Macedonian Vaulted Tombs

Macedonian vaulted tombs

Olga Palagia
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.8826
Published online: 15 September 2022
Summary
Macedonian vaulted tombs are underground chamber tombs usually covered by an artifical mound and accessible
through a corridor. They are built of ashlar masonry and were provided with stone or wooden furniture and
luxurious burial goods. They often served for family burials and there is some evidence that their façades remained
visible. Their inception and origin are controversial; their dates range from approximately the 330s to the mid-2nd
century BCE.
Keywords: Macedonia, barrel vault, underground, façade, dromos, mound (tumulus), Pella, Vergina, Lefkadia
Subjects: Greek Material Culture
General Overview
Underground built chamber tombs covered with a barrel vault first appeared in Macedonia at
some point in the 330s BCE or after; they ceased to be erected after the Roman conquest of
Macedonia in 168 BCE, though there are at least two Roman imitations built in Macedonia in the
1
1st century CE. They are characterized by their barrel vault (Figure 1a), artificial mound
(tumulus), façade and dromos (built corridor leading to the entrance) and are called Macedonian
tombs to distinguish them from cist tombs which are also underground chambers but have flat
2
roofs and are accessible from above. The purpose of the barrel vault was to withstand the
pressure of the mound covering the tomb but the idea may draw on Achaemenid prototypes. A
golden barrel vault covered Alexander’s funeral cart, constructed in Babylon in 323-321 BCE
3
(Diod. Sic. 18.26.5), and funeral carts roofed with a barrel vault were already known in
4
Achaemenid Anatolia. What is possibly the earliest extant Macedonian tomb, the so-called Tomb
5
of Eurydice, has a barrel vault under a flat roof and is not topped by a mound. Even though the
earliest known barrel vault in Greek architecture is now found in Macedonia, the date of the barrel
vault’s introduction depends on the dates of the earliest Macedonian tombs.
The origin of Macedonian tombs is controversial and the chronology of the earliest extant tombs
6
is disputed. They housed elite burials and were furnished with luxurious burial goods. The
majority of Macedonian tombs have been plundered. Only two were found intact: Vergina Tombs
II (the so-called Tomb of Philip, Figure 1b) and III (the Prince’s Tomb) (Figure 2). They
contained, among other things, gold and ivory couches, arms and armour, gold and silver vessels,
7
gold chests and gold jewellery. Macedonian tombs served as the prototypes of similar tombs in
areas under Macedonian influence such as Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus. Euboea, Cyprus, Aetolia and
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Acarnania.
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Figure 1a. Derveni (Lete) Tomb, known as Tomb of Macridy Bey.

