The Sphinxes Guarding the Lion Tomb Entrance at Amphipolis

[Taphoi]

Thanks for posting those; but one, probably stupid , question,; just where is the geison on the Kasta monument? As far as I can tell it ought to be a gutter around a temple roof (yes, wiki based on Robertson, D. S. 1943. Handbook of Greek and Roman Architecture 2nd Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press); looking at the photos of the peribolos the top edge does not look like the Millar's drawing, but that might be my tired old eyes.

It's the geison soffit moulding profile around the underside interior corner of the overhang of the crowning blocks from the peribolos wall. I have indicated it with an arrow on the Millers' reconstruction of the peribolos wall below. Shoe draws the profiles with the stone on the right and the air on the left (admittedly slightly counterintuitive.)
Best wishes,
Andrew

Geison soffit moulding location

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[Efstathios]

I think this was one of the arguments prof. Mavroyiannis used in the part of the video that i tried to translate some pages back, along with the pebble mosaic, and some other things. It seems that most of the findings point to the last quarter of the 4th century, and maybe closer to the beginning of the quarter. The Kores crowning a statue with the wreath point to both a very important, possibly royal burial and also the use of the place as a heroon. This doesn't follow the Macedonian tradition of the royal burials at Aigai, and shows that Amphipolis may have had a bigger significance as a city than what's recorded in history.

[agesilaos]

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The trouble is that this is the peribolos in situ and it is not like Millar's reconstruction, it is clearly square cut with faux tiles.

[Efstathios]

What do you mean faux tiles? They are individual blocks of marble with tiles sculpted on them as in Andrew's picture.

[agesilaos]

Yes, 'faux ' means 'false', or imitation, which is what the sculpted tiles are, they are not real tiles; it is presumptious enough to expect you to understand English, I should not have pushed things to French! Apologies; but it is more the section that matters, and as can be seen in the actual peribolos it is nothing like that of the Millars' reconstruction, (they only had separate blocks, we have the real thing).

Also, whilst I accept that geison profiles figure in chronological discussions, the 3rd century examples 37 and 40 and the 2nd 3, 4, 13, and 22 all look similar enough; not only that but if one has 75 examples, all different in one century this is a rather blunt dating tool. Consider too how they were produced, alot will be down to the skill of the individual mason and the finish required by the client, I just do not see much evidence of a consistent style for defined eras. The C14 ought to sort things out somewhat better, though if the range is 350-250 BC it might not!

I expect the evidence is somewhat contradictory, the skeletons being later intrusions for instance. One must beware of 'confirmation bias' here if four pieces of evidence might belong to the late fourth century, that is not additional evidence if they could also belong to the third or second. As yet nothing is conclusive, either way archaeologically; historically a late fourth century context, with any degree of likelihood, seems stretched at the very least, no matter how much an Alexander connection is deemed desirable. We will just have to wait

[Taphoi]

The detailed moulding is there. It is just difficult to see because of the shadow and the awkward perspective. Here is an enhanced version of your photo in which (still unclear) evidence of the moulding is discernible and the Millers' complete edge profile (below) also obviously precisely fits all the detailing of these blocks. There are at least half a dozen really close matches to the geison soffits from the late 4th century and no close matches from the succeeding centuries. This is as clear a result as you are ever likely to see for archaeological dating.
Best wishes,
Andrew

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[agesilaos]

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This is about an inch square (25 mm by 25mm), chiselled by hand, not machine cut or moulded; I agree, however it is about as good as it gets I 'll wait for something more concrete!

edited to add metric equivalent

[Efstathios]

You can include french too it's ok, since i am currently studying translation, and part of this is searching and researching everything that is new to me. Architecture has a lot of terminology, but that's the challenge! I knew what faux tiles means, however i didn't exactly understand your question and didn't phrase mine well. The blocks have chiseled tiles on them, however they do not seem to be square cut. If i understand correctly you meant that the big blocks are cut in a square shape? I see them as rectangular. I agree though that we cannot see the angle in the crowning from these photos. The only hard evidence is going to be carbon dating. And i assume that it must have been done months ago.

[Xenophon]

On a note of caution, there can be many problems with carbon dating too.........one would not choose to rely on carbon dating alone.

[agesilaos]

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This is what I meant,Stathi,; this is the cross-section I see in the, admittedly not very good, photo. Millar was making a reconstruction from loose blocks which certainly had his profile, but it does not seem to be on the actual monument, maybe there are some better photographs out there, it is something of an incidental detail, however, to the press.

