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Who Is Buried In the Largest Tomb Ever Found In Northern Greece?

Posted by samzenpus on from the is-it-grant? dept.

schwit1 writes Excitement continues to build as archaeologists dig deeper into a massive tomb discovered two years ago in northern Greece. "This past weekend the excavation team, led by Greek archaeologist Katerina Peristeri, announced the discovery of two elegant caryatids—large marble columns sculpted in the shape of women with outstretched arms—that may have been intended to bar intruders from entering the tomb's main room. "I don't know of anything quite like them," says Philip Freeman, a professor of classics at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The curly-haired caryatids are just part of the tomb's remarkable furnishings. Guarding the door as sentinels were a pair of carved stone sphinxes, mythological creatures with the body of a lion and the head of a human. And when archaeologists finally entered the antechamber, they discovered faded remnants of frescoes as well as a mosaic floor made of white marble pieces inlaid in a red background." Archaeologists believe this tomb is connected somehow to Alexander the Great and could very well be the burial site of one of his relatives or close allies.

50 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. Who is buried by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Grant?

    1. Re:Who is buried by SpzToid · · Score: 1, Informative

      No one is 'buried' in this tomb, or even Grant's tomb. A tomb by definition is an above ground structure, and to be buried one must be beneath the ground.

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
    2. Re:Who is buried by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      Came here to say this. Glad to see someone else as pedantic as I.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    3. Re:Who is buried by SpzToid · · Score: 1

      That's known as 'being underwater', and there's a lot of people walking around in that condition now.

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
    4. Re:Who is buried by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 4, Informative

      A tomb is a "structurally enclosed burial chamber". Underground burial vaults or crypts are included in that category, as well as tombs cut out in rock. Merriam-Webster even lists it as "an excavation in which a corpse is buried".

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    5. Re:Who is buried by NotDrWho · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but the word "entombed" just sounds so pretentious. It sounds like word used by that guy who hangs around the Apple Store telling everyone how he doesn't even *OWN* a TV.

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    6. Re:Who is buried by rssrss · · Score: 1

      rimshot

      --
      In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.
    7. Re:Who is buried by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What if a tomb ends up being covered by earth? Does it cease being a tomb, or instead of asking "who is buried in this tomb?" would it be more accurate to ask "who is in this buried tomb?"

    8. Re:Who is buried by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      Words often have multiple meanings you know...

      Bury: place (a dead body) in the earth, in a tomb, or in the sea, typically with funeral rites.
           

    9. Re:Who is buried by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      Thank you so much for providing that authoritative source backing up your claim.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    10. Re: Who is buried by DocSavage64109 · · Score: 1

      Only a closet homosexual would think of a response like that.
      Better?

  2. When is too soon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How long do they have to be dead before we dig them up and take their stuff?

    1. Re:When is too soon? by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny

      How long do they have to be dead before we dig them up and take their stuff?

      1 / expected value of loot to be found.

      --
      Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    2. Re:When is too soon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You just have to wait until no-one is willing to defend their grave.

    3. Re:When is too soon? by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Informative

      There's no minimum time, just how long anybody is willing to protect the sanctity of the tomb. For example, if it's a king, then his subjects are probably willing to stop and prosecute anyone who's trying to open the tomb for a few generations after, probably until the kingdom gets destroyed even. If it's you, then you get dug up about 50 years after they bury you, so somebody else gets to putrefy in your cemetery spot.

    4. Re:When is too soon? by AlecC · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The idea of regarding graves as automatically for ever is relatively recent.While the wealthy might have impressive, and supposedly permanent tombstones, in medieval times people would be buried only for a few years, and then the grave dug up, the bones transferred to an ossuary, and the grave reused for another person. hence the gravedigger scene in Hamlet - the digger is recycling Yorick's grave for another occupant. So I see no problem in digging up a grave site sufficiently old that we don't know who is buried in it. The question is, as with all archaeological digs, how much to dig up now and how much to leave for later, better equipped, archaeologists.

      --
      Consciousness is an illusion caused by an excess of self consciousness.
    5. Re:When is too soon? by TheCarp · · Score: 2

      > probably until the kingdom gets destroyed even

      Well as long as the kingdom exists, there will be a king who will want such a memorial for himself and will want to not be the one to set the precedent of allowing the king's burial chambers being desecrated. So this is to be expected, at the very least.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    6. Re:When is too soon? by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

      Or is this a Europe vs. U.S. difference? Europe being not that big and having a long history with tons of dead people all needing to be buried.

      For comparison, picture the U.S. burying all of its dead in Texas for its entire (only 250 year) history. Would we even run out of space?

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  3. Caryatide expert here by MRe_nl · · Score: 4, Funny

    Caryatide number two seems to have been hit in the face by a Rod of Smiting.

    --
    "Kill 'em all and let Root sort 'em out"
    1. Re:Caryatide expert here by invid · · Score: 4, Funny

      DM: "You walk into an underground chamber. At the other end of the chamber is a large chest with a lock. On either side of the chest is a marble pillar carved into the shape of a woman. The woman on the left has a sword and the woman on the right has a battle ax."

      Thief: "I take out my lock-pick and walk to the--"

      Magic-User: "Don't move! Those statues are going to come to life!"

      Thief: "What makes you think that? That sounds quite unlikely to me."

      Magic-User: "You're new around here, aren't you?"

      --
      The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
  4. Alexander by Black+Parrot · · Score: 1

    I recently read a hypothesis that the purported relic bones of St. Mark in the San Marco cathedral (Venice), which were smuggled out of Alexandria, are actually the bones of Alexander.

    I don't suppose they'd be eager to allow a DNA test.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Alexander by dargaud · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A DNA test would only be relevant if the remains of another member of Alexander's familly was available for comparison. Ptolemy I may have been the half-brother of Alexander so the answer could be in some of the mummies of that dynasty.

