杏吧原创

THE golden jewellery, found in an intact Royal Macedonian tomb in 1977, is
exquisite. It is now the prize exhibit in the archaeological museum in
Thessaloniki and the label says that it came from the tomb of Philip II,
Alexander the Great鈥檚 father.

But a Greek anthropologist has re-examined the skeleton found in the tomb and
his findings鈥攑ublished last week鈥攕how that it is not Philip II鈥檚,
but that of Alexander鈥檚 half-brother, Philip III. Although Philip III is not as
well known as his father, this doesn鈥檛 diminish the importance of the treasure.
Antonis Bartsiokas, from the Anaximandrian Institute of Human Evolution, in
Voula, says that Philip III inherited some of Alexander鈥檚 riches.

When the tomb was first opened there were two skeletons鈥攐ne a man鈥檚 and
one a woman鈥檚. An eye wound originally identified the male as Philip II. A
warlike king, he suffered several injuries in battle and a wound to his femur
left him lame. He was blinded in one eye by an arrow at the battle of Methone in
354 BC鈥�18 years before he was assassinated.

The male skeleton showed no signs of body wounds. But there was a bony bump
close to his right eye, which the original researchers took to be signs of
mending, and a groove in the skull below the eye which could have been caused by
the arrow. They also found ivory heads in the tomb, including those of Philip II
and Alexander.

But Bartsiokas says that the bump is a normal feature of the skull. And he
found no evidence of bone healing in the groove. He says that the bone probably
cracked when the body was being cremated and remained after the bones were glued
back together when the skull was restored in the 1980s. Furthermore, the ivory
head of Philip II also has a nick on the right eyebrow, presumably representing
the eye wound. But the cut runs the opposite way from the groove on the
cheekbone.

Philip III became King of Macedonia after Alexander鈥檚 death in Babylon in 323
BC. But Philip III, unlike his father and half brother, was no warrior. When he
too was assassinated in 317 BC he was initially buried like a commoner, before
being exhumed six months later and given a royal cremation.

The clinching piece of evidence is the state of the cremated bones. If bones
come from a skeleton that was cremated with flesh on them鈥攁s Philip II鈥檚
was鈥攖hey warp and have curved fractures. But bones cremated
dry鈥攚ithout flesh on them鈥攈ave small straight fractures. Bartsiokas
says the bones were cremated dry.

鈥淭his is very plausible and exciting,鈥� says Bob Arnott, a specialist in
ancient medical history at the University of Birmingham. 鈥淚 think it is a
realistic assessment,鈥� he says.