Newly revealed mosaic may hold key to unlocking mystery: Who was buried in the massive mound?

Greek archaeologists have discovered the image of a young, red-haired goddess being swept off to the underworld inside a 2,300-year-old tomb near the ancient site of Amphipolis in Macedonia, northern Greece. Identified as Persephone, daughter of Zeus, the goddess portrayed on a mosaic floor provides a key new clue to what in recent months has become a much publicized mystery: Who was laid to rest in the immense, marble-walled tomb 61 miles (99 kilometers) northeast of the Greek city of Thessaloniki?

Monumental in scale and Macedonian in style, the Amphipolis tomb (also known as the Kasta tumulus) lies close to the Aegean port that Alexander the Great used for his fleet. Archaeologists have dated the tomb to the last quarter of the fourth century B.C., likely placing its construction in the fractious period following Alexander's death in 323 B.C. All this has fueled intense speculation that the tomb was built for someone close to Alexander, but clear evidence has been lacking.

Greece's Ministry of Culture and Sport announced at a news conference on Thursday that the newly discovered image of Persephone closely resembles one in a painting from the royal cemetery of Vergina, where Alexander the Great's father was buried. This discovery, noted Lena Mendoni, general secretary of the Ministry, links the Amphipolis tomb to the royal lineage of Alexander the Great. "The political symbolism is very strong," Mendoni said.

The new find is raising hope that the tomb will add another chapter to the tumultuous history of the ancient Macedonian royal house. "Without doubt," said archaeologist Katerina Peristeri, principal investigator of the Amphipolis tomb, "the deceased was extremely important."

Carried Off to the Land of the Dead

Peristeri and her colleagues discovered the Persephone mosaic as they cleared the floor of one of the tomb's inner chambers. Extending over some 145 square feet, the finely executed artwork depicts the Greek myth of the abduction of Persephone. According to the ancient story, Hades, the god of the underworld, spied Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess, working in a field, and decided to make her his wife. So he captured her and took her to the underworld, where she became his queen.

The mosaic portrays Hades as a bearded charioteer carrying off the curly-haired Persephone, who looks back wistfully toward her home. Running in front of the chariot is a third figure, the messenger god Hermes, who wears a scarlet cloak and hat and a pair of winged sandals as he leads the way to the underworld.

Peristeri was unwilling to speculate on the identity of the tomb's owner based on this new evidence. But Ian Worthington, a classical scholar at the University of Missouri in Columbia, thinks the excavators could be looking at "a female occupant of the tomb, because the mosaic shows a female being led to the underworld." If this proves to be the case, Worthington added, the tomb might hold the remains of Roxane, Alexander the Great's wife, or Olympias, his mother. Both women were put to death by one of Alexander's generals, Cassander, as he secured the throne of ancient Macedonia.

Surviving classical texts record that Cassander put Roxane and her young son to death at Amphipolis in 310 B.C., so it's very possible, said Worthington, that she could lie in the Amphipolis tomb.

But other evidence points strongly toward Olympias. Alexander intended to make his mother a goddess, like the female deity in Hades' chariot. Moreover, Olympias continued to hold considerable political power even after Alexander's death. Although she was murdered by Cassander and his allies, "I think she still could have been honored by such a tomb," said Philip Freeman, a professor of classics at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Only time, and further excavation, will tell.

Source:
(c) 2014 | National Geographic
Written by Heather Pringle

The Encyclopedia of Ancient Greek Language and Linguistics (EAGLL) brings together the latest research from across a range of disciplines contributing to our knowledge of Ancient Greek. The EAGLL offers a systematic and comprehensive treatment of all aspects of the history and study of Ancient Greek, comprising detailed descriptions of the language from Proto-Greek to koine. It addresses linguistic aspects from several perspectives, including history, structure, individual singularities, biographical references, schools of thought, technical meta-language, sociolinguistic issues, dialects, didactics, translation practices, generic issues, Greek in relation to other languages, etc., and on all levels of analysis including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon, semantics, stylistics, etc. It also includes all the necessary background information regarding the roots of Greek in Indo-European. As and when, excursions may be made to later stages of the language, e.g. Byzantine or even later. The focus, however, will predominantly be Ancient Greek. With well over 500 entries on all aspects of Ancient Greek, this new encyclopedia is the authoritative reference work for students and researchers of Ancient Greek, general linguistics, Indo-European languages, and Biblical literature.

More than 500 treasures of Macedonia will be on display - treasures that have been unearthed in the last 25 years of archaeological digs. Some of the items in the year long exhibition include: gold wreaths, gold funerary masks, various statuary, metal, alabaster and clay vessels, and other breathtaking golden objects from the necropolises of Aegae and Archontiko that date as far back as the 7th - 6th centuries B.C.E.

Source: Pella Museum

Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History Complex, and the Canadian Museum of History are pleased to announce that they will be welcoming a world-premiere exhibition to Canada later this year: The Greeks – Agamemnon to Alexander the Great. To be presented in Montréal from December 12, 2014 to April 26, 2015 and in Gatineau from June 5 to October 12, 2015, the exhibition covers more than 5,000 years of Greek culture, from the Neolithic Period to the Age of Alexander the Great. 

“It is a privilege to welcome this exhibition — the largest presented at the Museum since we opened in 1992,” says Francine Lelièvre, Executive Director of Pointe-à-Callière. “As Canada’s only archaeological museum, Pointe-à-Callière is proud to be showcasing archaeological treasures from Ancient Greece. An exhibition of this scope and importance is also a vibrant tribute to the large Greek communities in Montréal and across Canada.” 

