Our travels today took us away from Thessaloniki through Pella, which is the remains of the birthplace of Alexander the Great, which sounds much better than Alexander the Third. Pella was a planned city, with a layout which takes account of the rainfall and all the things which flow downhill. Amazing - they did better than Sydney which, though built over two millenia later is not planned half so well. Interestingly, Pella has the best houses at the top with the view and the rest lower down in the social order as you descend the hill. Gives a new meaning to "upper" class!
Vergina was our next stop, with the Royal Tomb of (maybe) Philip II, Alexander's father. The tomb had a suit of his armour, which showed that he seemed to have uneven leg length and wasn't very tall. The armour would have fitted me very well, making Philip about 165cm! There was also a woman buried with him, who got to keep all her amazing jewellery and dresses with her in the tomb. The dresses have rotted away, but there is so much gold thread in some parts of her clothing that the dress can be almost entirely reconstructed!
Both of them had golden crowns made to look like oak leaves wound into wreaths (I think it might have been oak, but I'm no botanist) anyway whatever it was, it was perfectly represented so that those who are botanists would have known exactly what it was. Each crown consisted of over one hundred leaves, plus acorns (seeds) and a forehead wire to support it all. Apparently all made of 24 carat gold, and if so, one huge headache to wear! The size and elaborate decoration of the crown apparently correlated with the social standing of the wearer, so Philip had the best of the best!
Tomorrow, on to Olympia!
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