Russia and siberia

as some of you know my buisness partner is russian...from moscow, he has seen the expanses of siberia and was telling me that he remebers as a child news off a research team travelling into the huge interior of the country and all being lost...non returned...apparentley this was quite common for a period of time....the expeditions were primarily to discover and map this region...and the deaths were caused by the extreme cold,lack of supplys and members falling through iced lakes etc invisible because of the snow.
It is easy to understand that a country would send scientists/explorers to perform tasks of mapping,searching for resources etc...even perhaps that the russians have secret bases in this enviromentally hostile region...but my partner told me in russia there is a folklore/myth that alexander the great his something he deemed of great value in siberia?......does anyone know what this might have been?...or has any one else heard of this myth?

it has even been said that there may be 'woolly mamoth's' living in the forests....un disturbed to to no contact with humans?

[edit on 15-4-2005 by Byrd]

I don't think Alexander knew much about the countries above Danubis river. For Greeks it was something like north waste.
The living mamooths are unlikely, but a frozen one was found in Siberia.

Hahah a bit off topic but I heard of a guy that found a frozen baby mammoth in Siberia. It was so well preserved he decided to have a snack. MMmmhmh he said it tasted quite sheeeit.

Originally posted by optimus fett
my partner told me in russia there is a folklore/myth that alexander the great his something he deemed of great value in siberia?......does anyone know what this might have been?...or has any one else heard of this myth?



[edit on 15-4-2005 by Byrd]

I've heard of something like this, watch Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. the treasure was in India but it's close to Siberia sort of.

Originally posted by AegisFang
I've heard of something like this, watch Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life. the treasure was in India but it's close to Siberia sort of.

only on complete opesite sides of the continent

The area was home to an ancient civilization the Scythian, they were suppoused to be masters of Gold.

Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt.

From a pit twelve feet (three meters) deep, Pavel Leus looked up at the three archaeologists standing on the rim. "Guys," he declared, "we've got a problem. We need the police."

Digging beneath a kurgan, or burial mound, in the Republic of Tuva, a little-known precinct of Siberia, Leus had just squinted into a log-walled vault. He saw two skeletons and the dim glow of gold. Lots of gold.

magma.nationalgeographic.com...

In the fifth century BCE, Herodotus, the Greek historian born in Halicarnassus, wrote of the people of Siberia.

Originally posted by marg6043
In the fifth century BCE, Herodotus, the Greek historian born in Halicarnassus, wrote of the people of Siberia.

Scythians lived in Ukraine and Herodotos was writing about the people in Ukrain and souther Russia/former USSR. He knew nothing about Siberia.

From what I understand, the basic greek conception of the world was that the Caspian sea was but an inlet of the world ocean. They knew nothing of siberia.

As far as I am aware, Alexander the Great never set foot in what is now modern Siberia. I wouldn't put much faith in that story.

a research team travelling into the huge interior of the country and all being lost...non returned...apparentley this was quite common for a period of time....the expeditions were primarily to discover and map this region...and the deaths were caused by the extreme cold,lack of supplys and members falling through iced lakes etc invisible because of the snow.
It is easy to understand that a country would send scientists/explorers to perform tasks of mapping,searching for resources etc...even perhaps that the russians have secret bases in this enviromentally hostile region...

Now THIS sounds really interesting. Obviously, Siberia isn't the most hospitable place in the world, and expeditions are going to be lost there, but it would be interesting nonetheless to learn about these some more; why they went out there, what they were looking for, anything else that might be known about it.