Aigai
We were in the second half of our cruise, travelling down the eastern coast of Greece, when the ship stopped at Thessaloniki. As on other days, there were various land tours we could select, but at this stage in our cruise there was only one choice, to go to Vergina, on an excursion described as In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. To be going to Vergina might seem rather odd: it is a relatively new town, established in 1922 in the aftermath of the Treaty of Lausanne, an agreement that had officially resolved the conflict that had initially arisen between the Ottoman Empire, and various European countries including Greece. The treaty delimited the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey, and, among other provisions included the agreement that all the islands, islets and other territories in the Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean in the original text) beyond three miles from the Turkish shores were ceded to Greece, (with some minor exceptions).
If Vergina is a recent establishment, it is best known as the site of ancient Aigai the first capital of Macedon. Back in 336 BC Philip II was assassinated in Aigai’s theatre and his son, Alexander the Great, was proclaimed king. While the resting place of Alexander the Great is unknown, researchers uncovered three tombs at Vergina in 1977, in a location that was part of what had been Aigai.
This was to be an extraordinary visit, and even the first stage of the visit was memorable! The coach trip from Thessaloniki stopped in Vergina, and we had a fairly long walk to a park area, in which all we could see was an open grassy area, and around it several trees, and small modern building, and some slightly raised areas. Our tour guide went off, and we tried to find shade from a very hot sun. When were we going to go to the site of the tombs? The tour guide returned and led us over to an almost invisible entrance that took us inside that slightly raised area: the tombs had been uncovered by archaeologists and then re-covered once they had been studied. Just inside, we stopped, to get accustomed to the darkened interior.
This gave us the opportunity to learn about Aigai. The area where it was built was formerly covered by a series of villages, which together formed an important population centre by 1,000 BC. In the 7th century BC, the Macedonian expansion in the region subdued local populations, establishing the dynasty at Aigai. Archaeologic research has shown Aigai developed as an organized collection of villages, a group of aristocratic tribes, and it never became a large city. From Aigai the Macedonians spread to the central part of Macedonia. In the first half of the 5th century BC Aigai became the capital of Macedonia, characterised by court luxury supported by merchants coming from all over the ancient world bringing valuable goods including perfume, carved ornaments and jewellery.
At the beginning of the 4th century BC, the Macedonian capital was moved northeast to Pella, but Aigai retained its role as the sacred city of the Macedonian kingdom, the site of a royal palace and royal tombs. However, by the 3rd Century BC Alexander’s heirs were involved in bitter struggles. The city never recovered, and visiting mercenaries plundered many of the tombs. Collapse continued, the Romans overthrew the Macedonian kingdom in 168 BC, and withing the next six hundred years the city disappeared, first by human means and later a landslide destroyed what had been remained or had been rebuilt. Aigai disappeared.
In the middle of the 19th Century, archaeologists had become interested in the burial mounds around Vergina, some believing the long-lost site of Aigai was in the vicinity. Excavations began in 1861 but had to be abandoned because of the risk of malaria. In 1937, the University of Thessaloniki resumed the excavations, by the 1950s and 1960s much of royal capital had been uncovered. One Greek archaeologist was convinced that a hill called the Great Tumulus covered the tombs of the Macedonian kings, and in 1977, a dig at the site revealed four buried tombs, two of which had never been disturbed. It was concluded these were the tombs of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and Alexander IV, his son. Further research in 1987 revealed a burial cluster of queens, including Queen Euridice (mother of Alexander II, and Grandmother of Alexander the Great).
All this does little to prepare visitors for the treasures that have been found. The museum of the tumulus of Philip II was built over the tombs, leaving them in situ and showing the site as it was before the archaeological excavations. Inside there are four tombs. The two most important (tombs II and III) had not been ransacked and contained the main treasures of the museum. The larger room in Tomb II included a marble chest, and in it was a closed coffin (larnax) made of 24-carat gold and weighing 11 kilograms (24 lb). together with a golden wreath of 313 oak leaves and 68 acorns, weighing 717 grams (25.3 oz), the golden grave crown of Philip II. This room also included the richly carved burial bed on which Philip II was laid, several exquisite silver utensils for the funeral feast, along with such items as gold-adorned suits of armour and weapons. All are now on display for visitors.
In the antechamber was another chest with another golden coffin containing the bones of a woman wrapped in a golden-purple cloth with a golden diadem decorated with flowers and enamel, indicating a queen, possibly Philip II’s Thracian wife, Meda, who by tradition sacrificed herself at the funeral.
In 1978 Tomb III was discovered, also near the tomb of Philip, which is thought to belong Alexander IV of Macedon, son of Alexander the Great. Like Tomb II, but smaller and also undisturbed, the main room contained a cremated body, in a silver funerary urn a golden oak wreath.
As with Tomb II, inside exquisite silver utensils and weaponry indicating royal status were still in place. A narrow frieze with a chariot race by a great painter decorated the walls of the tomb. The remains of a wooden mortuary couch adorned with gold and ivory is regarded as notable for its exquisite representation of Dionysos with a flute-player and a satyr.
Finally, the tomb has one other remarkable and moderately well-preserved feature. This is an astonishing mural, dated from around 350 BC. It depicts the Abduction of Persephone by Hades, the God of the Underworld, with a silent Demeter and the three unprejudiced Fates present at the event, accompanied by Hermes, the Guide of Souls, leading the way, and a scared nymph witnessing the horrifying event. Regarded as a unique example of ancient painting, it is believed to be the work of the famous artist Nicomachus of Thebes. It is also considered to be one of the few surviving depictions of the ancient mystic views of afterlife. The image below shows part of the painting
The challenge with visiting a site like this is there are so many extraordinary visual images – and they make my words rather superfluous. Sadly, next to Tombs II and III is another, the remains thought to be those of Philip II, but tomb robbers stole all of Tomb IV’s contents.
How had these tombs been preserved? The tumulus was constructed at the beginning of the third century BC by Antigonos Gonatas, perhaps over smaller individual tumuli to protect the royal tombs from further pillaging after marauding Galati had looted and destroyed the cemetery. The hill material contained many earlier funeral stele. Could Gonatas have imagined that some 2,200 years later his actions had ensured we were able to enter the tumulus and, despite tomb robbers destroying some of the original material, much of the original structure and contents remained, a remarkable testimony to a key historical era.
