The discovery of the 4th century BC tomb of King Philip, the King of Macedonia and father of Alexander the Great, was brought to light in a series of remarkable archaeological excavations in the 1970s, transforming our understanding of ancient Macedonian history. The discovery of the tomb represents one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the history of the world. It was November 8, 1977 when archaeologist’s Manolis Andronikos exhausting excavations, finally paid off.
60,000 cubic meters of soil were meticulously excavated from the earthen hill, known as the “Great Tumulus,” which stands 100 meters high and 12 meters wide, to uncover the tomb’s façade. Of the 51 tombs discovered in what was once the heartland of ancient Macedon, 50 had already been looted in antiquity. However, on that day—after a century of fruitless excavations—the lost city of ancient Aegae was finally and definitively identified.
