Busting the "Vergina Tomb" myth

[Pelister]

Interesting stuff.

I wonder what the ancient tomb found in the Prilep region might actually uncover, if anything?

[Bratot]

Not Philip II of Macedon
Skeleton from Vergina royal tomb reappraised.

A skeleton thought by some to be that of King Philip II of Macedon, is not, in fact, that of the accomplished military leader and father of Alexander the Great, but rather one of Alexander's half brothers, Philip III Arrhidaeus, a far less prominent figure in the ancient world,according to a new study published in the April 21 edition of the journal Science

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/macedon/

A whole text soon to be published in Macedonian:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28421958/

[Bratot]

"Indeed for most scholars working in fourth-century Macedonia, the original attribution by Andronikos now seems doubtful," - Winthrop Lindsay Adams, a professor of history at the University of Utah.

[Bratot]

In 274 B.C., when Antigonus Gonatas was King
of Macedonia, Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus, invaded Macedonia and arrived at Aeges
(Vergina), where he pillaged all royal tombs and
scattered the bones of all kings, among which
there were those of Philip II and his son's, Philip III
Arrhidaeus'.
(Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch,Pausanias)


Professor Andronikos in his book refers to the pillaging of the royal tombs by Pyrrhus, but claims that “it was by mere coincidence that the tomb of King Philip II escaped from being pillaged”.


However, this tomb was well known to everyone
and would have been impossible for it to have
escaped, just like no other royal tomb in Vergina
escaped before 274 BC .
This view on which Professor Andronikos' final
conclusions on the identity of the dead and the
tombs of Vergina were based was, in my opinion,
a serious historical error of facts in the field of
archaeology.


This error of facts was significantly reinforced by
the conclusions of a group of British scientists
under Anatomist Dr. J. Musgrave, who supported
in their report that “…they succeeded in restoring
the head of King Philip II based on the skull bones
discovered in Tomb II”
(Transactions of the International Congress of Classical Archaeology XII, Athens 4 10.9.1983).


FIRST DISPUTED POINT


Based on the evidence
presented above in combination
with the age of the
dead of Tombs II and III
as well as the building
construction and artefacts,
I have formed completely
different views from those
of Professor Andronikos', after these had already been
established in Greece andabroad. In 1993 I undertook
the writing of a book on the subject (“To Philip II or to
Alexander the Great belongs the royal tomb of
Vergina?”,1993) and expressed my counter-arguments
concerning ProfessorAndronikos' conclusions and
Dr. J. Musgrave's findings. My conclusion was that:
The bones of Tomb II do not belong to King
Philip II and his last wife,Cleopatra.
The same conclusion is expressed in the relevant
report by Mr. N. I. Xirotiris, Professor of Anthropology
at the University of Thrace and his colleague, Mrs.
Franziska Langenscheidt (Archaiologike Ephimeris
1981).T h is was also later confirmed by Mr. A. Bartsiokas,
Professor of Anthropology as well (Science
Magazine, 21.4.2000).
Historical evidence leads us to the conclusion that in
316 BC King Philip III Arrhidaeus was buried in this
tomb by Cassander, following his murder by
Olympias in 317 BC at Pella (Pausanias).
King Philip II was buried between 336 and 335 B.C.
in the adjacent Tomb III. There is important
evidence proving his identity.
TOMB II AND THE FAMOUS
HUNTING SCENE
After Pyrrhus was driven away in 273 BC, Tomb II
was prepared by Antigonus Gonatas and acquired
the form we know today with the Hunting Scene
Mural (Fig. 1); this hunting incident had taken place
in Bactria in 327 BC, nine years after Philip's death
(Arrian). The rider seen in the middle on the mural
is Alexander the Great, while both King Philip II and
Philip III Arrhidaeus are missing. Alexander's attire
(Fig. 1) confirms what Diodorus Siculus writes that in
Persia “…he wore a white tunic and a Persian belt
without Persian breeches (anaxyrides)”. Also what
Herodotus writes is verified, i.e. that “in Persia, those
who were about to make
a sacrifice wore a wreath
of myrtle leaves” (as the
mural confirms).

As for Professor Andronikos'
view that the lionhunter
on horseback is
Philip II, because of his
physical similarity to the
king, I hold a different
point of view. This is the
chief of Alexander's bodyguards,
Ptolemy, son
of Lagus, who according to ancient sources was the biological son of Philipbut
inname the son of General Lagus, since Philip had
given to Lagus theboy's mother, Arsinoe, Philip's
concubine, as a wife while she was pregnant (Ploutarch).
It was, therefore,natural for the young man to
look like his natural father, Philip II.
The other view held by a team of archaeologists, that
the hunter on horseback (Fig. 1) is King Philip III
Arrhidaeus, is wrong for the following reasons:
Hunting wild animals was considered truly dangerous
and it was common sense that those participating in the
sport should be physically fit, bold, quick-thinking,
experienced and agile.

