The first thing The Idiot discussed with The Oracle of Amun, when they met in Egypt’s Western Desert at a revered temple in the Siwa Oasis, was what The Oracle, who is neither man nor woman, told Alexander the Great in February 331 BC.

Alexander, as both the King of Macedon and the Pharaoh of Egypt, was granted the privilege of communing with the Oracle within the sacred precinct of the sanctuary.

The Temple of The Oracle of Amun in Siwa, Egypt.

The Oracle’s consultation chamber was stone-roofed and completely dark when Alexander the Great entered but, now roofless, was sunny and bright when The Idiot visited on the first day of spring.

The most important thing revealed to Alexander the Great, whom the Oracle referred to as Megas Alexandros, was that he was the son of Zeus and a divine being.

The Idiot has met the divine son of Zeus numerous times, including at a museum in Antalaya, Turkey.

The Oracle also told Megas Alexandros how to peacefully seduce and rule the Egyptians.

“Kiss the arms of Egyptians and you won’t have to fight them,” The Oracle strongly suggested.

That directive involved physically and spiritually blending Greek and Egyptian religious practices. Alexander subsequently ordered the construction of numerous temples on Egyptian holy sites, such as Philae near contemporary Aswan, which is a dramatic example of Egyptian and Greek (and later Roman) styles.

A reflective visit to Phileae revealed…

…a Greek-influenced courtyard and colonnades.

The Oracle also told Megas Alexandros to proceed with the construction of the city of Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea, continue his empire-expanding military campaign to Babylon and India, and produce a male heir to prevent internecine warfare in Macedon.

Alexander, although he never saw it completed, gets credit for Alexandria’s strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea.

A bit of contemporary Alexandria today near the Stanley Bridge with tiers of 1920s British-built bathing cabins and nicely manicured sand.

The Oracle sent Alexander back to Tyre where he turned east towards Persia, Babylon and India.

The well-maintained beach south of contemporary Tyre in southern Lebanon.

Lastly, The Oracle told Alexander that he drank too much alcohol, would die young and would be brought back to Egypt, and ultimately Siwa, following his death in his early thirties in Babylon in 322 BC.

Alexander the Great was brought back to Memphis, Egypt, from Babylon in a funeral cortège that included a lavish bier drawn by sixty-four mules. His body, in a cedar coffin filled with herbs and spices, was transferred to a tomb in Alexandria and later returned to Siwa. The location of the tomb of Alexander today was a mystery until The Idiot came along.

The Oracle revealed other tidbits to Alexander, including that his best friend and lover Hephaestion could be honored as a hero, and also disclosed a number of things to The Idiot. These ranged from the confirmation that the Romans definitely brought Alexander’s remains back to Siwa to the suggestion that The Idiot seek a Zennier profession to pursue after he completes his 20-year MedTrek and publishes The Idiot and the Odyssey III in July 2018.

“You have walked enough around, and will have written enough about, the Mediterranean Sea,” The Oracle said. “Take kindly the counsel of years and surrender the folly of youth.”

The Idiot with Alexander the Great outside the contemporary Library of Alexandria in northern Egypt.

The Oracle instructed The Idiot to complete his decades-long MedTrek in Carthage on the Mediterranean Sea in Tunisia later this year.

Carthage, which The Idiot visited numerous times prior to the 2011 revolution, was the capital of an empire that dominated the Mediterranean during the first millennium BC. Alexander defeated the Carthaginians in Tyre, which The Idiot visited when he MedTrekked down the coast of Lebanon, but never made it to Carthage.

“There is nothing to fear,” The Oracle said. “You will be entering Tunisia and Carthage on behalf of Megas Alexandros with my complete protection and support.”

A protest camp in El Kamour, Tunisia, after the country’s National Guard moved in last week.
(Photo: Fathi Nasri/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

The Idiot, who wrote a number of special reports on Tunisia for the International Herald Tribune between 1997 and 2003, will head to Tunis after leading The Idiot and The Odyssey team in the Walk To End Alzheimer’s in Redding, CA, on September 23.

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About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."