Source: Photo Olga Palagia.
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Figure 1b. Vergina Tomb II (the so-called Tomb of Philip). Doric façade with painted frieze.
Source. Photo from Eugene N. Borza and Olga Palagia, “The Chronology of the Macedonian Royal Tombs at Vergina,” Jahrbuch des
Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 122 (2007): 81–125, fig. 4.
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Figure 2. Vergina Tomb III (Prince’s Tomb). Façade with Doric and Ionic elements. Relief shields made of stucco
flank the door.
Source. Photo from Eugene N. Borza and Olga Palagia, “The Chronology of the Macedonian Royal Tombs at Vergina,” Jahrbuch des
Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 122 (2007): 81–125, fig. 5.
9
The tombs are built of ashlar masonry, mostly of poros limestone, coated with plaster. The
blocks of both walls and vaults are usually laid without the use of mortar or metal clamps and
10
dowels though there are exceptions. Most Macedonian tombs are distinguished by an
architectural façade which does not reflect the structure behind it but serves to disguise the barrel
vault covering the tomb. The façade is built in the Doric or Ionic order or both combined in
uncanonical ways. It carries engaged columns or pilasters and one even has Corinthian engaged
11 12
columns. A single tomb has been found with a tetrastyle prostyle façade. Many façades are
topped by a pediment and acroteria. They probably imitate gateways as attested by the two-
13
storied façade of the Judgement Tomb at Lefkadia (Figure 3a), which reflects the gateway of the
palace at Vergina—Aigai, decorated with a Doric order on the ground floor and topped by an Ionic
14
order with false windows. Later repairs made to this façade (Figure 3a) suggest that it remained
visible for generations. That tomb façades may have remained visible long after their
construction is also suggested by tombs with multiple burials and functioning doors. The tomb
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façade may also be understood as the entrance to the underworld, on the evidence of the painted
pediment above the entrance of the Palmettes Tomb at Lefkadia, representing Pluto and
15
Persephone confronting the visitor. No two façades are alike, though it is sometimes possible to
attribute similar tombs to the same workshop—for example Vergina Tombs II (Figure 1b) and III
16 17
(Figure 2); Pella Tomb IV and the tomb at Messiano (Giannitsa).
Figure 3a. Judgement Tomb, Lefkadia. Two-storied façade with Doric and Ionic elements.
Source. Photo from Photios Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων (Athens, Greece: Archaeological Society of Athens, 1966), colour
plate A’.
The tomb entrance was normally set on the narrow side, and was sealed with a marble or wooden
door which often moved inward on rollers running on grooves so that the interior of the tomb
18
would remain accessible for further burials since many tombs functioned as family mausolea.
Marble doors have two panels and imitate wooden prototypes (Figure 3b). The tombs are often
accessible via a built corridor or dromos which may or may not be covered. Most tombs are buried
19
under an artificial mound or tumulus. In a few instances the mound is supported by a retaining
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wall. The tombs have a burial chamber, sometimes also an antechamber (Figure 4) and three
21
tombs have a pair of antechambers. Occasionally chamber and antechamber are of different
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heights and are covered by separate vaults (Figure 5). In some rare cases chamber and
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antechamber may be of different widths as well (Figure 6). The tomb floors are often paved with
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irregular stone slabs, plastered and painted, though a handful of tombs are decorated with pebble
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mosaic floors depicting geometric patterns. In rare instances the burial chamber may contain
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one or two cist tombs under the floor.
Figure 3b. Marble door from the Tomb at Agia Paraskevi. Thessaloniki Museum 9231.
Source. Photo Olga Palagia.
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Figure 4. Tomb at Agia Paraskevi.

Source. Drawing from Kostas Sismanidis, “Ανασκαφή ταφικού τύμβου στην Αγία Παρασκευή Θεσσαλονίκης. Ενας
νέος Μακεδονικός τάφος.” Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς 1986: 60–98, fig. 4.
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Figure 5. Judgement Tomb, Lefkadia.

Source. Drawing from Photios Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων (Athens, Greece: Archaeological Society of Athens, 1966), fig. 3.
Page 8 of 19
Figure 6. Judgement Tomb, Lefkadia.

