Category: Greece

Studying Philip II’s Remains

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

Ages ago when I first started gathering news items and the like to share in various fora, I subscribed to the Athens News Agency feeds … as they were subscribed via a very old email address (which is basically a spamtrap now) I didn’t pay much attention to them any more but out of curiosity last week I was browsing through them and found this item, which does not seem to have made it into an English newspaper source:

A small portion of the skeleton of the ancient king Philip II of Macedon,
the father of Alexander the Great, is to be taken for testing to the
Demokritos National Centre for Scientific Research, Thessaloniki’s
Archaeological Museum announced on Wednesday.

The ancient king’s remains were found inside a golden larnax, or casket,
considered one of the most valuable objects of the ancient world, found
inside the main chamber of grave II at the Vergina archaeological site
in northern Greece.

The aim of the transfer is the microscopic examination, analysis and
photography of an unknown substance covering the bones, which has
also been found in other Macedonian tombs. This is the first time
this substance will be analysed to discover its chemical and mineral
composition, with the results are expected to yield valuable information
concerning the larnax corrosion processes and the ritual materials used
in that period.

A request for the transfer of the shards of bonds from the head of
the Vergina digs was approved by the Central Archaeological Council
on Tuesday.

… I guess I’ll have to monitor this source a bit more closely …

A Nice Mosaic is Emerging …

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

from the earth near Didymoteicho  … Greek Reporter has the details:

A series of well-preserved archaeological finds have been discovered during this year’s excavations at what has been identified as the ancient Plotinopolis, situated in the outskirts of modern-day Didymoteicho, northeastern Greece. Plotinopolis was a Roman city founded by the Roman Emperor Traianus, who named it after his wife Plotini.

The hill of Aghia Petra, just outside Didymoteicho, has been the focus of archaeological interest since before World War II, while in 1965 a golden forged bust of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus was found there. From 1965 onward, the 19th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities has been conducting systematic excavations in the area.

The mosaics unearthed, form part of the floor of a typical Roman triclinium, the formal dining room in Roman houses. Monstrous ichtyocentaurs and Nereids are depicted in the mosaic unearthed, along with portrayals of the God of Eurus River and Plotini.

The leader of the excavations, archaeologist Matthaios Koutsoumanis, describes the findings as: “both (creatures) are seated on a dolphin, and one of them is holding a scarf over the head like a ‘peplos’. It is certain by now that the scene with the Eurus River and Plotini is not the only one, as a second panel is coming to light. (…) Next year’s excavation has a lot of surprises in store for us.” That could make Plotinopolis one of the biggest excavations in the region of Thrace.

… a small photo accompanies the original article. There appear to be more photos here (I’m inferring) but the source isn’t clear …

Back in 2005, there was a brief overviewish piece on the finds (up till then, of course) in Plotinopolis:

Roxane’s Tomb?

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

From Greek Reporter:

Αrchaeologists from the 28th Ephorate of Antiquities unearthed a tomb in the city of Amphipolis, near Serres, northern Greece, which they believe could belong to the wife and son of Alexander the Great, Roxane and Alexander IV.

The circular precinct is three meters, or nearly 10 feet high and its perimeter is about 500 metes, or 1,640 feet surrounding the tomb located in an urban area close to the small city of Amphipolis. The head of the team, Katerina Peristeri noted that it is too soon to talk with certainty about the identities of the discovery.

“Of course this precinct is one we have never seen before, neither in Vergina nor anywhere else in Greece. There is no doubt about this. However, any further associations with historic figures or presumptions cannot be yet made because of the severe lack of evidence and finances that will not allow to continue the excavations at least for the time being,” she added.

The area has since 1965 been known as Kasta Tom, but these are the first excavations to take place there. The project began without any secured funds, which resulted in only parts of the impressive site coming to light. Analysts suggested that conclusions about the owners of the tomb cannot be drawn without first unearthing the tombs and discovering evidence about their identities.

Nevertheless, local authorities and media rushed into claiming and believing that the tomb belongs to Alexander’s wife and son, who, according to legend, had been ostracized to Macedonia after Alexander’s death. There the 12-year-old Alexander the IV and his mother Roxane were murdered. Tradition has it that the two victims were buried in Amphipolis but no evidence so far has proved this.

Nice to see some skepticism from the folks at Greek Reporter … at this point, we probably have as much evidence that this is the tomb of Roxane as it is the tomb of Xena …

UPDATE (a few minutes later): further adding to the suspicion, it is clear that this excavation started back in 2010 with the express purpose of finding the tomb of Roxane … see the post at Challenging the Past (Looking for the tomb of Roxane) and follow the link to the Greek news item: Ανασκαφές στην Αμφίπολη)

Meteorite Worship in the Greco-Roman World

~ David Meadows ~ rogueclassicist ~ Leave a comment

My Explorator email box is slowly filling up with a much-publicized story about the recovery of a Tibetan statue made of meteoric iron which was discovered by the Nazis and is quite interesting (see, e.g., PhysOrg’s coverage: Buddhist statue, discovered by Nazi expedition, is made of meteorite, new study reveals)  … of course, plenty of Classics/Art History types were immediately reminded of the Magna Mater (as were Terrence Lockyer and Hasan Niyazi on Twitter), and so I piped up with mention of this very interesting article:

Video: The Ancient Greek World

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Interesting 20 minuteish thing put out by the UPenn Museum back in 1998 … not sure if I can embed it, but it appears you can download it: