Alexander The Great Coins Found in Amphipolis Tomb

Coins depicting the face of Alexander the Great were discovered inside the Amphipolis tomb, Greece, announced head of excavations Katerina Peristeri during a press conference on Saturday.

Peristeri said that the coins are dated around the 2nd century B.C., the era of the last Macedonian kings. The coins will be photographed to be shown to the public after they are cleaned. Another important finding was painted pottery that belongs to the 4th century B.C. “We have so many pottery pieces we have hardly counted them,” Peristeri said.

Meanwhile, the suspense continues on who is buried in the magnificent tomb, the largest archaeological burial monument in Greece. Reporters asked several questions on the identity of the skeleton found and the condition it was found in. “The bones were found inside and outside the burial pit,” said General Secretary of Culture Lina Mendoni. “The skull was quite some distance away from the pit, the lower jaw was just outside the pit and the largest part of the skeleton was inside the pit. A close look shows that the legs and arms are almost intact, rib bones and parts of the spine as well as the pelvic bones are in fragmentary condition, therefore it is impossible for archaeologists to say if they belong to a man or a woman.”

The depictions of human shapes and the inscriptions on the epistyle and other marble plates that may give more clues on the identity of the dead will be studied via ultraviolet rays, a process that has not started yet.

According to culture ministry officials, the monument was originally open to the public. It is estimated that it was looted some time during the Roman era and then it was sealed. They also said that there are no signs that Christians ever entered the tomb.

Source: Greek Reporter

The Dying Alexander (Detail)

Head of The Dying Alexander (detail) , 17th-18th century copy after the famous antique marble head in the Uffizi, Florence

A dark mist crossed the sky, and a bolt of lightning was seen to fall from heaven into the sea, and with it a great eagle. And the bronze statue of Arimazd in Babylon quivered; and the lightning ascended into heaven, and the eagle went with it, taking with it a radiant star. And when the star disappeared in the sky, Alexander too had shut his eyes

The Legend had begun.

~The Nature of Alexander by Mary Renault~

New Alexander The Great-Era Tomb Found in Vergina

An unlooted tomb that appears to belong to a man who died during the Alexander the Great era has been unearthed in Vergina, northern Greece, where the tomb of Philip II was found.

Archaeologist Angeliki Kottaridi who is the head of the excavation suggests that the tomb in Aagae, as Vergina was called in ancient times, is unlooted because they found impressive burial offerings, with a gold-plated bronze vessel and a gold-plated bronze wreath among them.

Read more : Greek Reporter

Marble portrait of Alexander The Great

Youthful image of the conqueror king

Hellenistic Greek, 2nd-1st century BC, Said to be from Alexandria, Egypt

Literary sources tell us, though perhaps not reliably, that Alexander (reigned 336-323 BC) chose only a few artists to produce his image, and famous names such as the sculptor Lysippos and the painter Apelles were associated with his portraiture. Though none of the famous images have been recovered, many sculptures in different materials, as well as portraits on gemstones and coins, survive. These were mostly produced long after Alexander’s death and while the portraits follow similar general characteristics, they also vary in style.

Alexander was always shown clean-shaven, which was an innovation: all previous portraits of Greek statesmen or rulers had beards. This royal fashion lasted for almost five hundred years and almost all of the Hellenistic kings and Roman emperors until Hadrian were portrayed beardless. Alexander was the first king to wear the all-important royal diadem, a band of cloth tied around the hair that was to become the symbol of Hellenistic kingship.

Earlier portraits of Alexander, in heroic style, look more mature than the portraits made after his death, such as this example. These show a more youthful, though perhaps more god-like character. He has longer hair, a more dynamic tilt of the head and an upward gaze, resembling his description in literary sources.

This head was acquired in Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander in 331 BC, and the location of his tomb. Alexandria was also the capital of the longest surviving Hellenistic dynasty, the Ptolemies. From the time of the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (‘Saviour’) (305-282 BC), Alexander was worshipped as a god and the forefather of the dynasty.