Source. Drawing from Photios Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων (Athens, Greece: Archaeological Society of Athens, 1966), fig. 1.
Tomb interiors were frequently painted and architecturally articulated. The plastered walls are
often divided into zones imitating masonry (Figure 7). A fine example of painted architectural
decoration is the burial chamber of the Judgement Tomb at Lefkadia, which gives the illusion of a
26
domestic interior, with a peristyle made up of relief pilasters elevated on a podium. The illusion
is carried even further in the back wall of the burial chamber of the so-called Tomb of Eurydice at
27
Vergina, painted to imitate an Ionic façade, complete with a false door flanked by windows. The
windows at ground level indicate that the architect did not intend to show a tomb façade but
probably a temple entrance.
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Figure 7. Tomb at Agia Paraskevi. Interior walls with painted plaster imitating isodomic masonry.
Source. Drawing from Kostas Sismanidis, “Ανασκαφή ταφικού τύμβου στην Αγία Παρασκευή Θεσσαλονίκης. Ενας
νέος Μακεδονικός τάφος.” Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς 1986: 60–98, fig. 13a.
A number of tombs are decorated with figural wall paintings of high quality, either on the façade
28
or the interior or both. Vergina Tomb III (the Prince’s Tomb) exceptionally carried a frieze
29
painted on a wooden panel on the façade, which is now lost (Figure 2). The iconography of the
wall paintings is quite diverse. They represent scenes from the royal court (hunt, banquet,
coronation of the ruler), battles, funeral games, farewell scenes, gatherings of initiates and
underworld scenes. Tomb paraphernalia such as garlands, textiles, arms and armour, and lustral
basins, as well as altars, which were physically present in the tombs, could also be depicted. That
the tombs also contained their owners’ garments is attested by a papyrus listing a number of
30
chitons among objects to be deposited into Vergina Tomb III (Figure 2).
The names of the owners of the Tomb of Lyson and Callikles at Lefkadia are painted in the
antechamber, on the lintel above the entrance to the burial chamber: “Lyson Callikles sons of
31
Aristophanes.” Further dipinti within the burial chamber carry the names of the dead whose
32
remains were deposited in cinerary vessels placed in seventeen rectangular niches. No other
tombs carry the names of their owners, with the exception of the Roman tomb of Sextus Iulius,
33
whose name is inscribed above his tomb’s entrance. We may assume that the names were
written on perishable material and have since vanished.
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Tomb furniture included stone benches, couches made of limestone, marble (Figure 8) or wood
34
with gold and ivory veneer and glass inlays, stone chests and probably wooden tables. Funerary
couches were common practice in the Archaic and Classical chamber tombs of Achaemenid
35
Anatolia. The furnishings of many Macedonian tombs recall the Tomb of Cyrus, built in
Pasargadae in the last quarter of the 6th century BCE: it contained a golden coffin, a couch
covered with luxurious textiles which supported the garments and weapons of the deceased, and
a table laden with golden vessels (Strabo 15.3.7; Arr. Anab. 6.29).
Figure 8. Tomb at Stavroupoli. Burial chamber with marble couches.

