Treasures ranging from delicate gold sheet ornaments found on funeral garments to numerous gold earrings, pendants,
necklaces, rings, fibulae, bracelets, and coins await the unprepared visitor.
The most remarkable artifacts are the exquisite gold wreaths of olive,
ivy, myrtle, and oak leaves. Looking closely, we'll discover the tiny figure of
Heracles or his typical knot. When a crowd of people walks around, these little
flowers and leaves tend to tremble; imagine the effect they have when worn live!
The wealthiest finds come from the so-called Derveni Tombs, some
10 km NW
of Thessaloniki. One of these tombs yielded twenty silver vases,
many alabaster and bronze vases, terracotta vessels, some of which were gilded, and iron weapons, including a pair of bronze greaves. But the piece de resistance
is the richly decorated bronze crater generally referred to as the Derveni
Crater, which is worth to be explored in detail.
The Derveni Crater stands 90 cm tall and weighs some 40 kg. It is not made of
gold, as one would assume at first glance but of a bronze alloy containing
about 15% tin, which produces its unique golden sheen. Different metals were
used for the figures and other decoration elements and inlays of silver,
copper, bronze, etc. The motives are a mere hymn to the god Dionysus who sits
naked next to Ariadne and familiarly rests his leg on his wife's thigh. Behind
the newlywed couple stands a panther, the animal sacred to the god. Around the
crater and surrounding the couple, we recognize satyrs and maenads in their
orgiastic dance. Two more maenads, a resting Dionysus, and a sleeping satyr, are
all sitting cozily on the shoulders of the vase.
Vine and ivy branches, palm leaves, and acanthus in different metal colors among tame and wild animals are depicted on the bands above and under the relief of the godly couple. This crater dates from between 330 and 320 BC. It was made either by a sculptor from the Chalcidice trained in Athens or by a bronzesmith from the Royal Court of Alexander.
It is one of the pieces that truly stands for
the wealth and beauty that existed at the Macedonian palaces and surrounding Alexander.
Some more vessels and jugs
from these graves are labeled bronze, although they shine like gold. Such a
high standard of art! An excellent iron pectoral from Pydna also has a thin gold sheet, unlike the
Macedonian ones exhibited elsewhere.
This gold medallion represents
Queen Olympias wearing a chiton and a light
himation to cover her hair and is worth the visit altogether. The medallion's
reverse depicts a sea monster, half bull, half fish, with a nude woman sitting
on its back. The figure could well be the Nereid Thetis, mother of Achilles –
clearly inspired by Alexander's admiration for Homer's tales. It appeared during the games held in honor of Alexander at Beroea in 225-250 AD.
This medallion is part of the hoard of twenty such pieces found in Abukir, near Alexandria, in 1902.
Three other medallions are part of the Berlin Bode Museum collection.
It is pure joy to admire these priceless portraits of Alexander, one with Nike
and another with a diadem. Eleven of the other medallions went to the Calouste Gulbenkian
Museum in Lisbon, Portugal; the one depicting Emperor Caracalla, a great admirer of Alexander, is at the Walters Art Museum
in Baltimore, USA. It is the only existing
picture of Olympias, although it probably is idealized.
Beyond this precious and unique collection of
Macedonian gold, the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki holds another
rare treasure: Europe's oldest surviving
papyrus, also found at Derveni.
Since the roll to which it belongs dates to around 340 BC, the papyrus is
contemporary of Philip II and Alexander!
The bits of papyrus belong to a philosophical treatise, a commentary on an
Orphic poem concerning the birth of the gods, probably written in Attica around 420-410 BC.
It certainly pays off to venture downstairs,
where the Tomb of Agios Athanasios occupies a privileged room.
However, that story has already been covered (see: The Macedonian
Tomb of Agios Athanasios in Thessaloniki).
There is, of course, far more
to discover in the sections about the Kingdom
of Macedonia and Thessaloniki, the Metropolis of Macedonia, that
fit in the broader Alexander
context. Most noticeable is, for instance, a lovely head of what could be young Alexander from the
2nd century AD. The inscription mentions "Thessalonica daughter of Philip, Queen" from 150-200 AD. It
means Alexander's half-sister. Also, a fascinating relief dedicated to Hephaistion from Pella, 320-300 BC (see: Another effigy of Hephaistion?). Besides, there is a wide
assortment of sarcophagi, funerary steles, inscriptions, statues, mosaics, and
architectural elements from all over Macedonia and from Thessaloniki, like the
columns from the Temple of Aphrodite (see: Thessaloniki's Temple of Aphrodite).
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