Source : British Museum

Alexander The Great

Alexander The Great, Greek, late 4th-3rd century BC, Alexandria, Egypt (Place of Discovery)

The head and shoulders are meant to be seen in a three-quarter view. The back of the head and shoulders are flattened in two planes that meet at an angle behind the neck. A single groove, used for attachment, cuts vertically through both surfaces. The top of the head is also flat; the remains of a wooden pin suggest that the top part of the head was made of a separate piece of ivory attached with the pin. The bust probably ornamented the fulcrum, or headrest, or a couch. The upswept hair falling back from the low, furrowed forehead, the large deep-set eyes with upward gaze, and the full lips conform to the descriptions of Alexander the Great and to other known representations of him. The closest comparision with this piece is a tiny ivory head (now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.) identified as Alexander found in a royal tomb at Vergina in northern Greece and thought to have ornamented, together with other ivory heads, the bier of the man buried in the tomb. A direct comparison of the Walters head with large-scale photographes of the Vergina head shows striking ismilarities in the physiognomy of the features and the artistic style of representation, suggesting that the two are close in date. The Walters head is said to come from Alexandria. During the feuding that followed Alexander’s death in Babylon, the ablest of his generals, Ptolemy, managed to acquire Alexander’s body for burial in the city named in his honor. The Walters head could have ornamented a funeral couch in the same fashion as heads from the Vergina tomb.

Source : The Walters Art Museum

Queen Olympias – Mother of Alexander The Great

Olympias (c.375-316): Epirote princess, married to the Macedonian king Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great.

The girl who was later to be called Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus, the king of the Molossians, one of the greatest tribes in Epirus. They lived in the neighborhood of modern Ioannina in Greece. During Neoptolemus’ reign, the tribe became more sedentary; urbanization started and we hear about scribes and other administrative officials. In 358, the Molossians became the allies of the Macedonian king Philip II (360-336); the alliance was strengthened by a diplomatic marriage. In 357, Olympias became Philip’s wife.

Next year, a chariot that Philip had sent to the Olympic games, was victorious. Therefore, the queen received the name Olympias. In the same summer, she gave birth to her first child: Alexander. According to the Greek author Plutarch of Chaeronea (46-c.122), these events took place on the same day (text).

In Antiquity, people believed that the birth of a great man was accompanied by portents. They are mentioned by Plutarch: “The night before the consummation of their marriage, Olympias dreamed that a thunderbolt fell upon her body, which kindled a great fire, whose divided flames dispersed themselves all about, and then were extinguished. And Philip, some time after he was married, dreamt that he sealed up his wife’s body with a seal, whose impression, as be fancied, was the figure of a lion” (Plutarch, Alexander 2).

Philip and Olympias also had a daughter Cleopatra, who was to play an important role in the years after the death of Alexander. The birth of the crown prince and a princess that could be used in international affairs must have enhanced Olympias’ position, but political influence can not be proven. It is true, Philip appointed Olympias’ brother Alexander -not to be confused with her more famous son- as king of Molossis (350), but this does not mean that Olympias was behind the arrangement. After all, the Molossian throne was rightfully Alexander’s.

In August 338, Philip defeated the Greeks; next year, he reorganized the conquered territories in the Corinthian league. At the same time, he married to a woman named Cleopatra, a relative of a Macedonian aristocrat named Attalus. This caused great tensions between the king, Olympias and the crown prince.

Olympias went into voluntary exile, staying at the Molossian court of her brother Alexander. Her son Alexander and his friends (e.g., Ptolemy and Nearchus) were briefly expelled, but returned soon after. Olympias was further isolated when Philip married Olympias’ own daughter Cleopatra to Alexander of Molossis (336): she could no longer count on her brother’s support.

However, Philip was killed during the wedding in October 336. Many suspected Olympias and her son Alexander. The fact that (after her return to Macedonia) she ordered Philip’s wife Cleopatra and her child to be murdered, did not improve her reputation. However, her son was now king, and her position was safe.

During Alexander’s campaigns, she kept in touch with him. Our sources mention their correspondence. She probably confirmed the claim, made by her son during his visit to Egypt, that Alexander was the son not of Philip, but of the god Zeus Ammon. It is even possible that she made this claim before Philip’s death (and, consequently, before Alexander’s visit to Siwa): the events of 337-336 offered ample opportunity.

Although the relations with Alexander were cordial, he kept her far away from politics. Macedonia was ruled by Antipater, one of Philip’s most reliable commanders and diplomats and the man who had helped Alexander become king. It seems that he and Olympias were not on speaking terms, and the queen-mother must have been glad that she could go back to Molossis in 330: her brother had died during a campaign in southern Italy, and she served as regent for her cousin Aeacidas.

