3.2 Facial reconstruction

In 1977, the skeleton of a man aged between 35 and 55 was discovered at Vergina in Greece in what is now known as ‘Tomb I’. The grave goods showed this was a wealthy person, as they included a gilded silver diadem, a helmet, a ceremonial shield and a cuirass (a type of armour). Two small ivory portrait heads were also discovered. Could this be the grave of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great?

A team consisting of Jonathan Musgrave (anatomist), John Prag (archaeologist) and Richard Neave (medical illustrator) argued that it was. They used a literary source describing the injuries Philip sustained, including an arrow entering his right eye. A groove and a bump in the eye socket, they argued, showed that this skeleton had suffered such an injury and had subsequently healed.

Figure 8 Facial reconstruction of Philip of Macedon

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Photograph of the reconstruction of the head of a man, depicting his facial features based on those of a skull found in a tomb at Vergina, Macedonia, in northern Greece. The man is middle-aged, and has black hair and a black beard. The right side of his face is scarred and distorted by what looks like a serious injury, and the eye on that side is missing.

Figure 8 Facial reconstruction of Philip of Macedon

However, the grave goods have now been dated to around 317 BCE, a generation after Philip was assassinated in 336 BCE. The groove and bump have been reinterpreted as normal features or damage to the skull after death. Scholars now emphasise the lack of other marks on the skeleton; this is surprising when other ancient authors describe damage to Philip’s collar bone and to the upper leg, which would have left him lame.

In another tomb on the same site, however, an adult male skeleton has a lance wound on the leg, which would match an injury Philip incurred in a battle in 339 BCE. Perhaps this one is Philip, and the other skeleton is that of Philip Arrhidaeus, the successor to Alexander, who was physically or mentally disabled and never fought in battle. The cuirass looks like the one Alexander the Great wore in a famous mosaic from Pompeii: did Philip Arrhidaeus inherit some of his older half-brother’s armour?

Figure 9 Alexander the Great mosaic, Roman, circa 100 BCE, originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii

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Image of a floor mosaic depicting Alexander the Great, portrayed as a young man with dark hair. His face is shown in profile and only the upper part of his body is in view. He is wearing armour and riding into battle on a horse.

Figure 9 Alexander the Great mosaic, Roman, circa 100 BCE, originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii