The gold larnax
A casket with the Macedonian star on its lid, holding the bones.
en:User:Dimboukas — Public domain · Panegyrics of Granovetter (Sarah Murray) — Public domain · Mark Landon — CC BY-SA 4.0
**The tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great — as it was found, beneath the mound itself** — at Vergina, the site of **Aigai**, Macedonia's first capital and a World Heritage site. ⚠ **This is not an ordinary museum**: **the mound was hollowed out and the museum built inside it** — so you descend underground into darkness **and see the tomb façades in their original positions**, not relocated. In **1977** the archaeologist **Manolis Andronikos** discovered **unlooted royal tombs** beneath the Great Tumulus — exceptionally rare. ✅ **What they held beggars belief**: a **gold casket (larnax)** bearing the Macedonian star and holding cremated bones, **a gold oak wreath** almost indistinguishable from real foliage, **a shield, a helmet and a cuirass**, and a **painted façade** with a hunting scene. ⚠ **The tomb's attribution to Philip II is probable**, not certain.
A casket with the Macedonian star on its lid, holding the bones.
Thin gold leaves imitating real foliage with astonishing precision.
A coloured hunting scene above the tomb door, in place.
Vergina, 59031 Imathia, Greece
**It is the strongest attribution, but not a certainty — and the scholarly debate is unresolved.** ✅ **What supports it**: **the date** — the tomb belongs to the **second half of the 4th century BC**, Philip's time (he was killed in 336 BC). **The magnificence** — the gold, the arms and the royal Macedonian star point to **a king, not a noble**. **The location** — **Aigai** was the Macedonian royal burial ground. ⚠ **The most famous evidence**: examination of the bones showed **an injury to the eye socket** — **and Philip lost his right eye to an arrow** at the siege of Methoni, which is what made Andronikos confident. ⚠ **What argues against it**: a group of researchers holds this to be the tomb of **Philip III Arrhidaeus** — Alexander's half-brother, who reigned after him — **on the basis of bone analysis** and architectural and chronological indications, **placing Philip II in an adjacent tomb**. ⚠ **The debate continues**: later studies of the bones gave **conflicting** results, some reaffirming the attribution to Philip II and some overturning it. ✅ **What is not disputed**: **these are genuine unlooted Macedonian royal tombs** from the age of Philip and Alexander — **which is exceptional in itself**.
**Macedonia's first capital and its royal necropolis — the capital moved, and then its location was forgotten for centuries.** ✅ **What it was**: **Aigai** was the first capital of the Macedonian kingdom and the site of its **royal palace** and its **kings' burial ground**. **Alexander was proclaimed king here** after his father's assassination — **and Philip himself was assassinated in its theatre** in 336 BC during a wedding celebration. ✅ **The move**: the administrative capital shifted to **Pella** in the late 5th century BC — **but Aigai remained the sacred city and royal necropolis**, and the kings continued to be buried there. ⚠ **The disappearance**: the city declined in later periods, **its remains were buried**, **and its location was lost from memory** — scholars searched for Aigai throughout the 19th century and most of the 20th. ✅ **The discovery**: it was long thought to be at **Edessa**, ⚠ **until researchers argued for Vergina**, **and Andronikos proved it in 1977** by finding the royal tombs beneath the Great Tumulus — **the greatest Greek archaeological discovery of the 20th century**. ✅ **The royal palace** — the largest classical building in Greece — has recently reopened.