On 11 June 323, Alexander died in Babylon, and the age of the successors or Diadochi began. His wife Roxane was pregnant of a son, who was born a few months later and was called Alexander. He and Alexander’s brother Philip Arridaeus, who was mentally unfit to rule, were subject to the regency of Perdiccas, Alexander’s vizier. He tried to strengthen his position by a marriage with Antipater’s daughter Nicaea. However, Olympias offered him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra, a full sister of Alexander the Great (and the former wife of Alexander of Molossis). Perdiccas accepted this marriage, Antipater felt insulted, and the result was a civil war in which Antipater was victorious. He was the new regent of the royal family. However, he died almost immediately (319).

His successor as regent was an old general named Polyperchon. However, Antipater’s son Cassander, who had taken Philip Arridaeus captive, forced him out of Macedonia. Polyperchon had to flee to Epirus, taking Roxane and the baby Alexander with him. Until then, Olympias had refused to support any side in the conflict, but now she realized that if Cassander were to rule, her grandson would definitely loose the crown. So she took the army of Aeacidas, joined the remains of Polyperchon’s army and invaded Macedonia (317).

At the border, she captured Philip Arridaeus, who was executed immediately (October). Many supporters of Cassander were massacred as well. However, Cassander was approaching and besieged Olympias in Pydna, a harbor town at the foot of the holy mountain Olympus. Although both Polyperchon and Aeacidas tried to relieve her, she was forced to surrender. Cassander promised to save her life, but had her executed (316). Roxane and the baby Alexander were killed in secret.

The succession of Philip and the last two years of Olympias’ life were full of bloodshed, and many authors -both ancient and modern- have considered her a cruel woman. This is exaggerated. She was trying to stay alive and see to the succession of her son and grandson. Of the many Macedonian leaders who took part in the civil wars after the death of Alexander the Great, she was one of the few who were not fighting for their own power, but for the legitimate dynasty.

Source :

http://www.livius.org

Marble Heads of Alexander The Great

Head of Alexander, found near the Erechtheion of the Athens Acropolis in 1886. Thought to be an original work of the sculptor Leochares, made around 330 BC. Acropolis Museum, Athens.

Head of Alexander the Great, from Cyme (Namurt),Turkey. Marble.Hellenistic,late 3rd century BC.Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

Marble head of Alexander From Pergamon,Turkey.First half of 2nd century BC.Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

The Gonzaga Cameo

The Gonzaga Cameo

3rd century BC

Alexandria; h 15.7 cm

This cameo, a rare example of the large ‘dynastic’ stones of the Hellenistic age, was created in the 3rd century BC in Alexandria. The rulers of Egypt, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus and his wife Arsinoe, are portrayed as gods from the Greek pantheon. Basing himself on an image formed under the influence of the personality of Alexander of Macedonia, an unknown master engraver created an idealized portrait of the king as hero, and emphasized the unity of the royal couple in this profile portrait. Their heads are crowned with laurel wreaths. The king’s attire is part realistic and part symbolic: the helmet is decorated with a star and a winged dragon; Zeus’s aigidos, attribute of the most significant deity of Hellas, is thrown over the king’s armour. The pathetic heads of Medusa and Phobos, genius of Horror, intensify the fantastic nature of the king’s dress. The qualities of the agate, in three layers, enabled the engraver to create a unique example of spectacular ‘painting in stone’, in which delicate colour transition and contrast seem to be inherent in the material itself.

Source : The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Marble head of Zeus Ammon

Imperial, ca. A.D. 120–160 A.D.,Roman, Marble, H. from base: 19 in. (48.2 cm.),Stone Sculpture

Zeus Ammon’s sanctuary at the Oasis of Siwa in the Libyan desert was already famous when Alexander the Great made his pilgrimage there in 331 B.C. Alexander’s visit to Siwa was a pivotal moment in the young king’s extraordinary life. The details are shrouded in mystery, but legend has it that the Oracle proclaimed him son of Zeus Ammon and answered Alexander’s questions favorably, “to his heart’s desire.”This powerful portrait of the god combines a classical Greek image of the bearded Zeus with the ram’s horns of the Egyptian Ammon, an attribute with which Alexander himself was sometimes represented. It may well reflect a sculpture created in Egypt in the years after Alexander’s historic visit to Siwa.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Statuette of Alexander with a Lance (Now Missing)

Statue of Alexander, Greek, 200 – 100 B.C, Marble

Ancient authors record that Alexander the Great was so pleased with portraits of himself created by Lysippos that he decreed no other sculptor would make his image. Although this statement is probably exaggerated, Lysippos did make some of the most powerful and lasting images of Alexander. It also shows Alexander understood the propagandistic importance of his image and the need to control it.

