Adilos Tafos, the Tomb of Alexander the Great: From Folk Tradition and Myth to Historical Research

 

Adilos Tafos, the Tomb of Alexander the Great:
From Folk Tradition and Myth to Historical Research

         

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNNP2V23

In the folk tradition of the village of Daskio in the Pieria Mountains, as recorded by Evangelos Stefanopoulos in Unpublished Manuscripts of Daskion (Pieria), 1972, there is a notable account: the abduction of a “Frank” a foreign traveler who wandered through Pieria and Olympus searching for the legendary gold mines of Alexander the Great.

A brief historical investigation identifies this “Frank” as the Hellenophile English retired colonel Henry Sygne. Archival records confirm that on February 18th, 1880, Sygne was kidnapped from his estate in Trichovista (present-day Kampochori, Imathia) by the band of Captain Dilinikos known to the Ottoman authorities as the brigand Nikos Rentinaotis. The incident drew international press attention, while the destructive fire at the Kiani Bey manor, where Sygne resided, added further mystery.

According to tradition, Sygne’s rough sketches and notes concerning the search for ancient Macedonian gold deposits were either lost or partially saved that night.

This leads to the central question explored in Adilos Tafos:
What evidence did Henry Sygne possess that directed his search for the ancient gold mines in the lands of Pieria?
And furthermore: Are the surviving notes genuine historical traces or fragments of a legend kept alive by modern treasure hunters?

Between folklore and documentation, the boundary remains thin. And it is exactly on this boundary that true research begins.