The story of the discovery

“It was amazing”

“It was a little later than two in the morning. A staircase was discovered beneath the slab. I found myself alone after the lull in the room and I instinctively descended the steps aware that the slab could close in on me having my oxigen mask that I had taken the precaution of putting in my little backpack before the appointment between myself, Omar and the two workers. I finally went down cautiously groping the four steps leading to a corridor.

At the foot of the last step, I discovered a half­circle in relief on the ground that I have spanned out of precaution and I found myself in a hallway, in total darkness. I took the risk of walking, progressing slowly, with low lighting that my headlamp afforded me. During my progress, it became increasingly difficult to breathe causing persistent headache from lack of oxygen. But I think the adrenaline generated by the excitement of my situation compensated for the lack of air and make me forget the discomfort.

After several meters, I ran into something unimaginable: a kind of translucent and flexible curtain that ended my progress. I could see or distinguish huge statues, all kinds of busts or heads with gold highlights, a majestic winged horse armor and many objects in yellow metal and especially a huge head with a long beard I immediately identified as the Greco-­Egyptian god “Serapis” scattered on both sides of this room that seemed very large and deep to me and inaccessible back then. It took me no less than an hour in the dark to find the way to get to the other side of the curtain. And there, a fabulous treasure with gigantic statues in gold was presented to me, and then my gaze was fixed by the beauty of the treasure, it was amazing! The layout looks like a very large duplex. In the darkness, it was impossible to appreciate its true shape as there were recesses and parts of different levels, in fact the first level, as far as I could see, included about a dozen rooms in one block and more than thirty at another level of the mausoleum. The size of the tomb has several other levels that I could not explore, but my belief is that this is indeed the mausoleum described by some ancient historians, namely, as “the altar of Alexander the Great”, as well as that of Ptolemy that does not include a marble floor as that of Alexander.

In an almost unbreathable atmosphere, a tomb, then a slab, I walked down some steep stairs and a corridor. What I found was beyond imagination: a gigantic unspoiled treasure, several sarcophagi, an embalmed body of which I am almost certain that this is the king of kings Alexander the Great and close to it that of Ptolemy 1st Soter.

Back in France, I asked to meet with the authorities to make the statement of my discovery. I informed UNESCO, the UN, the Archaeological Institute and the Embassy of Jordan, but in vain. Later, I got the long awaited interview with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan. Given the events of the Arab Spring, the King asked me not to talk for a year … “