Lysippos’s statue “Alexander with a Lance,” made in the 320s B.C., portrayed Alexander armed and naked, echoing the great heroes of Greek mythology like Achilles with whom he identified. He stood with his weight on one leg, one arm extended and holding a spear, the other hanging down at his side. This broken statuette, carved in the 100s B.C., is a small-scale variant of that original. One of numerous surviving posthumous images of Alexander made well into the Roman period, this statuette may have been a private devotional image related to the worship of Alexander as a god. Its owners certainly valued it, since the statuette was repaired and reworked in antiquity.

Source : The J. Paul Getty Museum

Toxic wine led to Greek tragedy

An Otago University scientist may have unravelled a 2,000-year-old mystery of what killed Alexander the Great.

National Poisons Centre toxicologist Dr Leo Schep thinks the culprit could be poisonous wine made from an innocuous-looking plant.

Classical scholars have been deeply divided about what killed the Macedonian leader, who built a massive empire before his death, aged 32, in June of 323BC. Some accounts say he died of natural causes but others suggested members of his inner circle conspired to poison him at a celebratory banquet.

Read more : Toxic wine led to Greek tragedy: NZ scientist

Marble head of Alexander the Great

Marble head of Alexander the Great, found in the Kerameikos, Athens
c. 300 BC. Height 0,28 m.

Marble head of Alexander the Great, found in the Kerameikos, Athens c. 300 BC.

Head of Alexander the Great, made of pentelic marble. It was found in the Kerameikos, Athens. Alexander wears the lion’s pelt, a common iconographic feature in depictions of the young king on coins, which hints at his descent from the mythical hero Herakles. The letters on Alexander’s face were carved at a later period.

Source : National Archaeological Museum, Athens

Portrait of Alexander the Great

Portrait of Alexander the Great

Most likely a work of the sculptor Leochares, 340-330 BC

Acropolis Museum, Athens

Have archaeologists discovered the grave of Alexander the Great?

Archaeologists have uncovered what could be the grave of Alexander the Great at a site near ancient Amphipolis. The warrior king – who ruled in the 4th century BC – was thought to be buried in Egypt.

Archaeologists have uncovered what could be the grave of Alexander the Great at a site near ancient Amphipolis.

The warrior king – who ruled in the 4th century BC – was thought to be buried in Egypt. But experts have now become excited after they uncovered a marble-faced wall dating from the time.

The structure measures an impressive wall measuring 500 metres long and three metres high, which archaeologists believe could contain a royal grave.

The site near ancient Amphipolis lies 370 miles north of Athens.

Read More : Have archaeologists discovered the grave of Alexander the Great? Experts find enormous marble tomb fit for a king under a massive mound in Greece

The site near ancient Amphipolis lies 370 miles north of Athens.

Bust of Alexander The Great

Bust of Alexander the great – Pierre II LeGros known as le jeune(1666-1719)

This marble bust depicts Alexander the Great wearing a helmet reminiscent of his status of chief of the Macedonian armies. Wrapped in a lion’s skin, an attribute of Heracles (Hercules), he also measures up to the twelve labors of this half mortal and half-deity hero, in light of his multiple military triumphs.

Pierre II Legros (1666-1719)

Pierre II Legros Born in Paris in 1666, Pierre II Legros also known as “Le Jeune”, started his apprenticeship with his father Pierre Legros (1629-1714), sculptor to the king.

In 1689, he won the Grand Prix de Rome. In 1690, he became a boarder at the Académie de France in Rome and spent four years copying antiquities and great masters of the past.After his term at the Académie ended, he remained in Rome to pursue his career.With other local sculptors already immersed in Roman artistic circles, such as Pierre-Etienne Monnot (1657-1733), he worked for wealthy patrons, whether private or religious, and for several religious communitities. He died in Rome in 1719.