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Journey to Vergina

The ancient city located in Vergina lied probably mainly north of the palace. The city had several sanctuaries and a theater, which was built in the second half of the 4th Century BC. The city appears to have been destroyed very badly in the first half of the 2nd Century BC.

In the area of Vergina, lie nine chamber tombs of the Macedonian period. Three graves lie under a large tumulus with a diameter of 110 m and a height of about 12 m. All three tombs are richly painted and fitted with many grave goods.

The largest grave of the great tumulus is known as Philip's grave. It is divided into a pre-and main chamber and has a facade with Ionic columns, pilasters and a frieze painted in color. The grave goods of Philip's tomb are very extensive. Both in the pre-chamber and in the main chamber was among other things, a golden Larnax, which was decorated with a star, the so-called Star of Vergina.The Larnax in the main chamber contained a golden wreath of oak and, once wrapped in a purple cloth, the burnt bones of a man.The bones are ascribed to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. In examining the skeletal remains a healed bone wound in his right eye was found by the British anthropologist Jonathan H. Musgrave. As it is delivered that Philip II lost his right eye at the Battle of Methone 355 / 4 BC, the affiliation of the Macedon king is declared to the grave with this finding. However, this correlation is not certain. Others point out that with the dating of the tomb rather Philip III. Arrhidaios (352-317 BC), half-brother and successor of Alexander the Great, is the grave owner.

Beside the Philip's grave the prince and the Persephone grave can be found in the great tumulus. The Romaios and the Euridice's grave lie north of the palace. Four other Chamber tombs were located west of the village Palatitsa.

The tombs provide important cultural and historical references to the exposition of the Macedonian dynasty of King Argeaden.Contrary to the often held opinion, Macedonia would have lain outside of the Greek cultural sphere, the royal family presented themselves in the tombs as Greeks: grave goods show hunting and war scenes, and symposia as part of Greek life of the king's arms, and even everyday objects such as a wine mixer (which should prove that the Macedonian dynasty as the Greeks did not drink pure wine) are to be regarded as reminiscences of classical Greece, cremation and burial of the ashes of the idols of the Homeric epics.



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