Cult of beauty - Minerva

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Eurydice I, wife of king Amyntas III (r.
393–470 BC), made public dedications
to the gods (Fig 6).
Situated far to the north of the rest of
the Greek world, Macedonia remained
a traditional kingdom and did not participate
in the great social, political
and artistic upheaveals that affected
many of the more southerly states during
the Archaic and Classical periods.
Macedonian culture instead tended to
reflect the principles of the Bronze Age
preserved in Homeric poetry. The most
obvious manifestation of this was in
the political institutions of Macedon;
while states such as Athens experimented
with democracy, Macedonians
stuck firmly to their system of
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monarchy. Even after the
passing of the Temenids,
the institution would persist
until 167 BC, when the position
of Macedonian king was finally
dissolved by the Romans.
The practice of polygamy also survived
in Macedonia when it had
become rare elsewhere in Greece.
Although designed to increase the
chances of producing a male heir, the
presence of multiple wives generated
incessant matrimonial intrigue in the
Temenid court, and succession struggles
were frequent. On the death of
Alexander I (r. 498–454 BC) the kingdom
was riven by succession struggles,
and the same happened at the start of
the 4 th century following the murder of
Archelos I (r. 413–399 BC). The assassination
of Philip II in 336 BC has also
frequently been attributed to a plot
hatched by one or other of his seven
wives.
Macedonian funerary traditions
also followed Bronze Age
Fig 7. Silver jug
(oinochoe), one of
two found among the
banquet vessels in
the tomb of Philip II.
The head of a satyr
provides decoration
for the base of the
handle, 336 BC.
H. 24.4cm. BM2442.3.4
cm. BM 2018-2019.
Fig 8. Gold Medusa,
one of a pair from the
tomb of Philip II and
originally attached
to the linen cuirass
of the king. Medusa
heads were popular
evil-averting devices
in antiquity. Deposited
in 336 BC. H. 3.6cm.
BM 2630.
Fig 9. Gold myrtle
wreath of the young
queen (Meda?)
interred in the
antechamber of the
tomb of Philip II, 336
BC. Diam. 26cm.
BM 2633.
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precedents. Although the most common
burial practice at Aegae was
that of inhumation, the emergence
of the Temenid dynasty saw cremation
adopted as the favoured funerary
practice for Macedonian royalty
and was even confined to the king and
his male relations. According to Dr
Angeliki Kottaridi (Director of excavations
and of the Museum of the Royal
Tombs at Aegae) cremation reflects not
only the continuation of heroic burial
as described in Homeric literature,
but also the Temenids mythological
relationship with Heracles, who committed
self-immolation in order that
he might ascend to join the gods on
Olympus. By the later 4 th century BC,
however, cremation had percolated
down the levels of Macedonian society,
eventually becoming the dominant
practice in the years following the
death of Alexander the Great.
The burial ground of the Macedonian
kings, the necropolis of Aegae, was
located to the north of the city and
spread over two square kilometres.
The site was used from about 1100
BC through until the Roman period
and the coming of Christianity. The
tombs are covered by earthen mounds
(tumuli) and their boundaries outlined
by circular stone enclosures (periboloi).
The size of these burial mounds
varies according to the social status of
the deceased. More than 2500 burials
have been investigated at the necropolis,
although most were looted in antiquity
and the pock-marked nature of
the site bears witness to the activities
of the Gallic mercenaries of Pyrrhos
who, according to the writer Plutarch
(c. AD 46–120), carried out extensive
looting of the site in 276 BC (Pyrrhos
26.11–13).
Despite the pillaging of the necropolis,
there have been hugely important
finds unearthed from the tombs of
Aegae, and many of the excavated artefacts
are on display in the exhibition.
In October 1977 Manolis Andronikos
discovered the royal tombs at the
necropolis within which many of the
most spectacular archaeological treasures
have been found. Three distinct
clusters of royal tombs have been identified.
The largest and earliest of these
is a group of 12 tombs, dating from
c. 570 until the end of the 4 th century
BC, that housed the majority of the
Temenid kings. A second cluster of
nine tombs, located near the northwest
gate of the ancient city, belonged
to the Macedonian queens (Fig 4),
among which was discovered the
intact grave of the so-called ‘Lady of
Aegae’. Excavated in 1988, the remains
in the tomb probably belonged to an
Minerva May/June 2011