Cult of beauty - Minerva

historicity of this foundation story, it
was nevertheless widely disseminated
in the ancient Greek world. Writing in
the 5 th century BC, Herodotus refers
to the Argolid antecedents of the
Macedonian kings (Histories 8.137–
8), while the poet Euripides (c. 480–
406) composed the tragedy Archelaos
in which the eponymous hero, son of
king Temenos of Argos, was praised as
the founder of the city of Aegae. Even
the historian Thucydides (c. 460–395
BC) refers to the connection of the
Macedonian royal house with the city
of Argos (History of the Peloponnesian
War 2.10), while at the start of the 5 th
century BC the judges at the Olympic
Games also approved the legend of
the Temenid royal house, allowing the
Macedonian kings to participate in the
Games.
This legendary connection to the
rulers of Argos was crucial to the
Macedonian kings, imbuing them
with political and religious authority.
According to divine genealogy,
descendants of Temenos could also
claim Heracles, greatest of Greek
heroes, as their illustrious ancestor
(Fig 1). Through the demi-god
the Temenids also had familial ties
to Zeus, most powerful of the gods.
With such an ancestry, Macedonian
kings could claim to possess the blood
of the strongest and most courageous
of men, reinforcing their right to lead
their people in both peace and war.
As blood descendents of Zeus, their
kingship was also divinely sanctioned
and, in addition to political and military
leadership, they also held the position
of high priest, acting as principal
defenders of traditional worship. The
mythical pedigree of the Temenids
was emphasised through coinage, with
issues from the time of Perdiccas II
Minerva May/June 2011
3b
Fig 3b. Terracotta
lifesize female clay
head, found in the
same tomb as that in
Fig 3a, though without
the naturalism of the
male bust. Both heads
would have been
placed on wooden
poles to form statues
(xoana). After the
burial of the queen
both heads were
deliberately destroyed
and thrown into her
tomb, together with
24 other similar clay
heads. H. 32cm. BP106.
Fig 4. White-ground
Attic lekythoi found
in the tomb of a
female member of
the Macedonian
royal family buried at
Aegae, c. 430–420 BC.
H. tallest 50cm.
BP 288–293.
Figs 5a, b. Oil
container (exaleiptra)
and two marble
lekythoi. Containers
such as these were
often used in funerary
rituals when the body
of the deceased was
rubbed with perfumed
oil. Usually produced
from terracotta, these
marble examples
would have been
grave goods of the
Macedonian elite,
c. 430–420 BC.
H. 18–24cm. BP 48.
Fig 6. Marble head
of a young god or
hero found, from the
Sanctuary of Eukleia in
Aegae, c. 340–330 BC.
H. 34cm. BL 1701.
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4
5a
(r. 454–413 BC) portraying a bearded
image of Heracles Patroos (ancestral
Heracles), a depiction that would
remain on Macedonian coinage until
the time of Philip II when coins were
intended for circulation throughout
the wider Greek world.
A pedigree containing the mightiest
of heroes and gods was invaluable
in a society saturated with a culture of
machismo. A Macedonian could not
recline at dinner if he had never killed
a wild boar, and a belt could only be
worn once an enemy had been killed
in battle. An entire chapter of the exhibition
catalogue is devoted to the
importance of war and hunting
within Macedonian society –
martial skill was required
of every male, from the
time of the ephebeia
(the rite of passage
to adulthood) and
throughout their
adult life (Fig 2).
M a c e d o n i a n
women, like those
elsewhere in the
Greek world, were
excluded from martial
activities and played
5b
Greek archaeology
virtually no part in public life. Notable
exceptions were, however, the religious
ceremonies – women had a prominent
role at festivals in honour of Dionysus,
or female deities such as Demeter and
her daughter Persephone. A collection
of 26 lifesize terracotta heads, discovered
in the tomb of an unknown
Macedonian queen buried about 480
BC, possibly emphasise this relationship
of royal women with the world of
gods and spirits. Originally placed on
wooden poles or statues (xoana), these
astonishingly life-like and expressive
busts were deliberately smashed and
thrown into the tomb (Figs 3a, 3b).
Olympias, the wife of Philip II and
mother of Alexander the Great, was
a devout follower of Bacchus and an
initiate into the mysteries of the Great
Gods of Samothrace, as well as serving
as a high-priestess of the enigmatic
‘agadistic’ rituals. The famous legend of
Olympias sleeping with snakes is also
given some archaeological credence
with the discovery of sanctuaries at
Aegae indicating that snakes played a
prominent role in the religious life of
the Macedonian city. Inscriptions from
the Sanctuary of Eukleia in Aegae also
provide evidence that queens such as
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