Philip III Arrhidaeus suffered from a physical
disability, an incurable mental disease, was
mentally retarded and after the death of
Alexander the Great was made king due to
the order of succession to the throne, given
that he was Alexander's half-brother and
there was no other successor, other than the
expected son of Alexander (Ploutarch,
Diodorus Siculus).Therefore, it is out of the
question that Philip III Arrhidaeus was the
lion-hunter on horseback.


A brief extract of evidence contained in the recently
published book The Royal Tomb II at Vergina Reveals
Alexander the Great by historian researcher
Triandafyllos D. Papazois

http://www.tdpapazois.gr/english_research.pdf

[Bratot]

"Regarding the paraphernalia we attribute to Alexander, no single item constitutes proof, but the quality of the argument increases with the quantity of information"

"We believe that it is likely that this material was Alexander's. As for the dating of the tombs themselves, this is virtually certain."

-Eugene N. Borza, professor emeritus of ancient history at Pennsylvania State University.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080423-alexander-great.html

"[Andronikos] presented his theories [that the tombs were those of Alexander's father and his family] with great skill, and the Greek nation responded with fervent enthusiasm," Borza said.

"Indeed I was one of those who, in two early articles in the late 1970s, accepted Andronikos' view that the remains were those of Philip II."

Borza started to doubt Andronikos' conclusions, however, as he studied the evidence.

He contacted Olga Palagia, an art historian at the University of Athens, to evaluate the tombs' construction, pottery, and paintings.

Soon the duo realized the significance of the fact that Tomb II and Tomb III were built using a curved ceilings called barrel vaults.

"The earliest securely dated barrel vault in Greece dates to the late 320s [B.C.], nearly a generation after the death of Philip II," Borza told National Geographic News.

Palagia also found that paintings on the exterior frieze of the tomb reflected themes that were likely from the age of Alexander the Great, rather than that of his father.

"Alexander the Great's "Crown," Shield Discovered?" Sara Goudarzi for National Geographic News, April 23, 2008


From Wiki reference:
Specifically, Tomb II. While there is general agreement on its royal status, some scholars identify the buried male as Philip III Arrhidaeus, instead.

[Rogi]

I wonder, if it is the the tomb of Philip and contains his remains... is it possible for a DNA sample to be obtained?

If so, wouldn't it be good for tourism to let people go there and have their own DNA tested against it to see if there's any connection. Surely Greece would want to do that? Unless of course, they can't hide the results....

I wonder what kind of results that might show.

[Jankovska]

Was that really the tomb of King Philip Makedonski? I mean who else has looked into it apart from the Greeks?

[julie]

The Hell Ass are one confused people, not only is Alexander Makedonski a Greek, now King Filip of Macedon as well? Who is stealing history and culture ? Especially take note premier of SA - this is another example of stealing culture by the HellAss bullshit made up nation of Greek monkeys - and he supports the crap. King Filip's 3rd wife was from Olympia, a whore. Matriarchal Greeks, what hypocrites.

[TrueMacedonian]

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Museums/Archaeological_and_Byzantine/Arx_Bas_Tafoi_Berginas.html

According to the propaganda 'greek' website above;

Vergina, a village in Imathia, is 12 km from Veroia, 75 km from Thessaloniki, and 515 km from Athens. It has enjoyed worldwide renown in the past few decades, owing to the discovery there of the ancient city of Aigai, the ancient capital of the Macedonian kings, and its cemetery. Of particular note are the tombs of the royal dynasty, most notably King Philip II and a young prince who is identified as Alexander IV, and a cist grave. The royal tombs were discovered in 1977-8 by the archaeologist Manolis Andronikos.

And here's Eugene Borza on this supposed claim - http://www.jstor.org/pss/505193 -

Many European, Australian, and North American scholars, while applauding the importance of Andronikos's discoveries, have remained skeptical about Andronikos's identification of the deceased.

Here's a link to a familiar site everyone knows about which discusses the archaeologist - http://www.historyofmacedonia.org/An...ndronikos.html

Of course there are stamps, statues, busts and so forth on this particular man. Modern "greece" celebrates this man to a radically insane extreme because of their myths. Here's another cute website

http://www.macedonia.info/vergina.htm

and here's what it claims;

News on April 2, 2002
ONE MILLION VISITORS IN VERGINA IN FIVE YEARS
About one million people visited the archaeological site of Vergina since 1997 and their number is expected to be increased after the construction of the Museum of Vergina. The announcement was made by Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the death of archaeologist Manolis Andronikos, who discovered the tomb of King Philippos B' father of Alexander the Great.
The new museum will allow the treasures of every monument in the archaeological site of
Vergina to be exhibited separately.

So I found an interesting book that goes to show you that 2 peoples are sometimes really alike. And I don't mean Macedonians and todays modern 'greek'. Read on and see who I mean;


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