From Philip’s palace to the 540 tombs of the royal necropolis, with the famous tomb of Philip, that of Thessaloniki and the cluster of the Temenids, the tour made by Angeliki Kottaridislast night at Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki It was one diving into the history of Macedoniain march of Philip and Alexander the Great.

Speaking from the heart, in front of a large audience that flooded the event hall and a large number watched just listening from outside, Angeliki Kottaridis, who recently retired from the Archaeological Service, gave a lecture entitled “From Vergina to Aiges. Thirty years on the road” – in reality, however, he dug, studied and highlighted antiquities in Aiges for 46 years.

Insisting that we should say Aiges and not Vergina, as Vergina is the refugee village founded in 1924, Ms. Kottaridis began the journey through history from the beginning of the 20th century when the first excavations began. And she arrived at Philip’s palace, a great project that had recently been inaugurated and was a life’s work for her.

“The Goats were heard in Borneo and if for the Guardian a relevant report was perhaps expected, the Times of Borneo writing, a country that when I hear it brings to mind many little monkeys living in trees, this seems mythical to me“, said Mrs. Kottaridis.

The land of the Goats is defined by the Aliakmonas which in ancient times was navigable and through it the Macedonians brought down the black pine from the mountains and sold it in plaves – the legendary ships of Macedonia. Water is a dominant element in the area, as is… peach and Ms. Kottarides recalled that Alexander the Great brought various gifts from Asia Minor and one of them was the peach. And as is known in Imathia, the peach thrives.

Taking a look back at the excavations already from the time of Chr. Macaroni and Man’s. Andronikou, Mrs. Kottarides presented a series of facts to prove that the royal tomb is that of Philipbut could not leave Eleni Glykatzi-Arveler’s new statement unansweredwhich came back a few weeks ago formulating the opinion that the tomb is that of Alexander the Great.

“Alexander is in direct contact with the tombs of the Goats, he is the one who touched his father’s urn. If the tomb of Alexander were in Egypt it would be a sad ruin, we will not find anything more alive than Alexander anywhere. And Alexander is not buried in Aiges, don’t tell stories for children“, he said, leaving an edge, but did not give more dimension.

Answering a related question at the end of the lecture, he repeated that “Alexander the Great is buried in Alexandria, 25 ancient authors say so”, adding that his tomb is somewhere near the Ptolemaic complex.

Mrs. Kottaridis particularly focused on her two visions, the Multicenter Museum of Goats and restored Philip’s palace. For the first, he said that one of his most interesting elements is the excavation as an exhibit, but also the creation of the Alexander the Great Digital Museum. The Multi-Center Museum of Goats will have 7 sections in full development and 5 are already operational, in which the public was guided through many photographs.

With particular fervor he spoke about the “Parthenon of Macedonia”, as Professor Wolfram Hefner called the palace of Philip II, the restoration and maintenance of which cost over €20,000,000 and is now open to the public. Long-term research dates it precisely to the middle of the 4th BC. century.

“The palace of Philip II is the mother of all public buildings. The “kingdom foundation” of the Goats is the largest building of classical Greecewas designed in such a way as to harmonize the Agora, the meeting place of the citizens of the Metropolis of Macedonians, with the royal presence and authority, it is also a court, men’s court, a place of gathering and philosophical or other discussions”, said Mrs. Kottaridis stating now certain that the architect of the palace is Pytheaswhile revealed that a big movie is in the works about the history of the palace and its restoration.

The importance of the palace is confirmed by the fact that there in the autumn of 336 BC, it was proclaimed Alexander, king of the Macedonians and the great march that transformed the world at that time into Ecumenism began. The palace of the Goats, an absolutely innovative building for its time, became a model and an archetype, experienced thousands of iterations, defining, for many centuries, the image of public architecture, in the East and the West.

The course of the excavations from Eze to Andronikos

Ms. Kottaridis’s immersion in the history of the long-term excavations at the archaeological site of Aige began from French archaeologist Leon Hezet (Leon Heuzey), who was in the area in 1861 and said “here is Pompeii of Macedonia“, as he knew from then on that there was something important there, after all, the inhabitants of the area said so in those years.

The big revelation, however, happened on November 1977 when Manolis Andronikos brought to light one of the most important archaeological monuments for MacedoniaGreece and the whole world, the Macedonian tomb with the all-gold urn and the bones of Philip II, father of the Macedonian soldier.

According to Mrs. Kottaridis “Andronikos believed that he would find Antigonus Gonatas and not Philip of Macedonia”.

He also mentioned the contribution of the former Ministers of Culture Thanos Mikroutsikos and Evangelos Venizelos, thanks to whom all the finds of Aiges that had been transferred for preservation to the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and remained there for years, in the 1990s returned to where they belong, in Aiges.

“One of the happiest days of my life was in 1997 when the urns were returned to the royal tombs, and we now see what an impressive place Aiges is. A place that brings us into contact with the most important named heroes of Greek history, Philip II, Alexander the Great, and Alexander the Great’s son, Alexander the Great.

Mrs. Kottaridis’ speech was part of the cycle of scientific lectures “Wednesdays at the Museum – Archaeological Lectures”, organized by the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, in collaboration with the Association of Friends of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

In the greeting of director of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Anastasia Gadoloustated that, in addition to being a great archaeologist, Angeliki Kottaridis is also a scientist who is interested in the protection and socialization of monuments.