Tomb of Philip II, Vergina
About
Four royal burial chambers lay hidden beneath a 110-meter earthen mound at ancient Aigai, sealed since a member of the Macedonian royal house, most likely Philip II, was cremated and interred there around 336 BCE. Grave goods packed into the marble-doored chamber included a gold larnax, an iron-and-gold ceremonial breastplate, and a beaten gold funerary wreath, all untouched by looters. The tumulus stood unopened through the entire span of the Roman Empire and for eighteen centuries afterward, until archaeologists broke into it in 1977.
What happened here
Roman burial is a family matter conducted in public. The dead are carried out of town, cremated or laid in the ground, and mourned with formal noise; the funeral of anyone important is a procession with masks of the ancestors carried by hired men. The tomb that follows is designed to be read by strangers on the road: name, age, offices, sometimes a trade shown in relief, often a line addressed directly to the passer-by. Ordinary people appear here as they nowhere else — a baker with his ovens carved on the front, a freedman naming the woman he could finally marry, a child's age given in days. Anniversaries bring the family back with food and wine.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →