Topic: Amphipolis - Macedonian Tomb from c.310 BC

[Zeb]

Lot of grim news stories, but one for those of us who dug the back garden up after an episode of Time Team.

This story is slowly picking up pace as the archaeologists slowly make their way through it. If it is not looted, and it's not known yet if it has been, then, and no hyperbole involved, it could be a discovery on the level of King Tut.

It starts with a lion found by British soldiers in 1916. It seems like sometime during the Roman period the lion was destroyed and used to help strengthen a nearby river bank. During the 1920s the lion was put back together with assorted bits of marble.



And then a couple of decades ago Greek archaeologists working in the area kept finding more and more marble, more than needed for just a lion statue. A few years back they got funding to follow up their suspicions and over the past two years they found a marble wall surrounding a huge mound.





(Some idea of the scale of this with the cars in the second picture there).

They didn't have much funding for a long period but they did manage to pay for some limited voodoo to try and figure out what was in the mound (geophys to those of us of a certain age).



(The areas marked with H(number) are those most likely to be something 'interesting').

And they got funding to go inside. From what has been said by some with links to the dig, someone got very excited and said a little too much to the Greek press and this then triggered the media circus currently there with the Greek press wanting constant updates.



Blocked up entrance.



Damaged sphinxes behind the first wall.



The entrance fully revealed.

They're now inside, and in a third room, with the first two being totally filled with soil at some stage in the past and which seems to have been put there to prevent grave robbers.

The last information officially released was a picture of the entrance to the third room and you can see just how much soil has been put into the tomb to prevent access.



(Site with loads of pictures of what's been found so far (inside and outside) here)


This is the biggest tomb ever found in Greece. It's 'wonder of the world' type size. But there's no reference to it in any of the classical histories or accounts which have survived for us. It's in Macedonia and dates from the time after Alexander the Great's death (very unlikely to be him himself, is possible it was built intended for him). Theories range from a tomb for his best friend (and lover), to his murdered wife and son or even his mother, to perhaps one of his generals or even one of the kings who came after.

Here's hoping that the art and possessions inside are there to be found.

(edit: just in case anyone is inclined, please no Greece vs FYR stuff!)

[Motty]

Really interesting find this ,it would be great if it was somehow linked to Alexander himself wouldn't it.

Makes you think how many other 'hills' have things buried in them.

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

Bet Mac Red already scouted this tomb years ago...

[Motty]

Bet Mac Red already scouted this tomb years ago...

;D

[Zeb]

Bet Mac Red already scouted this tomb years ago...

There is a story that about 25 years ago locals saw a JCB on the top and ran up to chase off the looters. We're pretty fortunate that the archaeologists even have something to dig.

[Mamadou]

very interesting

here are some more photos

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/female-sculptures-guard-mysterious-tomb-in-greece-140907.htm

[Zeb]

James Romm piece which gives a very good overview.

Is This Alexander the Great’s Tomb?
One of biggest mysteries of modern archaeology might be solved in the coming days—and all eyes are on a huge circular structure that lies beneath an ancient Greek mound.

Its entrances are guarded first by a pair of sphinxes, then by columns in the form of women—each stretching out an arm to ward off intruders. Beyond them lies one of the greatest mysteries of modern archaeology, one that might be solved in the next few days—or might trouble the sleep of scholars for decades, as the last great find in the territory of the ancient Macedonians, the nation once ruled by Alexander the Great, has done.

The structure that now holds much of Greece and Hellenists around the world in suspense stands at the site of ancient Amphipolis, about a hundred miles east of Thessalonica, on territory conquered by Alexander’s father Philip in the 4th century B.C.  Amphipolis was a major Greek city and a stronghold of the vast Macedonian empire, but today the site is all but deserted. On grasslands where goatherds graze their flocks, under a hill called Kasta—now protected by a military cordon from throngs of onlookers—lies one of the most puzzling finds ever unearthed in the Aegean region.

Round in shape and vast in size, the building beneath the hill has been called a tomb for lack of a better label. Circular buildings, though rare in antiquity, were sometimes used for royal burials, but no other known tombs approach the scale of this one: 500 meters in circumference (half again larger than Stonehenge) and surrounded by a superbly built marble wall.  Atop the center of the building’s roof once stood a crouching stone lion, long ago removed from the site but still intact—a sign that the tomb, if such it is, probably held a great soldier or ruler. The structure’s date, fixed by analysis of the lion and the stonework, seems to be the last quarter of the 4th century B.C., the decades just after Alexander’s death in 323.

