Is the Mother of Alexander the Great in the Tomb at Kasta Hill near Amphipolis?

Andrew Chugg just has published a third analysis about the Tomb at Amphipolis in an effort to tie it to Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great.

Here he elaborates his earlier theory about the snake basket on the head of the caryatids and about their dress (see: Additional scrutiny of the Caryatides of Amphipolis by Andrew Chugg), referring to ancient writers and similar depictions from antiquity.

[Picture from The Greek Reporter]

Andrew Chugg’s argumentation is that after Olympias was murdered, her relatives would have felt it their duty to give her a proper burial, to which Cassander must have agreed. Cassander was married to Thessalonica, Alexander’s half-sister and daughter of Philip II, and as such, she might have exercised some pressure on her husband. And then there was Cleopatra, by now Queen of Epirus, Alexander’s sister and daughter of Philip II and Olympias, who could have been involved in the burial. Olympias had many rich and influential relatives who might have been more than willing to build her tomb. Chugg goes even as far as involving Roxane and her son by Alexander as well since both were kept at Amphipolis for another seven years after Olympias’ murder. Funeral rites were sacred in ancient Macedonia, and Cassander knew that, as well as all the generals previously fighting alongside Alexander, meaning that Cassander may not have had much of a choice.

The author does not accept the idea of this being an abandoned cenotaph built for Alexander since, in such a case, the painstaking job of sealing the access walls and filling the chambers with tons of sand would make no sense.

Those wanting to unravel Andrew Chugg's ideas can consult his full story in The Greek Reporter.