Eurydice I of Macedon - Archaeological Findings

Archaeological Findings

Eurydice’s portrait-statue, together with those of her most celebrated son Philip II, Philip II's wife, Olympias, her grandson, Alexander the Great, and her husband, Amyntas III, were realized by the Athenian statuary and sculptor Leochares in ivory and gold. They were placed in the Philippeion, a circular building in the Altis at Olympia, erected by Philip II of Macedon in celebration of his victory at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BC).

Eurydice’s tomb was found and identified by the Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos in 1987 in Vergina (ancient Aigai), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with other royal Macedonian tombs. In the summer of 2001, between August 13 and September 9 the tomb of Eurydice was robbed and seven marble figurines had been taken. Eurydice’s tomb had faced robbery and was partially plundered since antiquity, probably soon after queen’s burial, but the looters had probably failed in their mission, as evidenced by two skeletons found there. An inscribed pot fragment, dating 344/3 BC was found inside the tomb, whereas two inscriptions, one of which dated in 340 BC, have been found in Vergina of Eurydika daughter of Sirras to goddess Eukleia.