HERACLES TO ALEXANDER THE GREAT, TREASURES FROM THE ROYAL CAPITAL OF MACEDON. Cet article n’est pas disponible.HERACLES TO ALEXANDER THE GREAT, TREASURES FROM THE ROYAL CAPITAL OF MACEDON

Excavations in the late 1970s in the modern village of Vergina revealed a series of spectacular royal tombs; one identified as belonging to Philip II and the others to members of Alexander the Great's immediate family. Remarkably preserved with much of their exceptionally rich contents intact, these burials take us on a journey back from the time of Alexander (d.323 BC) through classical and archaic times to the early years of the first millennium BC. The finds do not simply tell us of the wealth and social status of the deceased: they also reveal much of the ritual surrounding death. Apart from some items from this burial, exhibited in New York in 2006, and some spectacular items from the tomb of Philip, none of these new finds have been seen by the public in or outside Greece. The extraordinary discoveries will be shown for the first time at the Ashmolean Museum.

Dr Angeliki Kottaridi studied archaeology with Professor Manolis Andronikos at the University of Thessaloniki. He discovered the tombs of the Macedonian royal family near their palace at Aegae (modern Vergina) in the 1970s. Dr Kottaridi has devoted her career to the excavation and display of ancient Aegae, developing a spectacular museum within the royal tumulus, of which she is now Director. Recently she has excavated a Macedonian fort on the island of Failaka in the Persian Gulf. She is now directing a major programme of restoration of the royal palace at Aegae, funded by the European Union. She has been honoured in Greece for her contribution to archaeology.