Ancient Mosaic, Remains Of Alexander The Great's Father Discovered In Greece

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

An ancient tomb in Amphipolis in northern Greece was found to contain a floor mosaic depicting a horseman with a laurel wreath driving a chariot and guided by the god Hermes, officials from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports announced on Sunday.

According to the Associated Press (AP), a team of archaeologists found the 10 foot long, 15 foot wide mosaic covering the entire area of a floor in a room believed to be the antechamber to the main burial site. The mosaic is made from pebbles of various colors, and has been dated to the last quarter of the fourth century BC.

While a circular area is missing, the AP said that the research team has discovered enough fragments to reconstruct a large portion of the mosaic. The dating of the grave is consistent with their belief that the tomb is home to the remains of a contemporary of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC and was believed to have been buried in Egypt (although his tomb has yet to be discovered).

In the mosaic, Hermes, the Greek god of travel and guide to the underworld, is shown carrying his staff (or caduceus) and wearing a hat and cloak, said Nancy Groves of The Guardian. She added that experts have suggested the grave may belong to a relative of Alexander, one of his generals, or perhaps even his mother Olympias or his wife Roxana.

The discovery comes just days after another team of researchers confirmed that remains found in a two-chambered royal tomb in the town of Vergina belonged to Alexander the Great’s father, Macedonian King Philip II, said Discovery News reporter Rossella Lorenzi.

“The anthropological investigation examined 350 bones and fragments found in two larnakes, or caskets, of the tomb. It uncovered pathologies, activity markers and trauma that helped identify the tomb’s occupants,” Lorenzi said. The researchers presented their findings Friday at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

“Accompanied by 3,000 digital color photographs and supported by X-ray computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence, the research aims to settle a decades-old debate over the cremated skeleton,” she added. In addition to the cremated remains of Phillip II, the tomb was also found to contain the bones of a female warrior, possibly the daughter of the Skythian King Athea, the researchers told Lorenzi.

Lead investigator Theodore Antikas and his colleagues analyzed the remains and found trauma on the bones that would have matched injuries suffered by the Macedonian warrior king, The Daily Mail’s Sarah Griffiths explained on Monday. The bones were initially discovered by Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos in 1977, and the debate over whether or not they belonged to Phillip II has remained unsettled ever since – until now.

The remains believed to belong to Alexander’s father showed signs that the individual “suffered from frontal and maxillary sinusitis that might have been caused by an old facial trauma,” Antikas told Discovery News. It is believed the injuries could be linked to an arrow which struck Phillip II’s right eye at the siege of Methone in 354 BC, blinding him.

In addition, the team found “signs of chronic pathology on the visceral surface of several low thoracic ribs, indicating pleuritis,” Antikas told Lorenzi. The anthropologists believe that this could have been the result of trauma suffered by Phillip II when his right clavicle would have been shattered by a lance in 345 or 344 BC.

The analysis also revealed an old incision wound on the left that was caused by an object with a sharp edge (possibly a weapon), degenerative lesions and other signs indicative of a middle-age man who frequently rode on a horse, and evidence of a fully-fleshed cremation that disproved the notion the remains belonged to Philip III Arrhidaeus, who had been buried and exhumed before being cremated.

“Features such as cracking, color, warping, twisting seen on the bones indicate pyre-induced morphological alterations,” Antikas told Discovery News. “A typical example is the 90-degree twisting of the left parietal bone of the man’s cranium. This would never happen, if the skull were ‘dry’, coming from an ossuary.”

“The female remains also helped to shed light on the remains of Philip II. The female was between 30 and 34 when she died, meaning that she could not be Arrhidaeus’, wife, who was under 25,” Griffiths added. “By studying the bones, anthropologists discovered that the woman was also a keen rider, was cremated soon after her death and had a slightly shorter left leg.”

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