This is the statue of King Philip II of Macedon which stands near Tsimiski in
Thessaloniki.
We have already visited his tomb at the Museum of Vergina, the site of the principal palace of the Macedon
royalty. Today we are going on a trip to where their original summer palace
lay, to Pella.
Philip was born in Pella in 382BC and reigned as king from 359 BC until
his assassination in 336 BC. Philip,
often overshadowed by his son, Alexander
the Great, had great attributes: he was renowned for his diplomatic skills,
for his military prowess, for modernizing his army and greatly expanding his
kingdom.
The Pella Museum building was
designed by Kostas Skroumpellos and
its construction, on the site of the ancient city of Pella, was carried out
from 2006 - 2009. Its rectangular atrium is said to echo the style of the
courtyards of the ancient houses in Pella as we can see from the facsimile
exhibited within the museum. The museum itself is modern, spacious, light and
very nicely laid out.
The entrance with its honey marble and
classical statues is impressive, but I really liked the less formal art form at
the entrance to the courtyard, intriguing in its bright colours and modern
style.
In Philip’s time, Pella, now well-inland, actually had access to the sea which made its location all the more strategically significant. It had become the new capital of the Macedonian kingdom by the beginning of the 4th century BC. The inscription states:
‘Pella developed into a metropolis
with a vital presence that resonated throughout the entire known world.’
We see a sketch of the likeness of Alexander, and a coin bearing the
head of Philip. The terra cotta figurine shows Aphrodite removing her sandal.
Such items indicate that the gods of the Olympian Pantheon were worshiped
there.
Below we see a marble head of Alexander
III of Macedon, aka Alexander the Great.
Succeeding Philip to the throne, he was to become the most famous of the
Macedonian kings. He built a vast empire that extended through Persia to India
and his strategic thinking is still studied in military academies globally today.
Z can be seen standing in front of the décor of the dining-room wall of
the ‘house of plasterworks.’ Next, we see some of the remains of the palace in
the area: both huge mosaic floors and great pillars which are still standing,
proud and erect.
Within the museum are clear samples of mosaic
designs depicting daily life here in some detail: The Stag Hunt and Hunting a
Lion, respectively.
Finally, my photographs show treasures unearthed from Macedonian tombs excavated in the
vicinity. One single chamber was found to be intact and contained the remains
of a young girl, wrapped in purple cloth, embroidered with gold thread, two
gold wreaths and a gold coin from the reign of Philip II.
Gold deposits found in the region were very
significant in initially helping Philip finance his army and military
expansionism, bribe his potential opponents and, of course, enhance his regal
image. But the finds in these tombs show the importance of gold at a more
personal level. They also demonstrate
the exceptional skills that metalworkers had developed in producing objects of
such delicate, intricate work.
For warriors, the helmets, belts,
braids and weapon decoration were all insignia of their status. For the young girl, the mask, head
adornments, sashes and jewellery were precious
belongings for use in the netherworld. Coins and symbolic objects were
generally included in tombs so that favour could be curried with the deities of
the underworld.
One final observation is that the
imperishable qualities of gold could help the departed souls to aspire to
immortality and eternity.
I
close with the golden image eternally associated with the immortal Macedonian
Empire: the beautiful Vergina Sun.
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