Kasta tomb Amphipolis
The largest grave complex so far uncovered in Greece, the so-called Kasta grave or grave of Amphipolis ( Greek Τάφος της Αμφίπολης ), is located north of the place Nea Amfipoli .
location
Kasta Hill is located around 80 km east of Thessaloniki near the European highway E 90 . The distance to the acropolis of the ancient Amphipolis is 2.5 kilometers, the place Nea Mesolakkia is about one kilometer away.
history
Amphipolis was founded in 437 BC. Founded by the Athenian general Hagnon and was intended to serve as a base for Athens to control the nearby gold and silver mines. The city gained importance during the Peloponnesian War , among other things because of the procurement of wood for shipbuilding and income from the mines. The city surrendered in 424 BC. BC without a fight against the Spartan general Brasidas , repeated attempts by the Athenians to recapture the city failed. In 356 BC Amphipolis was conquered by Philip II of Macedonia and incorporated into the Macedonian kingdom. After the battle of Pydna (168 BC) the last Macedonian king Perseus fled to Amphipolis,
Excavation history
The existence of the tomb has been known since the 1960s. The archaeologist Dimitris Lazaridis, who led the excavations of the ancient Amphipolis until shortly before his death in 1985, discovered individual graves on the Kasta hill that date from the Iron Age and exposed parts of the surrounding wall. Further excavations revealed that parts of the hill had been artificially piled up. In 2012 the excavations were resumed under the direction of the archaeologist Katerina Peristeri. In August 2014, the results of the excavation work were presented to the public.
Who was buried in the tomb is unknown. Initial speculations that Alexander the Great found his final resting place there have not yet been confirmed. The remains of five people were found.
The tumulus
The grave complex
The grave complex on the summit of the Kasta hill is surrounded by an almost circular wall. It has a diameter of 158.4 meters and a circumference of 497 meters. The approximately three meter high wall is made of limestone clad with marble from the island of Thassos near Amphipolis (distance 60 km). The state of preservation of the wall and the cornice covering the building is partly very good. The burial mound is about 30 meters high, 250,000 m³ of sand were needed to fill it up. The grave is said to be in the late 4th century BC. BC (325-300). Parts of the wall were removed during the Roman period, individual stones may have been used in the base of the statue of the Amphipolis lion . Access to the grave is currently denied to the public (as of December 2017), the monument is closely guarded.
The grave
The tomb consists of three chambers. The ceiling is rounded (round barrel) and closed at its highest point with wedge stones. Access is via a 13-step staircase, the masonry of the entrance area is plastered. Originally, the access to the grave as well as the access from the first to the second antechamber was closed with massive stone blocks. The grave was largely filled with sand or earth.
First chamber
The separation between the stairs and the chamber is a wall with a doorway. The space between the lintel and the vaulted ceiling is open. There are two sphinxes on the lintel , the heads and wings of which were partially found in the third burial chamber. The sphinxes are around 1.40 meters high in their current state, after the restoration (with head) the height will be around 2 meters. The passage to the first antechamber is framed by two pilasters decorated with painted egg and pearl rods . The floor is covered with pieces of white marble that are embedded in red mortar.
Second chamber
The chamber is 4.5 meters wide, 3 meters long and around 6.5 meters high. It is a few centimeters higher than the first chamber and is separated from it by a threshold. The lintel leading to the passage to the second antechamber is carried by two caryatids . They each stand on a 1.40 meter high platform and are 2.27 meters high themselves. The face of the caryatid to the west of the gate is well preserved, the face of the eastern one is broken, parts of which were found in situ . The floor is completely decorated with a mosaic. It is in the colors black, white, gray, yellow, blue and red and is framed with a meander of a geometric pattern and an internal wave pattern. In the middle of the mosaic the mosaic stones (tesserae) are missing on an almost circular area with a diameter of approx. 80 cm. Some of the missing tesserae were found in the layer of earth covering the chamber; the mosaic is to be restored. The work of art depicts the rape of Persephone by Pluto . Both stand on a wagon pulled by two white horses. They are led by Hermes , who accompanies the spirits of the deceased to Hades . Persephone wears a white robe with a narrow red ribbon around her waist. Pluto is depicted with a crown and Hermes with winged sandals.
The second chamber has partly wall paintings, some figures are easy to recognize; the paintings are to be restored.
The burial chamber
The burial chamber is 4.5 by 4.5 meters and is separated from the second chamber by a double-leaf marble door, which is modeled on wooden doors. Imaginary fittings and nails can be clearly recognized. Incisions in the doors suggest that metal rings were originally attached to them. The outer dimensions of the grave are 3.23 meters in length, 1.56 meters in width, it is about one meter deep. The grave is framed and covered with massive stone slabs.
The head of one of the two sphinxes and parts of the wings were found with parts of the broken marble door in the burial chamber. The box-shaped grave lined with stone slabs is embedded in the floor paved with ashlars. According to the report of the Greek Ministry of Culture, nails from a wooden coffin and decorative elements made of bone and glass remained from the burial in the otherwise robbed grave.
The remains of five people have been found. Those who died were a 60-year-old woman, two men aged 35 to 45, a toddler and one other person who was cremated.
Scientific knowledge and interpretations
Soon after the images and some of the data were presented, they were evaluated by interested people with an academic background. To what extent the knowledge gained from this corresponds to the facts is unclear. The spectrum of observations ranges from plausible claims such as: The ratio of the caryatids to their pedestals corresponds to the golden ratio (Φ), to assumptions about who was buried on the Kasta hill, to the position of the grave in relation to the position of the sun.
Opening of the tomb to the public
In November 2017, the Greek Minister of Culture Lydia Koniordou announced that the grave should be open to the public in around three years. The costs for the necessary construction project will amount to around 2.8 million euros, 1.5 million euros will be spent by the Central Macedonia region and 1.3 million euros will be taken from the INTERREG fund of the European Union. In the course of this measure, building materials of the tomb, which were later used elsewhere by the Romans, are to be rebuilt in their original location. The work is scheduled to begin in 2018 or 2019 and will last around a year.
Web links
- Interactive model of the tomb
- Photos of the tomb and the grave
- Video of the excavation work inside the grave
- Virtual tour of the grave
Remarks
- ↑ Donald Kagan : The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War . Cornell University Press, Ithaca / New York 1969, ISBN 0-8014-9556-3 , pp. 186 f .
- ^ Thucydides , The Peloponnesian War 4,106.
- ↑ Dimitris Lazaridis, Amphipolis, Ministry of Culture, 1997, ISBN 960-214-126-3
- ↑ THE MYSTERY OF AMPHIPOLIS .
- ↑ THE KASTA TOMB . (in Greek and English)
- ↑ Sur la technè de la peinture grecque ancienne d'après les monuments funéraires de Macédoine, page 215 (in French) .
- ^ The Double Meander of the Mosaic at Kasta Hill's Tomb (in English). Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ The modular structure of the tomb at Kasta Hill (in English). Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ↑ Who was buried in the Kasta tomb near Amphopolis? (in English). Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
- ^ The astronomical orientation of the entrance of the Amphipolis tomb (in English). Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
- ↑ Sheer archaeoastronomy in the KASTAS tomb of Amphipolis (in English). Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
- ^ Greece newspaper, issue 605 from November 29, 2017, page 7.
Coordinates: 40 ° 50 ′ 22 ″ N , 23 ° 51 ′ 46 ″ E