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Giant Greek Tomb Discovered
schwit1 writes Archaeologists have uncovered the largest tomb ever discovered in Greece and think it is linked to the reign of Alexander the Great. "The tomb, dating to around 300 BC, may have held the body of one of Alexander's generals or a member of his family. It was found beneath a huge burial mound near the ancient site of Amphipolis in northern Greece. Antonis Samaras, Greece's prime minister, visited the dig on Tuesday and described the discovery as 'clearly extremely significant'. A broad, five-yard wide road led up to the tomb, the entrance of which was flanked by two carved sphinxes. It was encircled by a 500 yard long marble outer wall. Experts believe a 16ft tall lion sculpture previously discovered nearby once stood on top of the tomb."
Sort of
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
"Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
Since Roxana (Alexanders wife) and his son Alexander IV were killed in Amphipolis by one of the Diadochen it could be either one of them or the Diadochen (Cassandos) who was buried in that tomb. Btw the excavation is running now for more than one year - hardly news except that Samaras went there for a visit and archeologist plan to enter within the next few months...
One of the problems with the historical sites in Greece is so many of the large ones have been stolen from over the centuries. Want to see the full Parthenon? Better book a trip to the Vatican, Louvre in Paris and the British Museum what's still left for public viewing. Various conquers and rulers have been selling off bits and pieces of greek history for as long as Europeans have been collecting art.
Here is a better article with actual pictures
A plethora.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
There's another article here, which contains this quote from the prime minister:
This is a monument with unique features: A surrounding peribolos of 497 meters, almost a perfect circle carved in Thassos marble. The Lion of Amphipolis is 5.20 meters high; let’s imagine it as being on the top of the tomb
That article also shows a picture with a partial glimpse of the entrance. This article from the same site has a picture of the lion, and the video down below is basically a slideshow of pictures of the tomb site. There's another article here with another exterior picture. The site of ancient Amphipolis is here, on the land surrounded by the river (you can zoom in and see the ruins of the acropolis). Based on the pictures in the articles, it looks like the tomb itself is just northeast of the site, here.
I'm not an archaeologist, I just play one on the internet.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
Both the wall and the road (and the entrance) were buried as well.
They did know that something was there: it was obvious that this was a man-made hill. They didn't know how significant it was, and so it wasn't until now that they put together the funding and manpower to go look.