Source. Drawing from Charalambos Makaronas, “Ανασκαφή του παρά την Σταυρούπολιν—Ξάνθης ‘Μακεδονικού’
τάφου.” Πρακτικά της Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 108 (1953): 133–140, fig. 5.
Three tombs at Vergina—the so-called Tomb of Eurydice, Rhomaios’ Tomb (Figure 9) and Bella
36
Tomb II—contain monumental marble thrones which imitate wooden prototypes. It has
recently been argued that the marble thrones suggest royal burials and this is borne out by the
proximity of two of these tombs to the royal palace.
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Figure 9. Vergina, Tomb of Rhomaios (named after Konstantinos Rhomaios) with Ionic façade.
Source. Photo courtesy of Hans R. Goette.
The So-Called Tomb of Philip
The two earliest extant Macedonian tombs are by common consensus Vergina Tomb II (Figure 1b)
37
and the so-called Tomb of Eurydice, also at Vergina. Neither is fully published and their
attribution by the excavator to Philip II and his mother Eurydice respectively is not supported by
38
the evidence and obfuscates the dating issue. Vergina Tomb II is a fully developed Macedonian
tomb, complete with barrel vault, dromos and a Doric façade carrying a painted frieze. It housed
the cremated remains of a man in his forties and a woman of uncertain age, which were
accompanied by lavish burial goods, rich in gold, suggesting a royal burial. The original
attribution to Philip II (d. 336 BCE) and one of his wives has been challenged, and Philip’s son,
Philip III Arrhidaeus (who also died in his forties) and his wife Adea Eurydice (who died around
nineteen years of age) have been put forward as alternatives (they were buried together in 316
39
BCE). The twenty-year gap between the burials of the two kings is not sufficient to allow the
archaeological remains to be associated with one or the other and the controversy is by no means
resolved. It is now compounded by disagreement among physical anthropologists as to the
woman’s age, which ranges between around nineteen and thirty-two, creating further difficulties
40
in identifying the king’s consort.
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The So-Called Tomb of Eurydice
Whereas Vergina Tomb II is considered royal on account of the stunning wealth of its burial
goods, there is no doubt that the so-called Tomb of Eurydice is royal because of its proximity to
the palace and the inclusion of a marble throne. It is an architectural oddity, a Macedonian tomb
41
with a barrel vault encased within a cist tomb. It has a dromos leading to an entrance sealed with
a marble door but it has neither mound nor façade. The tomb contained the cremated remains of a
woman, which were deposited in a marble chest placed on a marble throne. Fragments of a gold
and ivory couch may indicate a second burial; a helmet found in the antechamber points to a male
burial, and so do the remains of Panathenaic amphoras in the funeral pyre associated with the
42
tomb. One of the Panathenaic amphoras dates from the archonship of Callimedes (360/59 BCE)
and another from the archonship of Lyciscus (344/3 BCE). An Attic red-figure pelike by the
Eleusinian Painter found within the tomb belongs to the period 340–320 BCE. Panathenaic
amphoras might be kept as heirlooms, so their appearance can only serve as a terminus post
43
quem. The attribution of the tomb to Eurydice is not supported by any epigraphic evidence. The
44
year of her death is unknown but she must have been dead by 346 or 343 BCE at the latest. The
presence in the tomb of a pelike dating after her death is thus a further obstacle in associating the
tomb with Eurydice. Regardless of ownership, the tomb is considered the earliest extant
Macedonian tomb with a barrel vault because it is encased in a rectangular structure suggesting
an experimental stage in the development of vaulted tombs. It has been suggested that because
the tomb lacked a façade, the architect depicted the façade on the back wall of the burial chamber.
This Ionic façade, however, includes windows, and no tomb façade has windows flanking the
door. It may therefore be regarded as the entrance to the underworld, a possibility strengthened
by the appearance of Pluto and Persephone on the marble throne which is placed in front of the
wall.
The Amphipolis Tomb
In 2014 a very unusual Macedonian vaulted tomb was excavated in the Kasta hill near
45
Amphipolis. This hill already contained earlier burials, including another Maedonian tomb but
it was turned into a vast artificial tumulus by the addition of a retaining wall made of blocks of
46
Thasian marble. The excavation was carried out too rapidly and deliberately attracted a lot of
public attention. Because of its grand scale, the tomb was attributed to the circle of Alexander the
Great and dated to the last quarter of the 4th BCE even before it was excavated. The original
suggestion that it was the tomb of Hephaestion had to be abandoned after the discovery that it
contained at least five burials. The tomb is accessible through a staircase, the side walls of which
are coated with thick plaster, painted in the “masonry” style. The interior consists of two
antechambers and a main chamber with a cist tomb under its floor (Figure 10). There is no façade
and the entrance is decorated with two colossal sphinxes in Thasian marble resting on an
entablature supported by Ionic pilasters with sofa capitals. Contrary to usual practice, the barrel
vault at the entrance is in plain view, as the sphinxes are placed directly beneath it. The entrance
to the second antechamber is flanked by two colossal caryatids standing on tall bases. The
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caryatids, also of Thasian marble, are created in an archaistic style which finds parallels in the
late Hellenistic period. The floor of the second antechamber is covered by a pebble mosaic
representing the rape of Persephone. This is the only figural mosaic found in a Macedonian tomb
so far. The tomb has some very unusual features such as the colossal marble sculptures inside and
the decorative use of the barrel vault. Such features are alien to Macedonian tombs and may point
to a refurbishment after the Roman conquest of Macedonia, which would explain the tomb’s
grandiose scale and the lavish use of Thasian marble. Like many important Macedonian tombs, it
awaits publication.
Figure 10. 3D reconstruction of the Kasta Tomb, Amphipolis.

