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The excavation of the great Tumulus of Vergina

Αρχαιολογικά χρονικά

• Ανδρόνικος, Μανόλης

The excavation of the Great Tumulus of Vergina continued last September. From the deep trench that was done in its centre come many fragments of old sepulchral monuments, which were used with the stones and the earth for the construction of the tumulus. Among these the most important is a big sculptured stele 2 m. high and 1 m. wide which shows the dead man as an athlete; at his feet there is his dog and on the left the young “slave” (παϊς). The total number of the monuments found this year comes up to 10. If we add and the previously found items, we have a total of at least 19. All these must come from the cemetery of the area, which at sometime was violently destroyed. All finds are older than the beginnings of the 3rd century B.C. The richness and the quality of these sepulchral monuments reveal that the city to which they belonged must have been very significant. But the most characteristic factΜΟΥΣΕΙΟ ΠΑΥΛΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΑΛΕ!'Υπάρχουν πολλά είδη Μουσείων ( όπως τέχνης, ιστορίας, τεχνολογικά, συλλογές κλπ. ) καθώς υπάρχουν άντίστοιχα καί πολλοί τρόποι μουσειακής έκθέσεως. ’Ανάλογα μέ τό τί σκοπεύει ένα Μουσείοwhich is indicated to us it is the violent destruction of the cemetery. Since this is a very rare case in the Greek lands, I tried to find some kind of explanation. And the only possible one is given by Plutarch in the Life of Pyrrhus ( 26,6 ). Plutarch informs us that when Pyrrhus seized the old capital of the Macedonians, Aigai, in 274/3 B.C., he left in it a garrison of Gauls. These Gauls destroyed and sacked the royal tombs. If we assume, as it is very logical, that the Gauls did not limit themselves only to the sacking of the royal tombs, then we have a historical event which explains the otherwise inexplicable destruction of the cemetery of Vergina — if we accept the fact that Vergina is identified with Aigai. But such an identification has been proposed by professor N. G. L. Hammond since 1968. His proposition therefore, is thus strongly reinforced, and this means that the Great Tumulus may contain even royal graves.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Burial
• Επιγραφές
• Sculpture, Classical

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