Only Alexander himself, it would seem, could have merited such an enormous and expensive resting place, yet Alexander’s remains are known to have gone elsewhere—stolen by Ptolemy, the Macedonian ruler of Egypt, for interment in Alexandria and later visited by thousands. So unless an ancient legend is true, that Ptolemy swapped a dummy Alexander for the real one, the greatest corpse in the ancient world is already accounted for (at least until its unexplained disappearance many centuries later). So too, apparently, are the bodies of Alexander’s father and son, widely believed to be the occupants of two sumptuous tombs discovered, totally intact, in the late 1970s, near Vergina, on the site of what was once the Macedonian royal capital.

But those two identifications are still subjects of debate, a problem that adds to the suspense now mounting at Amphipolis. No inscriptions were found in the Vergina tombs, so a complex—and sometimes controversial—mass of evidence had to be analyzed before conclusions could be drawn. The Amphipolis site, even if its contents have remained undisturbed by robbers, could also yield a body or bodies that cannot be identified easily or with certainty. More troubling still is the prospect that, as some expect, Alexander’s son lies inside—a young prince killed at Amphipolis around 308 B.C. That finding would throw the hard-won and still contested analysis of the Vergina tombs into total disarray.

So who else might lie inside the great circle of the Amphipolis tomb? The betting at local tavernas, and Internet chatter worldwide, has focused on the so-called Successors, the Macedonian generals who carved up Alexander’s empire and made themselves kings of its pieces. Lysimachus and Cassander are the leading candidates among this crew, kings of the regions east and west of Amphipolis, though there are good reasons to eliminate both of them. Alexander’s mother, Olympias, has also been proposed, but the regime that tried and executed her in 317 B.C. had no reason to bury her so grandly. That leaves Roxane, Alexander’s famously beautiful Asian wife, who became a political prisoner shortly after Alexander’s death. Poisoned at Amphipolis by a ruler who wanted no rivals, Roxane was reportedly sent to the Vergina complex for burial, but no sign of her tomb has been found there.

The Amphipolis tomb may hold the remains of hundreds of bodies, or none at all. Some speculate it was a kind of war memorial, dedicated to the Macedonian soldiers killed during Alexander’s 13-year campaign of conquest. That theory would explain the sculpted lion that once crowned the building, a statue closely resembling one set up by the Macedonians on a battlefield in northern Greece.  Others think it may be a cenotaph, built to house Alexander himself but then left empty after Ptolemy made off with his body. Either of these hypotheses would account for the size and magnificence of the building, which seem inexplicable under any of the other scenarios.

The drumbeat of anticipation keeps growing louder in the reports and photos streaming from Amphipolis.  The pair of sphinxes atop the tomb’s main entrance were uncovered last month; after the chamber behind them was cleared of earth, a second gateway, flanked by the female-shaped caryatid columns, came to light only days ago. Behind this inner gate lies yet another antechamber and a third portal, presumably the entrance to one of the tomb’s main chambers. A small opening found in the interior wall has had experts worried that intruders may have plundered the tomb, but the aperture may also have been an exit route for those who interred the body, and then sealed the structure, some 2,400 years ago.

An announcement that archaeologists have entered a main chamber at Amphipolis may come at any time.  Whatever is learned of what lies inside is certain to cause a sensation, because no one knows what to expect. Scholars at least know what they are hoping for—decisive evidence and clear answers. It’s what they didn’t get from the headache-filled finds at Vergina, still under dispute 37 years later. 

James Romm, The Daily Beast

[Corkboy]

Thanks, Zeb, very interesting.

[Red_Irishman]

Thanks for this, very interesting

[afc tukrish]

Would be very interested if ti were one of the Successors, a very interesting and sadly neglected chapter of Western, and Eastern, history. Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire by Robin Waterfield, is a very well-written and researched treatment of the subject, and Cassander and Lysimachus both very interesting characters among the Diadochi...

[Red_Irishman]

Just to be clear, I haven't as much as a clue about archeology but surely them two holes over the left hand side of each entrance is not a good sign?