Source. Unauthorized drawing giving an impression of the tomb. By Magikos Fakos <https://magikosfakos.org/> for
Greek Toys <https://greektoys.org/3d-amphipolis/> .
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Notes
1. For the Tomb of Sextus Iulius son of Chariton, built at Amphipolis in 74 CE, see Katerina Rhomiopoulou,
“Αμφίπολη,” in Αρχαιολογία. Μακεδονία και Θράκη, ed. Andreas Vlachopoulos and Despoina Tsiafaki (Athens,
Greece: Melissa 2017), 421. For the tomb at Edessa, see Hans von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur: Die
makedonischen Kammergräber und ihre Vorläufer, 2 vols (Tübingen, Germany: Ernst Wasmuth 2012), 132–134, B48,
plate 47.
2. Not all Macedonian tombs have mounds or façades.
3. See also Caroline Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes et la tombe d’ Amarynthos, 2 vols. Eretria 19 (Lausanne,
Switzerland: Infolio, 2008) 2: 44–45, with earlier references.
4. Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes 2: 44.
5. For the so-called Tomb of Eurydice, see von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 291–294, B135, plate 112, 5–6;
and Pavlos Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι του Αρχοντικού και της Πέλλας 2 (Thessaloniki, Greece:
Altintzis, 2019), 738–741.
6. See the discussion in Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes 2: 39–48.
7. On the contents of these tombs, see Manolis Andronicos, Vergina: The Royal Tombs (Athens, Greece: Ekdotike
Athenon, 2004), 119–217; and Angeliki Kottaridi, Macedonian Treasures: A Tour through the Museum of the Royal Tombs
of Aigai (Athens, Greece: Kapon Editions, 2011), 42–125.
8. General overviews and catalogues of tombs can be found in Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes; and von Mangoldt,
Makedonische Grabarchitektur. For succinct overviews, see also Stella Grobel Miller, The Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles: A
Painted Macedonian Tomb (Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern, 1993), 1–20; Olga Palagia, “Commemorating the
Dead: Grave Markers, Tombs and Tomb Paintings, 400–300 bce,” in Blackwell Companion to Greek Architecture, ed.
Margaret Melanie Miles (Oxford, UK: Blackwell 2016), 383–384; Kostas Zambas, “Παρατηρήσεις για το σχέδιο
και την οικοδομική των Μακεδονικών τάφων,” in ΑΡΧΙΤΕΚΤΩΝ: Τιμητικός τόμος για τον καθηγητή
Μανόλη Κορρέ, ed. Kostas Zambas et. al. (Athens, Greece: Melissa, 2016), 527–540; and Chrysostomou, Οι
Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 731–790.
9. The tomb at Stavroupoli in Thrace is, exceptionally, built entirely of marble, including its furniture: von Mangoldt,
Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 244–246, B113, plates 95–97.
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10. Exceptions include the tombs at Agia Paraskevi: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur. 63–66, B1, plates
12–14; Angista: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 104–106, B28, plate 37; and Stavroupoli (see n. 9 above).
11. At Xerokambos, Beroea: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur 303–304, B142, plate 115.
12. Vergina Tomb IV: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 284–288, B131, plate 112,1.
13. Photios Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων (Athens, Greece: Archaeological Society of Athens, 1966); von
Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 177–181, B72, plates 67–68.
14. Angeliki Kottaridi, “Le palais de Philippe II à Aigai: nouvelles perspectives,” in Au royaume d’Alexandre le Grand: La
Macédoine antique, ed. Sophie Descamps-Lequime (Paris, France: Somogy and Musée du Louvre, 2011), fig. 51.
15. Katerina Rhomiopoulou and Barbara Schmidt-Dounas, Das Palmettengrab in Lefkadia, Mitteilungen des Deutschen
Archäologischen Instituts (Athenische Abteilung) Supplement 21 (Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern 2010), colour
plate 9.
16. von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 275–280, B129, plate 110 (Vergina Tomb II) and 280–284, B130, plate
111 (Vergina Tomb IIII).
17. Pella Tomb IV: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 224–226, B101, plates 86, 5–6; 87, 1–4; and
Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 251–425. Messiano: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 198–200,
B82, plates 78, 3–5; 79; 80,1; and Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 103–247. For the arguments that Pella
Tomb IV and the tomb at Messiano are designed by one architect, see Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 746–
747.
18. Exceptions include the tombs of Maieuterion in Thessalonike and at Calydon, von Mangoldt, Makedonische
Grabarchitektur, 253–255, B119, plate 98,1–4 and 145–149, B57, plates 53, 4–6; 54, respectively.
19. The exceptions are the Tomb of Rhomaios (Figure 9) and the so-called Tomb of Eurydice, both near the palace of
Vergina, where there is no evidence of a mound: see von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 270–273, B127,
plates 107–108, 1–2 (Rhomaios) and 291–294, B135, 112, 5–6 (Eurydice).
20. See the so-called heroon at Archontiko: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 109, B34, plates 38, 4; 39,1–
2; and Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 23–29. For further examples, see Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί
τάφοι, 33–34 nn. 48–49.
