Η θέση των Αιγών στη «Γεωγραφία» του Κλαυδίου Πτολεμαίου
Part of : Το Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και στη Θράκη ; Vol.19, No.1, 2005, pages 483-494
Issue:
Pages:
483-494
Parallel Title:
The location of Aigai in Ptolemy’s Geography
Author:
Abstract:
The location of Aigai, the first capital of Macedon, has been a subject of archaeological and historical research since the 19th century. The findings of the excavations carried out by Manolis Andronikos in 1978 led to the prevailing view that Aigai was at Vergina; but in recent years this has not been unanimously accepted. The lack of inscriptions has forced researchers to seek evidence in other archaeological finds, as also in the written sources.One of these sources, an important scientific treatise, is the Geography of Claudius Ptolemaeus, the great geographer of the 2nd c. AD. He gives the coordinates of many ancient cities in the then known world, including Aigai. However, these co-ordinates have not yet been systematically investigated by historians and archaeologists.This study presents a method for studying Ptolemy’s co-ordinates and mathematically reconciling them with the contemporary map. The method, which is used in archaeological research for the first time, may in certain circumstances lead to interesting and useful conclusions about the topography of the ancient Greek world. Regarding Aigai in particular, a study of Ptolemy’s co-ordinates indicates that in the 2nd c. AD the city was located a few kilometres south-west of the Vergina area. This might support the view that Aigai was originally built on the wider archaeological site of Vergina, where, however, it was destroyed before Ptolemy’s time, as archaeological evidence shows. After the destruction, the inhabitants of Aigai, or some of them, probably moved south-west and established their new city on the site where Ptolemy knew it. This does not mean that other segments of the original city’s population did not move away in other directions.
Subject:
Subject (LC):
Keywords:
Βεργίνα, συνέδρια
Notes:
Περιέχει εικόνες και χάρτες