C14 is certainly not going to pin things down much beyond a fifty year range and will probably be released as a century or more range, it will be able to tell if any material, like the skeletons are contemporary with the remains of the casket, however, assuming they would be much later intrusions, ie Roman or later. It might make them contemporary, that would be interesting

[gepd]

Since there is a bit of slience lately regarding Amphipolis, I thought it may be interesting to bring to your attention a monument that has the closest resemblance to the Kastas monument. It is located at Archontiko, near Pella, and its termed as a "heroon". Some basic facts:

a) It is a tumulus with a round wall (peribolos) that has a perimeter of 158.5 meters. The diameter (not perimeter) of Kastas is 158.4 meters
b) The peribolos is decorated with shields. Shields have been found in the scattered peribolos piecies of Kastas, near the lion, although they are currently attributed to the lion's base.
c) In the east side they found a dromos that leads to a double chambered macedonian tomb. The dromos for the entrance to the tomb had a downhill slope - according to the excavators that was rather unusual and at the time of discovery only a tomb at Pydna is referred as having similar characteristics.
d) This tomb/heroon was never completed, despite the effort and money spent for it. According to the excavators construction was probably interrupted due to the unstable situation in the region during the early period of the Antigonid dynasty - Pyrrhus/Gauls may have had some influence on that.
e) The partial completion of the tomb and tumulus allows researchers to understand the construction process of such large scale monuments. I assume that may be useful for studying the Kastas tumulus.
f) Based on ceramics, the construction is dated in the reign of Antigonus Gonatas or slightly earlier.
g) For static and/or financial reasons, the heroon was built - in part - on the site of a natural hill. The tumulus was not fully artificial, same as at Kastas.
h) The measurement unit (emvates?) for the heroon was determined to be 0.328 meters. Published studies of the Kastas blocks near the current location of the Amphipolis lion give a similar result. Bakalakes (1932) gives also 0.328 meters, Miller gives 0.325 meters with some margin that allows agreement of all measurements. The excavators of the heroon state that this value corresponds to a doric foot.
i) The shields of the heroon have a diameter of 0.62 meters, the excavators state that is typical for the shields of phalagites. They think, based on that, that the tomb may have been intended for a commander of such a unit.
j) No marble was used, only limestone.

I assume that if Gonatas did not bother to complete this monument after he kicked out Pyrrhus and the Gauls, he would have never bothered to construct and complete a much more expensive and grand monument at Kastas, so maybe its logical to assume that the Kastas tomb predates that heroon. The heroon construction may have been influenced by the Kastas monument.

One may find the presentation of the results from the proceedings of the yearly Archaeological excavations in Macedonia and Thrace meeting, taking place since 1987. The proceedings are freely available, except those of the latest years. They are, of course, in Greek, abstracts may be found in English. They are many interesting things to read in there.

http://aemth.gr/el/praktika

Initial results about the heroon are in the 1st proceedings series (1987), some photos from the article are attached below.

Another photo is here: http://www.pella-museum.gr/informations ... iko/heroon

Hope you find it interesting.

[agesilaos]

Very interesting, Gepd, would have to dispute your logic though, surely it would be more likely that a monument started in times of trouble would be abandoned for a larger more prestigious one, once peace and stability gave sufficient wealth. This may be a model for the idea of the Kastas tomb, its ancestor, rather than its degenerate offspring. The actual dating evidence might help sort things out, we wait on.

Gianitsa rings a bell, I stayed there in !989 and asked about the circular Macedonian tomb but no one knew anything about it, earlier in the day I remember Nea Pella was shut! Still, the ouzo and loukanikes were lovely.

[gepd]

I agree Agesilaos - there is too much personal perspective in my argument. More solid evidence is needed.

[agesilaos]

We all have our theories, and there is nothing wrong in supporting them, obviously I prefer an Antigonid date for Kastas so if Arkontiko was an ancestor, that suits me, but if you want to see it as a copy in miniature for a lesser noble, that too is valid: like you say until there is better evidence (or, indeed, any evidence) from Kastas we all stuck with the balance of probability.

[amyntoros]

Unsettling news from the Greek Reporter on May 4th:

The Amphipolis tomb excavation site is in danger of being buried under the sand due to neglect and weather conditions, said Greek Deputy Minister of Culture Nikos Xydakis.

The Amphipolis tomb discovery was one of the ten most important findings in the world in 2014. Now, the burial monument is at risk of being buried again, but this time to the knowledge of archaeologists.

The major archaeological discovery in northern Greece cannot be opened for visitors at the moment as heavy rains have created stagnant ponds and forced mounts of dirt to cover most of the site. When water dries, the ground will be even more unstable. Water needs to be drained and a drainage system must be put in place.

“The surrounding wall with wonderful marbles from Thasos needs drainage works urgently,” Xydakis said. Drainage works must be completed before autumn, when bad weather starts again.

An emergency meeting took place between the excavation crew and culture ministry officials. A new geostationary study needs to be conducted in order to decide what precautionary measures to take to save the site.

However, financial reasons do not allow the study to be done. And the geostationary study is essential before further, specific studies of stones, mortars, support methods and so on. Restoration of the monument at the moment is very difficult due to lack of funds for all the studies needed.

Certain restoration procedures have taken place already, but further restoration studies and works need the approval of the Central Archaeological Council, other than the necessary funding.

Best regards,