Classics

VERGINA (Ancient Aigai)

Aigai (Aegae in Latin), or Vergina, was one of the capitals of ancient Macedon. Philip II, Alexander's father, was assassinated here at the theater in 336 while celebrating his daughter's wedding. Remains of the palace and theater are still visible today.

What brings visitors to Vergina today are the royal tombs of the Macedonian dynasts. Andronikos excavated these tombs and come upon one that he considers to be the tomb of Philip II. "Philip's" tomb is one of several that are under a mound of hearth. Today the tumulus has been turned into a museum where one can see the tombs as well as some of the objects discovered there.

Although the issue of whose tomb it is, the tombs here and at Lefkadia are fine examples of Greek large-scale painting.

Links

• Vergina (Verghina)
• Vergina: Perseus Site Catalog
• Images of Vergina
• More images of site Includes images of tombs from Lefkandia and more photos of Palace site at Vergina
• Vergina slides from Harvard
• Site of Vergina with map that shows relationship of city ot the great tumulus (burial place of Philip II and other Macedonian royalty
• Unesco page on Vergina
• Vergina-Aigai Greek Ministry of Culture. If you click on the images, you will see a larger version
• Portrait of Philip II from his tomb
• Museum on site of Vergina) Bibliography to Manlios Andronikos's work He excavated the main tumulus in 1977-78, and so this material will not appear in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, which was published in 1976.)

Unesco Degree 1996

The Archaeological 780 Greece C(i)(iii) Site of Vergina

The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criteria (i) and (iii) considering that the site is of outstanding universal value representing an exceptional testimony to a significant development in European civilization, at the transition from classical city-state to the imperial structure of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. This is vividly demonstrated in particular by the remarkable series of royal tombs and their rich contents.

The Committee decided to add to the proposed criteria cultural criterion (i), since the paintings found at Vergina are of extraordinarily high quality and historical importance.

http://whc.unesco.org/archive/repcom96.htm#780