Sacred tunic belonging to Alexander the Great may have been identified
Analysis shows that clothing discovered in royal tombs of Vergina in Greece could be linked to the king rather than his father.
A Greek scholar says he has identified a sacred tunic once worn by Alexander the Great and interred in a royal tomb more than 2,000 years ago.
The Art Newspaper
December 13, 2024
© Photographs by DocWoKav
Found at Vergina, 300km north of Athens, the pieces of the tunic—known as a chiton—had been kept in an ossuary with a golden wreath and what the scholar says may be the remains of Alexander’s half-brother and successor, Philip Arrhidaeus.
The golden ossuary and its contents were discovered in Tomb II at Vergina decades ago, but the pieces of multi-layered material found within have only recently been examined using scientific methods, including chemical and microscopic analyses.
The scholar’s interpretation of the results challenge the widely accepted premise that Tomb II contains the remains of Alexander’s father, Philip II.
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