495-508

A newly found macedonian tomb at Véroia

• Ψαρρά, Ειρήνη

In the summer of 2004 an ancient burial tumulus was explored at the southeast of the modem city of Véroia in the field No. 2350. At the southeast end of this tumulus a large rectangular pit and a few remains of a Macedonian tomb were discovered. The tomb had a NW-SE orientation and its building material has been almost totally plundered during the ancient years. The monument had two chambers and a descending dromos, hewn out of the rock, with built sides (length 13 m and width 5,50 m). The interior dimensions of the antechamber are 2,30x4,10 m and those of the main chamber 3,70x4,10 m. From the façade of the building only two Ionian bases of halfcolumns in situ remain, rising at the two ends of the building. Nevertheless, the façade was of Corinthian order, as the finds of a Corinthian half-capital proves, which was found in the fill of the ancient trench.This is the first time that such evidence is found at a Macedonian tomb. It is also rare for this period to select the Corinthian order for a building's façade, which was initially adopted in Macedonia in the Propylon of Ptolemy II (western colonnade) at Samothrace (285-280 BC). The marble threshold of the chamber was found to be lifted up in a vertical position, while the left part of te door of the chamber, (3,23 m high in total), fell and broke, and so it was abandoned there. It has relief decoration on both sides and a Gorgoneion on the upper part of the door. Fragments from two at least marble constructions show that the tomb had housed more than one burials. Very few remains of the grave goods which were buried with the famous dead were found (leafs of a gold wreath etc.). Based mainly upon the existence of the Corinthian capital, the tomb can be dated after 280 BC, within the second quarter of the 3rd century BC.Finally, it is remarkable that a few meters to the south of the tomb, part of an ancient road leading from the city of Véroia to Aiges and Pieria was discovered. Its width is 6 m and its course was confirmed with trial trenches for a distance of at least 42 m.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

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