While investigating Royal Tomb II in Vergina, Greece, researchers discovered several artifacts they believe once belonged to Alexander the Great, sparking a reevaluation of who might be buried in the tomb.
Wikimedia CommonsThe façade of Vergina’s Royal Tomb II, which contains the tunic believed to belong to Alexander the Great.
Archaeologists working in Vergina, Greece have uncovered new artifacts inside Royal Tomb II, long linked to the family of Alexander the Great. The tomb was initially thought to belong to Philip II, Alexander’s father, but new discoveries, including textiles and frescoes, suggest it may have housed Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexander’s half-brother.
The textiles were dyed in the iconic Tyrian purple, reserved for royalty, and contained rare minerals from Persia. This prompted researchers to hypothesize that this fabric and several of the other personal items in the tomb once belonged to Alexander the Great himself and were inherited by Philip III after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.E.
This discovery has both sparked debate about who might be buried in the tomb and expanded historians’ understanding of ancient textile usage and royal burial customs. Now, researchers are reexamining Vergina’s Tomb II and reevaluating the historical significance of its contents.
Archaeologists Discover Royal Tomb II At Vergina
Wikimedia CommonsThe stone vaulting of Vergina’s Tomb II.
In 1977, Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos unearthed four ancient tombs at Great Tumulus Hill in Vergina, Greece which he believed belonged to Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, and Alexander IV of Macedon, son of Alexander the Great.
For decades, experts questioned whether the tombs actually belonged to this ancient royal family, but subsequent excavations revealed promising evidence in support of Andronikos’ theory.
Thankfully, two of the tombs had been left untouched since antiquity, giving researchers an undisturbed look at their contents.
Beginning in June 2022, researchers examining Vergina’s Tomb II discovered several artifacts that may be connected to Alexander the Great.
This famed ancient ruler was the king of Macedonia in the 4th century B.C.E. and led massive military campaigns across Europe and Asia. His conquests ended with his abrupt death in Babylon in 323 B.C.E. Since then, researchers have searched extensively for Alexander’s missing tomb as well as any artifacts once owned by this almost mythical historical figure.
Now, the discoveries at the royal tombs in Vergina may shed light on this mysterious story.
The Royal Tunic Of Alexander The Great And The Mystery Of His Resting Place
Theodore G. Antikas et al.Textile scraps discovered in the tomb that are believed to be pieces of the tunic of Alexander the Great.
Recently, a group of archaeologists led by Antonis Bartsiokas from Democritus University of Thrace uncovered remnants of cotton textiles inside Vergina’s Tomb II. The textiles were dyed with the rare Tyrian purple, a pigment often worn by ancient elites and sometimes more valuable than gold.
The textiles were discovered inside the golden ossuary of Tomb II alongside the remains of a male as well as a golden oak wreath, a golden diadem, and a scepter. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography confirmed that the textiles were cotton and dyed with Tyrian purple. Additionally, researchers discovered huntite, a white mineral from Persia known for its dazzling brightness, within the layers of the textiles.
The tomb also featured frescoes of a man believed to be Alexander the Great wearing a purple tunic. Researchers then began to question whether the purple garment, thought to be a tunic known as a sarapis or chiton, and the other items in the tomb actually belonged to Alexander the Great himself.
Antonis BartsiokasThe painting in Tomb II thought to depict Alexander the Great wearing his royal tunic in a battle between the Greeks and Persians.
Although the tomb was believed to have belonged to Philip II, researchers now hypothesize that it housed Alexander the Great’s half-brother, Philip III Arrhidaeus, who inherited several of Alexander the Great’s personal items following his death.
The researchers’ hypothesis was strengthened after they discovered the remnants of the sarapis inside the tomb. These purple and white tunics were worn solely by Persian kings, like Alexander, following his conquest of Persia.
“The physical description exactly fits the description in the ancient sources of the sacred Persian mesoleucon sarapis which belonged to Pharaoh and King Alexander the Great and as such it was the most precious object in antiquity,” Bartsiokas wrote in a study published in Journal of Field Archaeology.
Antonis BartsiokasPart of the frieze of Tomb II showing Alexander the Great wearing a sarapis which corresponds to one discovered in the tomb.
With these new findings, experts are reevaluating the long-held belief that Tomb II belonged to Philip II. Additionally, the findings have widened historians’ understandings of ancient textile use, as well as both funerary and clothing customs in the era of Alexander the Great.
After reading about Alexander the Great’s tunic, dive into the story of the Gordian Knot of ancient Greek mythology and how Alexander the Great conquered it. Then, read about the five most important battles in the wars of ancient Greek.
