Made from irregular pieces of white marble inlaid on a red background, the mosaics add to previous discoveries made by Katerina Peristeri, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, and her team.
The findings include beams decorated with embossed rosettes, a pebbled floor decorated with black and white, diamond-shaped pieces, and a couple of headless and wingless seated sphinxes.
Standing nearly 5 feet high and weighting about 1.5 tons each, the sphinxes guarded the tomb entrance. An impressive 16-foot-tall marble lion statue, currently standing on a nearby road, originally topped the mound.
According to Greek media, the next couple of weeks will be crucial -– excavation might finally reveal who is buried in the unique mound.
Dating between 325 B.C. — two years after the death of warrior king Alexander the Great — and 300 B.C., the tomb lies in the ancient city of Amphipolis, in Greece’s northeastern Macedonia region about 65 miles from the country’s second-biggest city, Thessaloniki.
At 1,600 feet wide, the mound is the largest tomb of its kind ever discovered in Greece.
Wild speculation — that the body of Alexander the Great lies in the mound — continues in Greek media. It’s a claim, or hope, that archaeologists and historians strongly dismiss.
History has it that after Alexander died in Babylon, now in central Iraq, in 323 B.C., his body, en route to Macedon, was hijacked by Ptolemy and taken to Egypt. The sarcophagus of the warrior king was then moved from Memphis to Alexandria, the capital of his kingdom, and there it remained until Late Antiquity.
By the fourth century A.D., the tomb’s location was no longer known.
But scholarly skepticism doesn’t seem to affect Greek hopes for an extraordinary find that might boost the country’s shrinking economy.
“Alexander is helping Greece after 2,400 years,” the Amfipoli News site wrote.
Indeed, a strong investor interest is reported for land in the nearby small Mesolakia village, whose future could dramatically change.
“Residents with land in the area are calculating the expropriation compensations they will receive, while others plan to start new businesses, opening cafes, t-shirt and souvenir shops,” the Greek Reporter wrote.
While proposals are being made to include Amphipolis in ship cruise routes, tourist agencies have already started tours and daily trip to the site, with coaches leaving from Thessaloniki.
Although tourists are only able to see the massive mound from the outer fence, they can visit other parts of the archaeological site and a museum that chronicles the history of the site from prehistoric times down to the Byzantine period.
The city, an Athenian colony, was conquered by Philip II of Macedon, Alexander’s father, in 357 B.C.
Prominent generals and admirals of Alexander had links with Amphipolis. It’s here that Alexander’s wife Roxana and his son Alexander IV were killed in 311 B.C. on the orders of his successor, King Cassander.
According to the Greek Reporter, Amphipolis has now become “archaeological Disneyland,” the tomb discovery treated with much fanfare and well orchestrated announcements.
Read more at Discovery News
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