Which Mysterious Macedonian Royal Was Buried At Amphipolis?
Amphipolis is situated upon the eastern bank of the River Strymon about five kilometers (3.10 miles) inland from the northern shore of the Aegean Sea. In the time of Alexander the Great and his successors it was one of the greatest cities of ancient Greece. In particular, shortly after Alexander’s death, it became the site of the largest tomb ever built in Greece. This took the form of a circular tumulus, now named the Kasta Mound. A magnificent sculpture of a seated lion, perhaps symbolizing Alexander, once stood on a plinth at the apex of the mound gazing south-eastwards towards Asia and a succession of tomb chambers were burrowed into the south-western edge of the mound in an alignment that pointed precisely towards the acropolis of the nearby city.
Location of Amphipolis and other relevant sites in northern Greece and the site of the Kasta Mound with the orientation of the tomb chambers towards the acropolis of the city (Image: ©A. M. Chugg using a map of Greece published in 1872).
Amphipolis Excavations
A sequence of excavations has uncovered a perimeter wall, known as the peribolos, that exceeds half a kilometer in length and is constructed of the finest marble. The presence of a cist grave beneath the floor of the last chamber and the exhumation of human remains within its anciently disturbed trench attest clearly to the status of the mound as the monument for a burial. The vastness of this monument and the superlative quality of its decoration compels one to believe that the occupant of the grave was a personage of the very highest importance. Multiple strands of evidence firmly date the burial to the last quarter of the fourth century BC in the immediate aftermath of the death of Alexander himself in 323 BC.
