Remains in the larnax of the main chamber. Photo: Vergina: The Royal Tombs (Andronikos, 1984) |
In 1977, Manolis Andronikos discovered a cluster of Temenid burials at Vergina, ancient Aegae, under the Great Tumulus. Tomb II was unlooted, doublé chambered and each chamber had a sarcophagus housing a gold larnax (casket) that contained the cremated bones of a man and a woman, respectively. The kings body was cremated in a great pyre, in the same way as epic heroes of the Iliad. A huge pile of half-burnt mud bricks, ashes, charcoal, and hundreds of burnt objects covered the whole length of the tomb's barrel-vaulted roof. The presence of this pyre was the clearest evidence that the CONTINUE THE READING