Cult of beauty - Minerva

Greek archaeology
Descendents of
Heracles
James Beresford takes a look at the
exhibition, ‘Heracles to Alexander the
Great: Treasures from the Royal Capital
of Macedonia’, at the Ashmolean
Museum, Oxford
Ancient Macedonia is often
regarded as peripheral to
the affairs taking place
in the Greek states to the
south. The kingdom is traditionally
envisaged as bursting into history during
the second half of the 4 th century
BC to become, within the space of just
two generations, the most powerful
state in the known world. The rise of
Macedonia is therefore often seen as
beginning with the accession of Philip
II (r. 359–336) and his subjugation of
Greece, followed by his son Alexander’s
conquest of the Persian Empire, which
began in 334 BC and continued until
his early death in 323 BC aged only
32. However, as this new exhibition is
at pains to emphasise, the history and
archaeology of Macedonia is ripe for
reassessment. Drawing on art and artefacts,
the vast majority of which have
never before been on display outside of
Greece, the artistic and archaeological
heritage of this northerly Greek kingdom
is explored.
As early as the Bronze Age,
Macedonia was greatly influenced
by contacts with the Mycenaean
world lying to the south. Imported
Mycenaean pottery dating to the 17 th –
15 th centuries BC has been found at
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Fig 1. The Ashmolean
Heracles. A Roman
marble copy of a Greek
original, AD 100–200.
The sculpture depicts
the hero having
successfully killed the
Erymanthian boar.
H. 53cm. AN1928.529.
Fig 2. Combat scene
in gold which may
originally have
decorated a shield.
From the royal
cemetery, Aegae, 5 th
century BC. H. 3.9cm,
W. 5cm. BM 2107.
Fig 3a. Terracotta
lifesize head from
the Aegae necropolis.
Buried with the queen
of Alexander I, it was
thrown into the pit of
the tomb, c. 480 BC.
The bust heralds an
artistic move towards
naturalism that would
take another 150 years
to complete. H. 31.2cm.
BP 128.
2
1
Torone in Chalkidike while wheelmade
Mycenaean alabastra – containers
of aromatic oils – made between
1350–1200 BC emphasise the enduring
links between Macedonia and
the Greek lands further south, as well
as the adoption of Mycenaean lifestyles
and fashions among sections
of Macedonian society. It is perhaps
weaponry that most clearly indicates
the hierarchical nature of Late Bronze
Age Macedonian society. Only powerful
and influential individuals could
have possessed the two bronze swords
that have been found in the Sphekia
region of Macedonia, one of which is
believed to have been fashioned by a
highly skilled swordsmith working in
the palace workshops of Knossos on
northern Crete in about 1400–1375
BC. Though not such high-status
weaponry, two spearheads found in
the same region of Macedonia and dating
to 1350–1200 BC were also typical
of those used by Mycenaean warriors
and may indicate either the presence
of mercenaries from the south, or possibly
networks of trade through which
Mycenaean military equipment found
its way to Macedonia.
The heart of the exhibition is, however,
an exploration of the Temenids,
the dynasty that came to the throne of
Macedonia in the middle of the 7 th century
BC and ruled the kingdom during
the Archaic and Classical periods of
ancient history. Though this remarkable
dynasty was brought to an end
at the close of the 4 th century BC, it
was the political, military and cultural
achievements of the Temenid kings
that created the foundations for the
subsequent Hellenistic era.
According to the founding myths of
the Temenids (who are also frequently
referred to as the Argeads), their
dynasty was established in Macedonia
by Perdiccas, a man of royal blood
from Argos in the Peloponnese.
While few scholars today accept the
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Minerva May/June 2011