Istanbul Archaeological Museums

This guide to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums centers on 1887, when Osman Hamdi Bey, a painter turned museum director, followed a villager's tip to a cave-like opening near a necropolis on the Lebanese coast, after a British missionary had already warned London to move fast on the site. It traces what his team found underground, including a fifteen-ton marble sarcophagus carved with scenes of Alexander the Great hunting and riding into battle. Listen for how the room reframes who the tomb actually belonged to.