[Zeb]

Just to be clear, I haven't as much as a clue about archeology but surely them two holes over the left hand side of each entrance is not a good sign?

From what the people at the dig have said publicly, it's inconclusive. Could be tomb robbers, but if they've robbed the tomb then they've then gone back and filled it with tons of earth and then put up one or two walls to seal the tomb back up, or someone else in antiquity has re-sealed the tomb. Or it could just be something related to the tomb being sealed and nothing's been taken. Even if it has been looted, providing there's not too damage inside, it could still be a treasure trove for this period of history. The Vergina tombs were, in the main, looted in antiquity and they were severely damaged but the murals on the walls and what wasn't taken is still amazing.



That's from one of the Vergina tombs, heavily damaged and faded, but that sort of stuff just hasn't survived outside of Macedonian tombs apart from Roman copies (a lot of mosaics in Pompeii are believed to be based on Macedonian and Greek original paintings). At the time, the Macedonians were hiring the very best sculptors and artists from across Greece to show off their wealth and status. And that's on top of the things which the looters of Vergina didn't take or find.



The box which contained the ashes and bone fragments of Philip II (Alexander the Great's dad). (Maybe, still debated but consensus opinion is that it did...).

-----

AFC Turkish - I'm leaning towards Cassander being involved, perhaps for his father. Until this tomb was found, it was consensus that a large amount of construction was going on under him, and there was a general consensus building that the lion of Chaeronea was also erected by him. Now the tomb is found... it seems some are now thinking this is too monumental for him to have been involved. Should provide debate for decades whatever is inside!

[Red_Irishman]

From what the people at the dig have said publicly, it's inconclusive. Could be tomb robbers, but if they've robbed the tomb then they've then gone back and filled it with tons of earth and then put up one or two walls to seal the tomb back up, or someone else in antiquity has re-sealed the tomb. Or it could just be something related to the tomb being sealed and nothing's been taken. Even if it has been looted, providing there's not too damage inside, it could still be a treasure trove for this period of history. The Vergina tombs were, in the main, looted in antiquity and they were severely damaged but the murals on the walls and what wasn't taken is still amazing.



That's from one of the Vergina tombs, heavily damaged and faded, but that sort of stuff just hasn't survived outside of Macedonian tombs apart from Roman copies (a lot of mosaics in Pompeii are believed to be based on Macedonian and Greek original paintings). At the time, the Macedonians were hiring the very best sculptors and artists from across Greece to show off their wealth and status. And that's on top of the things which the looters of Vergina didn't take or find.



The box which contained the ashes and bone fragments of Philip II (Alexander the Great's dad). (Maybe, still debated but consensus opinion is that it did...).

-----

AFC Turkish - I'm leaning towards Cassander being involved, perhaps for his father. Until this tomb was found, it was consensus that a large amount of construction was going on under him, and there was a general consensus building that the lion of Chaeronea was also erected by him. Now the tomb is found... it seems some are now thinking this is too monumental for him to have been involved. Should provide debate for decades whatever is inside!

Good post, thanks, again!

[Zeb]

An official update today, although only covering until last Friday, with some new pictures from inside the third chamber and commentary. Ministry of Culture are also releasing really nicely done drawings by their architect.



(Third chamber obviously not shown on there yet).

The official announcement is that work in the third chamber of the tomb is going to be tough because there's a serious risk of the roof collapsing. They're going to take several days to prop it up and slowly move out the soil. This room does have less soil than the other two rooms, but there's no hint yet whether this is the main tomb chamber or not or whether this is the final room of the tomb.

Link to Greek Ministry of Culture announcement (with pictures).

Just to illustrate the difference, this is a cutaway of what is believed to be Philip II's tomb in Vergina.



(Colour version of cutaway found in Borza and Palagia's The Chronology of the Macedonian Royal Tombs at Vergina)

[goalspaytherent]

Fantastic story this ....thanks for posting it ......

[HoinkDoink]

This is interesting, will be keeping up to date with this, lets hope everything goes well 

[Crazy Diamond]

Really interesting,  thanks for sharing. I love stuff like this, find it fascinating. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on how this one unfolds.

