The news that a team of archaeologists, led by Antonio Barziokas, professor emeritus at the Democritus University of Thrace, has reportedly identified the sanctuary tunic of of Alexander the Great has been making the rounds on the internet for the last few hours.

According to the report published in the Journal of Field Archeology it is a piece of purple cloth that was found in one of the royal tombs in Vergina, inside a golden ossuary in Tomb II, along with the remains of a man and a golden wreath.

THE woven purple tunic with the white hem it was known as the sarapis, the garment of the Persian kings, which was also adopted by the great conqueror Alexander the Great.

Professor Bartzokas’ team made extensive analyzes of the piece of fabric.

From them it emerged that the fabric is made of cotton, a rare material for the time, and was dyed royal purple.

Also, between the layers of fabric, it was found Huditea shiny, white mineral used in ancient Persia.

In addition, the discovery of the sleeve in Tomb II of Vergina is associated with the depictions on the tombstonewhere in a hunting scene, one of the hunters wears a purple tunic with white stripes, similar to the description of the sarapida in historical sources (center photo).

These results strengthen the belief that the piece of fabric found at Vergina belongs to a royal garment of Eastern origin, probably brought back to Vergina by Alexander the Great.

This is a discovery with great implications, as it indicates that many of the objects found in Tomb II actually belonged to Alexander the Great and not to King Philip of Macedonia, as was believed.

The tomb in Tomb II was originally thought to belong to Philip II, Alexander’s father, but new discoveries, including textiles and frescoes, suggest it may have belonged to Philip III Arridaeus, Alexander’s half-brother, according to AllThatsInteresting.