The Field Museum announced today that it will open The Greeks: From Agamemnon to Alexander the Great in November of 2015. The exhibition will take visitors on an extraordinary journey through more than 5000 years of Greek culture—from their Neolithic origins to the expansion of Greek culture into Asia and Africa under Alexander the Great.  Drawing from the collections of 23 Greek museums, it will be the largest exhibition on the ancient Greeks in North America in 25 years.

The exhibition’s only stop in the Midwest is in Chicago and its appearance is the result of a partnership between The Field Museum and the National Hellenic Museum. In addition to The Greeks at The Field Museum, the National Hellenic Museum also will host related programs in its Greektown home.

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For immediate release

Gatineau, Quebec, October 31, 2013 —  Over 500 treasures of Greek antiquity will be showcased at the Canadian Museum of Civilization beginning in June 2015 as the Museum presents The Greeks – From Agamemnon to Alexander the Great. It is the most comprehensive exhibition about Ancient Greece to tour North America in a generation.

Presenting outstanding artifacts from 22 Greek Museums, the exhibition will invite visitors on a journey through 5,000 years of Greek culture, from the Neolithic Era to the age of Alexander the Great. The artifacts — many of which have never been exhibited outside Greece — include the iconic bust of Alexander the Great from Pella, the impressive statues of Archaic-period Kouroi, and golden jewellery from famous tombs.

“The Canadian Museum of Civilization is proud of its role in developing and presenting this exceptional exhibition about one of the world’s great cultures,” said Mark O’Neill, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. “The Greeks will enhance public understanding of the history of the Greek people and their prodigious contributions to the development of philosophy, democracy and the arts.”

The Seleucid Empire (312–64 BCE) was the largest of the three Macedonian empires that emerged after the death of Alexander the Great. It was created by SELEUKOS I NIKATOR (“the Victorious”), from his satrapy of Babylonia, incorporating and transforming the infrastructure of the preceding Achaemenid Empire. The Seleucid kingdom was an archetypal imperial state: a huge, composite entity characterized by wide ethnic, cultural, religious, and political diversity. The empire in its heyday stretched from the Pamir Mountains to the Aegean Sea, reaching its greatest extent around 200 BCE under Antiochos III the Great. From ca. 150 BCE, the empire rapidly declined.Its core territories were taken over by the Romans and especially the PARTHIANS, until in 64 BCE the Seleucid Dynasty disappeared from history virtually unnoticed.

The Seleucid state was in essence a military organization exacting tribute. Kingship was charismatic and intensely martial 
(see KINGSHIP, HELLENISTIC). The monarchy’s heroic ethos required of the king to be a successful war leader able to defend  the interests of his followers and the cities under his protection. Imperial ideology was universalistic, the self-presentation of the Seleucid monarch a continuation and elaboration of the age-old Near Eastern notion of a Great King.

Hellenistic court culture developed from the Argead household of Philip and Alexander (see ARGEADS), absorbing diverse Greek, Iranian, and other influences. The Hellenistic courts in turn profoundly influenced the development of the Roman imperial court. Court culture in the smaller Hellenistic kingdoms (Pontos, Bithynia, Kommagene, Judaea, and Armenia) underwent the influence of the Macedonian, particularly Seleucid, courts too. Due to intermarriage, diplomatic exchange, competition, and a shared Greco-Macedonian background, the courts of the three major Hellenistic empires were strikingly similar. There were also differences, of course. The Ptolemaic court was firmly based in Alexandria, while the Seleucid court moved around the empire almost continually. The SELEUCIDS and notably Ptolemies maintained an elaborate court culture, while the later Antigonid court (see ANTIGONIDS) retained a more simple Macedonian appearance (see ANTIGONIDS). Royal women played a more prominent roleat the courts of the Ptolemies and Seleucids than at the Antigonid court.

Because Hellenistic kingship was personal and charismatic (see KINGSHIP, HELLENISTIC), the royal court was essentially the household of the royal family and is often referred to as oikos in Greek sources. Another common designation is aule, literally “court,” probably derived from the fact that the core of Hellenistic palaces was an open courtyard surrounded by banqueting  rooms (see PALACES, HELLENISTIC). However, in ancient historiography and documentary evidence, the royal court is usually defined in social terms like “retinue” (therapeia), “courtiers” (hoi peri ten aulen or aulikoi), and notably “the friends of the king” (hoi philoi tou basileos).

Antiochos III the Great (243/2–187) was the sixth king of the Seleucid Empire. His thirty-five-year reign (223/2–187) was the longest in the empire’s history. Antiochos, whose rule is relatively well-known from Polybius and Livy and a large number of inscriptions (cf. Ma 2000), was also one of the most capable and successful Seleucid rulers, not withstanding a disreputable defeat against Rome at the end of his career. Campaigning in areas as far apart as India and mainland Greece, Antiochos restored Seleucid hegemony in the Far East, defeated the Ptolemies, and made important but short-lived conquests in the west. His contemporary title Megas (Great) perhaps referred to his authority of Great King, especially his practice of installing vassal kings as a means to reorganize the empire – a practice that would later form the basis for the creation of the Roman Near East. Yet Antiochos’ military triumphs were of little consequence: most of his territorial gains had been lost again upon his death in 187; the empire also lost control of Asia Minor as the result of the war with Rome.

The Macedonian King Archelaos (413-399 B.C.), according to his contemporary Thukydides, the Athenian historian of the Peloponnesian War who knew the North Aegean well, built castles, forts and straight roads in the country and also invested more in war equipment – horses, armour and other weapons – than all his predecessors put together. Nevertheless, Arrian, the historian of Alexander the Great viewing Macedonia about two generations later, gained the impression that before the time of Philip II (359-336) the Macedonians led the life of poor shepherds and were a target of continual attacks from their neighbors. Safe frontiers and the affluence of an urban civilization were first attained under Philip II.