Excavations at the huge tomb of Amphipolis
are progressing at a very fast pace indeed. Today a new update has been
published in The Kouti Pandoras releasing some beautiful pictures.
The upper portion of the marble doorway
that is crowned by the two sphinxes mentioned earlier has now been exposed
with wonderful plastered walls on the side of the passage.
More importantly, as the top of the
doorway is beginning to appear the archaeologists have exposed brightly painted
Ionic capitals. Traces of red, blue and black are clearly visible on these
capitals as well as on the architrave above.
For the first time, I am reading about an
estimated time to reach the inside of the tomb. It would take about two weeks.
Let’s hope this timing is correct and that the mystery around the Tomb of Amphipolis will finally be
solved.
The head of excavations at Amphipolis, Katerina Peristeri, has revealed her belief that the tomb has not been looted. The statement was made on Friday morning, during a visit to the site by a group from main opposition SYRIZA [...] However, it seems highly unlikely that the tomb would have remained unlooted, being such a prominent landmark, and bearing in mind that after the defeat of king Perseus in the Third Macedonian War (168 BC), Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus totally plundered everything in the erstwhile Macedonian kingdom. It is scarcely credible that the prominent monument would have escaped his voracious attention. Newgreek. 22/08/14. So....
ReplyDeleteYes you say, So ....
ReplyDeleteIt is a fact that Lucius Macedonicus did a thorough job collecting and sweeping up all the treasures of Macedonia (including the library!) and he may indeed have plundered the tomb of Amphipolis. But then the tumulus at Vergina is no small mound either and the tomb of Philip II was found intact. Even Andronicos had a hard time finding it. So, I think all may not be lost as yet.
In the end, your guess is as good as mine, or that of anyone in the field.