[Zeb]

A semi-official update today, largely provoked by a bit of a spat in Greek academia. Some academics have been going on television and effectively called the dig team incompetent by suggesting they've misdated the mound by 200 years or so. The lead archaeologist at the site, Katerina Perestroi, has come out swinging and told them to stop seeking their five minutes of fame and that the dating is definitely 325 BC to 300 BC, and there's a lot of evidence to support that.

The work has slowed down dramatically because the third chamber is under 12 metres of mound and shoring the dome up has been tough. They've started to remove soil from the mound above to try and make it a little easier and safer for them to continue. No official news on a fourth chamber yet, but lots of hints that they are expecting to find one once they can remove enough soil to find an entrance to it. The current estimate is that it will take another three days before they can continue work to try to find it.




Some of the shoring up work they've done.

Link to Greek coverage of today's briefing to the press

Still no certainty on whether it's been looted or not before being backfilled with soil. Meanwhile in China... the Qin dynasty tombs just don't stop.

[afc tukrish]

The lead archaeologist at the site, Katerina Perestroi, has come out swinging...

Sorry, but how hot is that... 

[Zeb]

Sorry, but how hot is that... 

[DK]

Where's the best place to stay up to date on this? Just google or is there an official website/twitter account ( as silly as that sounds ) in English?

[Zeb]

Greek press really, this is daily updates for them. The Greek Ministry of Culture releases press releases every so often which are usually translated by the English language Greek press rather than having to chance Google translate. @RaptisCG does a really good job of translating and filtering guff from useful stuff if you want a twitter feed to follow with videos, pics, links to interesting context.

The best expert insight regularly updated at the moment  is from Dorothy King and her blog: Phdiva.

[DK]

Great, thanks Zeb.

[Mamadou]

have they found any letters/text on the walls or objects?

[Mercer]

I love stuff like this.

Good find, man.

[Zeb]

have they found any letters/text on the walls or objects?

Not yet, although it would be a surprise if they did.

When they uncovered the Macedonian royal graves, there was not a single inscription to identify whose cremated remains they were even though they knew this was the royal burial site. It was only some of the grave stelae for poorer burials around the city which did have the name of the person buried. So they had to date the tombs from the finds and then try to figure out who it might be. In the Philip II tomb they had a hint because one of the greaves they found was longer than the other (Philip II walked with a limp) and then they recreated the skull and found evidence to suggest this bloke might just have had one eye as Philip did. The finds for the woman in the tomb fitted with Philip's last wife being Scythian (the bow etc may even have been hers). So guesswork and educated assumptions and lots of debate ever since.

Link to free colour e-book with a ton of photos of the stuff they found in the royal graves, some dating from around the time they think this big tomb at Amphipolis was built.

[Mamadou]

thats a bit strange... maybe greeks are hiding something?

[Zeb]

thats a bit strange... maybe greeks are hiding something?

How do you mean Mamadou? There's certainly going to be things which aren't published or widely known about the dig yet, but the rumours of inscriptions being found have been firmly denied and seems to have been Greek journos adding 2+2 together to make 5 when painted marble was moved for to preserve the paint. The atmosphere is a bit toxic it seems, with a lot of backbiting, so if they had firm evidence for who and precisely when then it's hard to imagine that it would not have leaked yet. If you mean the ancient Macedonians not putting 'Here lies X' on royal tombs, who knows?

[Mamadou]

yeah i mean in royal graves, in general not many letters and textes... greeks are known for propagandas and manipulating with history and artifacts... i wouldn't trust them much, i hope in Amphipolis there are foreign archeologists too beside greeks archeologists

[Zeb]

Perhaps, but any manipulation like that from the archaeologists comes out in the peer review process - and there'll be no shortage of critics hoping to make a name for themselves by correctly identifying this tomb! Would rather not do the politics stuff in this thread - that the tomb is something extraordinary is certain, and the chance to see the work and finds being revealed like this is something we don't often get. Whether there's shiny things or not inside, this tomb has already made the experts start questioning things they thought they were fairly sure about.

[Mamadou]

you're right, sorry... keep updating mate if anything comes out

[BobOnATank]

Probably on a completly different story but http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/ I love New Grange. such a spectacular site.

[Zeb]

Probably on a completly different story but http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/newgrange/ I love New Grange. such a spectacular site.

