Vergina Tomb Mystery Deepens

[Sweetmemory41]

https://archaeologymag.com/2025/05/verg ... philip-ii/

[Alexias]

That is extremely interesting, thank you. So Tomb I, currently widely thought to be Philip Arrhidaeus and Adea-Eurydike's tomb, pre-dates them by at least 40 years, and the infant burials in the tomb are Roman-era intrusions. The dating of the remains (388-356 BC at the latest), also excludes Philip and Cleopatra as the intended occupants, as do the ages, the man being aged 25-35.

So we are looking at the generation before Philip became king. The age of the man rules out his father, and the fact that the man did not grow up around Pella, tends to rule out his brothers. So could we be looking at Ptolemy of Alorus? Also, the Persephone mural has been proposed as indicating that the principal occupant of the tomb was the woman (only 4 bones survived), so could she be Philip's sister Eurynoe?

[Efstathios]

But most importantly, where is Philip's II tomb? Was he initially buried there and then moved? Could he be in Amphipolis?

[Alexias]

Hi, welcome back!

A professor at the university of Thrace who believes Philip II to be buried in Tomb I is planning a response to this paper https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment ... f333&ei=35.

[Jeanne Reames]

So Tomb I, currently widely thought to be Philip Arrhidaeus and Adea-Eurydike's tomb,

A minor correction...I don't know many people at all who thing Tomb *I* is theirs. Tomb II, yes, and quite a few. But not Tomb I. It's pretty well accepted as too early to be theirs, although this new data would move it's date back even further.

Occupants most commonly presented for Tomb I are Amyntas III & unknown wife and infant, Philip II & Eurydike (and infant), Nikesepolis and unknown infant + random tomb robber, some other royal woman + unknown tomb robber. But with the new dating, that would throw it to at least a generation before Philip, but it's probably still not Amyntas, as the age for the male is wrong. Can't be Perdikkas III or Alexander II either, as they seem to have been raised in Macedonia. But we by NO means have a complete list of Argeads, so it might have been one in exile.