Wikimedia Commons, Roland Unger
Tomb of Ptolemaios (south and east sides), Tuna el-Gebel, Egypt, 2004. License
A search for Cleopatra’s tomb, led by the Dominican defense lawyer turned archaeologist, Kathleen Martinez, continues to give the public glimpses into what life in the Ptolemaic included. Nonetheless, the Egyptian Queen’s remains still have yet to be found.
In December of 2024, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported that a white marble bust of a young woman in a royal crown and a half-length statue of a king with the Nemes headdress was found at the team’s dig site of Taposiris Magna. Although Martinez is positive that the bust is a representation of Cleopatra— and hopefully further demonstrates that her tomb is somewhere beneath the ancient city's temple— other archaeologists aren’t so certain.
Due to that, approximately 337 bronze and silver coins, many of which depicted Cleopatra’s side profile, were discovered alongside the bust beneath a lateral wall of the buried city. Some believe any statue of the Queen would more closely resemble her official portrait found on the coins, and that the sculpture is of another, unknown, Ptolemaic princess.
Since 2005, Martinez has been on a somewhat independent journey to familiarize herself with Cleopatra’s last days, so she can use these clues to find the Queen’s final resting place. Initially funding the excavations herself, it has taken almost two decades to receive the institutional funding and recognition her research has merited, but as of right now, no ruler from Egypt’s Ptolemaic era has ever been found.
This is somewhat due to a tidal wave that inundated the city and royal palace in July of 365 CE. However, Martinez has a theory which argues that Cleopatra was not buried in her capital, but 25 miles west of Alexandria.
Archaeologists have discovered a long tunnel underneath the remains of a temple in Taposiris Magna in Egypt. It is believed that somewhere beneath the temple lies the tomb of Cleopatra. https://t.co/RyqXlFG8fq #ancientegypt pic.twitter.com/MIsnHLaFLu
— David Miano (@DrDavidMiano) November 11, 2022
Part of this theory is based on Cleopatra’s belief that she was the reincarnation of Osiris, the Egyptian god of fertility, agriculture, life, the afterlife, and vegetation. Another clue pointing to Taposiris Magna is a partially submerged 43-foot deep tunnel that the Dominican-Egyptian team found in November of 2022, connecting Alexandria to the ancient city.
And, despite the fact that no tomb belonging to Queen Cleopatra VII or her lover— Roman Mark Antony— has been discovered, Martinez believes that a full excavation of the site will take around 40 years. Thus, she remains hopeful.
As of right now, Taposiris Magna, which dates back to 1st century BCE and directly translates into “great tomb of Osiris,” has yielded ritual pottery, oil lamps, cosmetic containers, catacombs, bronze statues, and several unidentified tombs.
