Vergina

Friday, May 10

We spent the day in Macedonia, not to be confused with its neighbor to the north, until last month known as the FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  A decades-long dispute over nomenclature has been officially resolved, so that Greece retains the name Macedonia for its region and the FYROM, which really liked calling itself Macedonia, is now officially North Macedonia.  In any case, there we were in what the Greeks claim as Ancient Macedonia, with no hint of the 21^st-century political machinations that all this entailed.  

We were in Vergina, known as Aigia, when it was the first capital of the Kingdom of Macedonia.  Philip II –king, warrior, diplomat, and unifier of his people – was buried here, after being assassinated in a theater nearby (shades of Abraham Lincoln??), while attending festivities associated with the marriage of his daughter in 336 BC.  His son, Alexander the Great, built for his father an afterlife abode fit for the revered leader he was; that tomb, along with the museum displaying its riches, is what we came to see.

And what a “WOW!” it was!  Buried in a huge tumulus (earthen mound that just looks like a hill now), the tomb (and four others) was hidden until 1997!  Evidence indicates that “decoy” tomb markers and other artifacts were buried near the royal tombs as red herrings for looters and tomb raiders.  For whatever reason, the tombs and their treasure lay undisturbed for more than 2000 years. 

The extraordinary museum is actually within the tumulus, and ramps lead down to the original tombs, even further within.  The exhibition space is dimly lit, with excellent explanations of the tombs’ contents, their placement within the chambers of the tombs, the rituals surrounding burials and beliefs about the afterlife.  Solid gold ossuaries, the remains of ornately decorated ivory and ebony couches, the most delicately crafted and elaborate gold crowns, silver dining and serving vessels whose solidity and heft were obvious, gold-trimmed armor, armaments and weaponry, bronze containers, jewelry, bones, burnt food items and so much more – in short, everything that was of value to the king on earth and that might be important in the afterlife was buried with him – including his young wife!!  We were bowled over by what we saw, and also struck by the idea that here was the solution to the downsizing problem of what to do with all our “stuff” – just dig a big enough hole!  

 Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in the tombs or museum, but you do an online image search for Vergina tombs, you can get a sense of what we were able to see today.

A short distance from the museum, we visited the ongoing excavation and restoration of Philip II’s palace, actually a public space, not simply a royal residence.  This was the largest building in classical Greece, three times the size of the Parthenon!  We could see some stones in situ, “catalogued” excavated stones and pillars, rebuilt stone blocks, mosaic floors, the outline of the original massive building, and many years of painstaking work ahead. 

As we were leaving, we stopped to chat with one of the workers on site, who thought it might take ten years more before the restoration is complete, but noted that he’d heard we had a Parthenon in the United States.  We assumed that he was referring to the one in Nashville, and indicated that, as lovely as it is, it’s not the real deal.  We also advised him that, once the work on this building was complete, there would be lines of tour buses bringing visitors to the site; today, we were the only ones there.  Adjacent to the Palace, we could see the outlines of the still-buried theater, along with other ongoing archeological work.

Though our chief reason for staying in Kalambaka is to see the rock formations and hilltop monasteries in Meteora, we chose to go farther afield today, as the forecast called for clouds.  When we returned to Kalambaka, we did take a preliminary drive on the road that climbs the rocks and encircles the monasteries.  There was a late afternoon mix of sun and brief showers, but the views were still incredible.  We look forward to tomorrow’s closer look.

One thing we’ve noticed throughout our road travels in Greece has been the prevalence of roadside shrines.  Some are quite elaborate, taking the form of model Orthodox churches, others seem to be little more than large rusting tin lanterns, topped with a cross.  We’ve learned that, if the shrines contain icons, they’ve been constructed in thanksgiving for survival after an accident; shrines with photos of people displayed memorials to loved ones who did not survive.  In any case, they’ve been an almost constant presence on the roads here – except for the new (and very lightly traveled) freeways. 

Back in Kalambaka, we again enjoyed our patio views of the surrounding rocks.  Last night, we discovered that they’re lit up after dark, so Tom has his tripod out this evening.