of authority. He needs the body. Ptolemy has almost taken the keystone out of his own imperial plan to become the key successor of Alexander. At this time, it's a time of difficulty for

Perdiccas because he's already got troubles further west with the famous figure of Craterus and also the old wily viceroy that is Antipater. They're preparing to march over to Asia Minor too to face Perdiccas in Asia Minor at that time. So Perdiccas has a decision to make. Does he stay in Asia Minor to fight against Antipater or Craterus, or does he march south to avenge this affront that he's now had with Ptolemy, to retrieve the body? He decides, yes, I need to go to Egypt first. His commanders say, you've got to go to Egypt. You've got to get the body back.

Perticus, he marches with most of his army down to Egypt. He gets to the mouth of the river Nile near the ancient city of Pelusium. He has a war of words with Ptolemy, according to one of our sources, Arian, where Ptolemy comes over. Maybe they'd exchanged hostages. And they have a war of words in front of the soldiers

saying like, who's got the better cause? Piccas almost certainly blames ptolemy saying you've got your own imperial ambitions you've seized the body of alexander the great as it was going back to macedon but ptolemy it seems refutes by saying hey i was just completing alexander's wishes that he wanted to be buried in egypt at siwa and we're told remarkably apparently that actually ptolemy comes off the better in this rhetorical contest. And then he goes back to his side of the River Nile and the war resumes. Weirdly, this seems that you think this rhetorical contest might have some importance. It doesn't. The war just keeps going as normal. There are a couple of clashes as Perlicus and his army, they try to get past this branch of the River Nile, particularly at a place called

the Camel Fort. But Ptolemy has strengthened his defences and after a long battle which lasts from dawn until dusk, Perdiccas is forced to retreat from that attack and Ptolemy survives that assault. Perdiccas is unable to cross the river. And so Perdiccas devises a solution. He knows that the body of Alexander is in Memphis at that time. So for the next two weeks or so, he hasn't got many supplies but he knows that he just needs to get across the river, he needs to get the body of Alexander the Great back. So he heads down the eastern side of the Nile River towards Memphis, past the Nile Delta and roughly two weeks later he reaches the eastern side of the Nile River opposite Memphis.

And here the Nile River is deeper. It's faster flowing current, but there is a big island in the middle. And so Perdiccas decides that he's going to get his forces to cross the Nile here. And to do that, he puts his elephants in the water upriver to slow the current. And he puts horses further downriver to collect any soldiers that lose their footing during the crossing. It seems ingenious and a really clever plan. It's important. Hundreds, thousands of the veteran Macedonian soldiers in Perdiccas's army, they managed to do the crossing to the large island. But what they don't know is what's happening under the water in the meantime because the feet of the elephants is displacing the soil underneath the water.

So as the time goes on, the current is getting stronger again. The water level is getting deeper. And so much so within a matter of time, the ford has no longer become a ford. The crossing is no longer crossable. So Perdiccas has to call his elephants back his horses back and now his army's divided he's got his veterans on the island and he's got the rest of his army on the eastern bank of the Nile it's chaos his army is divided and he needs to think of a solution to rejoin his army up and it's right then that we hear that apparently Ptolemy comes

onto the scene Perdiccas sees a huge dust cloud in the distance on the opposite bank and he thinks Ptolemy is approaching with a huge army and he panics. He thinks his army on the island is going to get absolutely annihilated, is going to get destroyed by Ptolemy and he panics because, I'm going to say panic because actually it's a ruse, it's a total ruse. Ptolemy is just using pieces of baggage from his baggage train. he's got horses and mules pulling these pieces of baggage along the ground behind him to evoke that he has this huge army when actually it's much smaller it's a very clever ploy but Perdiccas falls for it hook line and sinker and he calls his veteran soldiers back they have to come back across this fast flowing

deep water at this time and you can imagine what the consequences are. Many of these Macedonian soldiers, they can't swim. They plunge into the river, they throw away all their arms and armour, and they're fighting for their life really in the river to try and get across back to Perdiccas and his army. Some of the better swimmers do manage to get back, but many others drown. Some are washed up half dead on the side of the river where Ptolemy's army are and are captured. But the worst fate falls to those who are carried too far downstream. Because those figures are eaten alive, according to Diodorus, by the river-dwelling creatures. Crocodiles, yes.

Hippos, I don't know. I don't know if hippos would eat people in that circumstance. But yes, certainly with crocodiles. It's horrifying because these are soldiers who had campaigned with Alexander. They'd gone to the far reaches of the known world and further, and they meet an infamous end, being eaten alive by crocodiles in the River Nile. It's horrible. Tristan, you've inspired me with your passion for the wars of the successors. you've inspired me with your passion for the wars of the successors when i met you a long time ago and you want to come and work at history hit and you said to me well my burning passion is the wars

of the successors i went sign this kid up immediately it's been the best thing we ever did thank you very much for coming on talking about this how can people listen to your podcast well just type in the ancients on history hit and of course we've got many many awesome podcasts on that network not least yours and not just the Tudors and many others so just search for The Ancients wherever you get your podcasts from

and you've got a new documentary out as well yes we've got a documentary out on the greatest heist in history that we're going to call it on the seizing of Alexander the Great's funeral carriage

and its aftermath the fight between Perdiccas and Ptolemy and Perdiccas' ultimate death on the banks of the river Nile spoilers he does get murdered after many of his soldiers are eaten alive by the crocodile. So yes, that is coming to history hit two. What a joyful sentence. Thank you very much, Tristan. See you

soon, man. Thanks so much, Dan. This was great fun. Редактор субтитров А.Семкин Корректор А.Егорова