      There's actually a likely possibility that the cranium of Alexander's father, Phillip II of Macedonia, has been found some years ago in another tomb. Don't know about the state of DNA on it though.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    2. Re:Alexander by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily. If they can use DNA to prove that the remains are of St. Mark then they can't Alexander's.

  5. Why the lack of photos?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They could crowdfund this entire excavation if they would simply whet our appetites with a photo gallery or live feed of the dig. I realize digs are slow and tedious, but to see it as it unfolds would be amazing!

  6. Hoffa, it *MUST* be Jimmy Hoffa ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Dang !

    We were searching high and low in America for that fella he slipped out and went to Greece !!

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  7. Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by Max_W · · Score: 2

    The journalist was there and made only these two dark small close-up photos? And that's it?

    Was it a problem to shoot 7 - 10 HD photos from different viewpoints at this great excavation site and publish them together with the text?

    1. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by Required+Snark · · Score: 3, Informative
      The big reveal images have already been negotiated with some major media outlet. Nat Geo, NBC, CBS, ABC, or BBC, and similar outfits in other languages.

      Archeological research can get a boost from media coverage just like any other endeavor. Do you really expect that they're going to let the first bozo with a camera let all that hype potential go to waste? Expect press conferences and specials on TV. For example, this could be a great fundraiser for PBS.

      Wake up, it's the 21st century. Publicity is golden, no one in their right mind lets an opportunity like this fizzle out.

      --
      Why is Snark Required?
    2. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by alphatel · · Score: 1

      The journalist was there and made only these two dark small close-up photos? And that's it? Was it a problem to shoot 7 - 10 HD photos from different viewpoints at this great excavation site and publish them together with the text?

      The journalist was too busy breaking out the dictionary
      ... a pair of carved stone sphinxes, mythological creatures with the body of a lion and the head of a human

      --
      When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
    3. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      The big reveal images have already been negotiated with some major media outlet. Nat Geo, NBC, CBS, ABC, or BBC, and similar outfits in other languages.

      Anyone as long as it isn't the History Channel.

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      I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
    4. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by pla · · Score: 1

      The big reveal images have already been negotiated with some major media outlet.

      I have no problem with that, as long as not a single penny of public funding went into this project, nor did they find this thing on public lands.

      Oh, look: "it has been funded with 180.000 euros by the Prefecture of Central Macedonia, the Ministry of Macedonia and Thace and the Ministry of Culture". Yeah, NatGeo and NBC can fuck right off, 'kay? I might give the BBC or PBS a pass on access for doing a legitimately scholarly documentary, but not exclusive rights to the imagery.

      We all own our history. The fact that the government paid you to dig some of it up makes you a glorified landscaper, not some sort of artist with "rights" to pictures of the rocks you found.

    5. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Sneak preview of the History Channel's investigation into who's buried in this tomb!

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    6. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by Sentrion · · Score: 1

      In the US governments grant public money to be used by private companies and do allow exclusive access to critical resources. One such example is the $3 million, five-year grant to Yulex Corp. to exclusively develop rubber from the guayule plant in Arizona. Yulex holds the exclusive license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for USDA's patented guayule latex production technology. Since I'm not part of this exclusive government-business partnership I can't even buy a seed or a plant for my own independent study. So much for a free market.

    7. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by PPH · · Score: 1

      Geraldo Rivera will do the documentary.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    8. Re:Where are the HD photos of the excavation site? by rHBa · · Score: 1

      Either that or they decided this archaeological event wasn't important enough to bother with HD cameras.

  8. Not in Macedonia? by OutLawSuit · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    How are the Macedonians going to assert their cultural identity now that a significant Alexander the Great related site was found in Northern Greece and not in their country?

    1. Re:Not in Macedonia? by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      SubGenius's are not merely human. We celebrate our Yeti ancestry.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  9. Just maybe.... by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    Genghis Khan?

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  10. Balrog by Torp · · Score: 1

    Don't delve too deep.

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  11. Re:Happy anniversary by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Isengard and Mordor?

  12. They're not caryatids! by Chas · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're Weeping Angels! Don't blink!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  13. Well... by jonr · · Score: 1

    OP's mom? /sorry

  14. Kingdom of Macedonia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Technically the tomb is in Macedonia region of Greece which overlaps geographically to the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia. As a trivia side note, the so-called Republic of Macedonia (former Yugoslav) falls outside of the original kingdom (roughly maps Paeonia in antiquity).

    1. Re:Kingdom of Macedonia by gargalatas · · Score: 1

      Who cares about them?

  15. Re:Obvious answer is obvious. by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

    Well, he did do Andromeda...if that was a Hercules joke.

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  16. Re:Happy anniversary by Opyros · · Score: 1
    Orthanc and Cirith Ungol, according to Letter #143 to Rayner Unwin, 22 January 1954:

    I am not at all happy about the title 'the Two Towers'. It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading. There is, of course, actually no real connecting link between Books III and IV, when cut off and presented separately as a volume.

  17. Markakis Xuckerberapolis by goombah99 · · Score: 1

    Markakis Xuckerberapolis the founder of faceForum and the issuance of worthless shards of pottery as shares

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  18. Shergar by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

    Wonder if anyone will get this. Or how about Lord Lucan?

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  19. Follow the excavation by kzagor · · Score: 1

    in this facebook page https://www.facebook.com/amphi...

  20. Not Alex the Great by coinreturn · · Score: 1

    The tomb is for his Chief Eunich.

  21. Re:Trick Q by TemporalBeing · · Score: 1

    It's Grant.

    No, it's Q...it wasn't really a continuum after all..

    --
    Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)