Did a short holiday in Ireland some years ago where I went to a lot of the places mentioned in the chronicles. Was pretty awesome to have that direct link between legend/oral history and things you could still see. I blame Michael Wood and watching him go round Turkey as a kid.

Crazy that a place like New Grange pre-dates Amphipolis by around 3000 years! BBC are doing a mini-series on the new Stonehenge findings which I've found fascinating (first two episodes are on iplayer).

Mentioned Dorothy King's blog in an earlier post. She's done some answers to questions people have been asking her about Amphipolis in a new blog post here. Think it's great that a site like Amphipolis is providing a way for academics willing to do it to engage with the interest.

[redbyrdz]

Fascinating read, thanks! 

You can't help but come up with your own wild theories: All the structural issues make me think that maybe the whole thing collapse during build. Then the builders backfilled it to prevent entry. They could've removed the blocks above the doorways in case someone inside would still make it out, or maybe they weren't allowed to go through the doors, so needed a different route?  The entry was left open, and the sphinx's heads stolen, until someone a bit later bricked it up with the wall. The lion on top was removed and destroyed, maybe so the failed monument wouldn't be associated with the royals, or maybe because it was seen as bad luck?

The damage to the sphinxes really seem like looting to me - it must pre-date the building of the wall, but if the original builders had wanted them gone, surely they would've took the whole figures, and not damaged them and only took the heads? That they were left open also fits with the weathering of the paint discussed in the blog post above.

[Zeb]

The dating on the lion's destruction seems to be Roman now, so 100 years (and probably a lot more) after the tomb was built. Parts of the sphinxes have been found in the soil (certainly parts of the wings) so that does fit in with your idea of destruction on the site if it is not just damage from something like an earthquake. The lead archaeologist at the site is positive there haven't been looters - she's said that if there are looters then their bones will be excavated inside too!

Seems like Dorothy King is thinking along similar lines to you, redbyrdz, on the structural issues being the architect over-reaching.

---

Press release from the Ministry of Culture today. They think they've found the entrance to a fourth chamber, and a lot of hints that they're expecting to find more after that.



The new entrance they think they've found leads off left on the drawing.



Lots of other pictures and descriptions of the caryatids fully revealed too.



The architect/archaeologist on the site, Lefantzis, has made explicit the link between the length of the walls of Alexandria and the wall surrounding this tomb - he believes the walls around the mound are 1/100 scale version of those originally put up around Alexandria. This is why they've suggested the same architect may be responsible for both. If you want serious over-reach from Alexander's favorite architect, Dinocrates, he's the one who wanted to turn a mountain into a combined city and statue of Alexander as well as being given credit as the builder of Alexandria, designing the funeral pyre for Alexander's best friend/lover and fixing up an earthquake damaged wonder of the world.

[Crimson_Tank]

This is fascinating. As a scholar of Ancient and Classical History and a lover of Alexandrian history/Panhellenism and its influence I can not describe how exciting this is.

I spent many an afternoon debating and discussing the grave sites and funeral architecture of the Macedonian Royal graves at University, so this is brilliant.

[Zeb]

BBC's done a piece on how this tomb has taken over the news in Greece. Greeks captivated by Alexander-era tomb at Amphipolis.

edit: Bloomberg's gone a step further with its analysis of events in Greece and the interest in this tomb. Link.

The Greek public is fascinated by the two towering female statues in intricate sleeved chitons, with long luxurious plaits resting on their shoulders and traces of red and yellow paint still visible on their feet.

Archaeologists have replaced economists and politicians on talk shows and news bulletins in Greece, in an echo of the intense interest sparked by the discovery of a Roman temple in central London in 1954, which captured the imagination of war-weary Londoners.

“What’s missing in Greece is hope,” said Farmakis. “It feels like endless austerity measures. In Amphipolis they see the hope of something new and untouched that could regenerate Greece.”

Incidentally, they're rebuilding the Mithras temple found in London and are asking anyone who may have parts of it if they could please have them back. So if you've got something vaguely Roman which Granny picked up in London in the mid-50s...

[DJBrenton]

So if you've got something vaguely Roman which Granny picked up in London in the mid-50s...

So they want my Italian grandfather do they?

[KenyanKopite]

 

So they want my Italian grandfather do they?

 

[Motty]

So they want my Italian grandfather do they?