21. Tombs with a burial chamber and two antechambers: Korinos: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 154–
159, B61, plates 56, 3–5; 57–59; Kirklareli II, East Thrace: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur 345–346, B181,
plate 134, 1–3.
22. The vault over the antechamber can be higher, as, for example, in the Judgement Tomb at Lefkadia: Petsas, Ο
τάφος των Λευκαδίων, 26, fig. 3, and in the Langadas (Lete) Tomb: von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur
188–191, B77, plates 73–74.
23. For example, the antechambers of the Judgement Tomb at Lefkadia and of the tomb at Langadas (Lete) are wider
than the burial chamber: Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων, 24, fig. 1 (Judgement Tomb); von Mangoldt,
Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 188–191, B77, plates 73–74 (Langadas). The antechamber of the Tomb of Lyson and
Callikles at Lefkadia is narrower than the burial chamber: Miller, Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles, plate 4.
24. For example, the burial chamber of Amphipolis Tomb III carries a mosaic floor with lozenges: Dimitris Lazaridis,
“Ανασκαφαί και έρευναι Αμφιπόλεως,” Πρακτικά της Αρχαιολογικής Εταιρείας 115 (1960), 68, plates
50a; 52a; and von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 92–93, B17, plate 32. See also the tomb at Korinos, von
Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 154–159, B61, plates 56, 3–5; 57–59.
Page 17 of 19
25. For example, Amphipolis Tomb III: Lazaridis, “Ανασκαφαί και έρευναι Αμφιπόλεως,” 69; and von Mangoldt,
Makedonische Grabarchitektur 92–93, B17, plate 32.
26. Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων, plate 21.
27. See von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur 291–294, B135, plate 112, 5–6.
28. On the paintings, see Chariclia Brecoulaki, La peinture funéraire de Macédoine (Paris, France: de Boccard, 2006).
See also Olga Palagia, “Hephaistion’s Pyre and the Royal Hunt of Alexander,” in Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction,
ed. Brian Bosworth and Elizabeth Baynham (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000), 167–206; Eugene N. Borza and
Olga Palagia, “The Chronology of the Macedonian Royal Tombs at Vergina,” Jahrbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen
Instituts 122 (2007): 81–125; Olga Palagia, “The Royal Court in Ancient Macedonia: The Evidence for Royal Tombs,” in
The Hellenistic Court: Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra, ed. Andrew Erskine, Lloyd-
Llewellyn-Jones and Shane Wallace (Swansea, UK: Classical Press of Wales, 2017), 409–431.
29. von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 280–284, B 130, plate 111.
30. Richard Janko, “Papyri from the Great Tumulus of Vergina, Macedonia.” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
205 (2018): 199–200.
31. Miller, Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles, 38, plate 11a.
32. Miller, Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles, 31, 80–91, plates 23–26.
33. See n. 1 above.
34. On tomb furniture, see Kostas Sismanidis, Κλίνες και κλινοειδείς κατασκευές των Μακεδονικών
τάφων (Athens, Greece: Greek Ministry of Culture, 1997); and Elizabeth P. Baughan, Couched in Death: Klinai and
Identity in Anatolia and Beyond (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), 267–273.
35. Baughan, Couched in Death.
36. The Tombs of Rhomaios and of “Eurydice” are adjacent to the royal palace: see n. 19 above. For Bella Tomb II, see
von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 288–290, B133, plate 112,4. For the marble thrones and their
interpretation, see now Olga Palagia, “Alexander the Great, the Royal Throne and the Funerary Thrones of
Macedonia,” Karanos 1 (2018): 23–34, who argues that Alexander the Great introduced the concept of the throne as a
manifestation of royalty.
37. See now Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 738–743.
38. Andronicos, Vergina, 221–233 (Tomb of “Philip”); and Manolis Andronikos, “Βεργίνα: Ανασκαφή 1987,” Το
Αρχαιολογικό Έργο στη Μακεδονία και Θράκη 1 (1987): 81–88 (Tomb of “Eurydice”). Andronikos’ position on
the so-called Tomb of Philip is again upheld by Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 742–743, with earlier
references.
39. For the alternative theory, see mainly Borza and Palagia, “Chronology.”
40. The current situation is summarized in Olga Palagia, “The Argeads: Archaeological Evidence,” in The History of the
Argeads: New Perspectives, ed. Sabine Müller et al. (Wiesbaden Germany: Harrasowitz, 2017), 157–160.
41. For this tomb, see Andronikos, “Βεργίνα: Ανασκαφή 1987,” 81–88 and n. 5 above.
42. Palagia, “Royal Court in Ancient Macedonia,” 415–416.
43. On the pottery, see now see Palagia, “Royal Court in Ancient Macedonia,” 415–416.
Page 18 of 19
44. Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2019),
97.
45. See Olga Palagia, “Greek Sculpture, Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic: New Finds and Developments, 2005–2015,”
Archaeological Reports 61 (2015), 104–114; and Aikaterini Peristeri, “Τύμβος Καστά Αμφίπολης,” in
Αρχαιολογία. Μακεδονία και Θράκη, ed. Andreas Vlachopoulos and Despoina Tsiafaki (Athens, Greece: Melissa,
2017), 422–425.
46. Amphipolis Tomb III, see nn. 24–25 above.
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Macedonian Vaulted Tombs

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Subjects: Greek Material Culture

Figure 1a. Derveni (Lete) Tomb, known as Tomb of Macridy Bey.

Figure 4. Tomb at Agia Paraskevi.

Figure 5. Judgement Tomb, Lefkadia.

Figure 6. Judgement Tomb, Lefkadia.

Figure 8. Tomb at Stavroupoli. Burial chamber with marble couches.

The So-Called Tomb of Philip

The So-Called Tomb of Eurydice

The Amphipolis Tomb

Figure 10. 3D reconstruction of the Kasta Tomb, Amphipolis.

Brecoulaki, Chariclia. La peinture funéraire de Macédoine. Paris, France: de Boccard, 2006.

Rhomiopoulou, Katerina. “Αμφίπολη.” In Αρχαιολογία. Μακεδονία και Θράκη. Edited by Andreas

2. Not all Macedonian tombs have mounds or façades.

4. Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes 2: 44.

6. See the discussion in Huguenot, La tombe aux Érotes 2: 39–48.

26. Petsas, Ο τάφος των Λευκαδίων, plate 21.

29. von Mangoldt, Makedonische Grabarchitektur, 280–284, B 130, plate 111.

31. Miller, Tomb of Lyson and Kallikles, 38, plate 11a.

33. See n. 1 above.

35. Baughan, Couched in Death.

37. See now Chrysostomou, Οι Μακεδονικοί τάφοι, 738–743.

42. Palagia, “Royal Court in Ancient Macedonia,” 415–416.

46. Amphipolis Tomb III, see nn. 24–25 above.

Alexander (3) III

art, funerary, Greek

Philip (2) Arrhidaeus

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