Samothrace Temple Complex - A Macedonian National Sanctuary

A Macedonian National Sanctuary

« And we are told that Philip, after being initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace at the same time with Olympias, he himself being still a youth and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and betrothed himself to her at once with the consent of her brother, Arymbas. »
(Plutarch, Life of Alexander, II, 2)

According to Plutarch, this is how Macedonian king Phillip II met his future spouse Olympias, the Epirote princess of the Aeacid dynasty, during their initiation to the mysteries of Samothrace. This historical anecdote defines the Argead dynasty's allegiance to the sanctuary, followed by the two dynasties of the Diadochi; the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Antigonid dynasty who continually attempted to outdo one another in the 3rd century BC, during their alternating periods of domination over the island and more generally the Northern Aegean.

The first sovereign of whom epigraphic traces remain was the son of Philip II and half-brother of Alexander, Philip III of Macedon, who would be the principal benefactor of the Sanctuary during the 4th century BC: he probably commissioned the Temenos by 340 BC, the Main Altar in the next decade, the Hiéron by 325 BC, as well as the Doric monument and the border of the eastern circular area; these dedicated in his name as well as that of his nephew Alexander IV of Macedon, who jointly ruled from 323 BC to 317 BC.

The second surge of major construction commence started in the 280's with the Arsinoe II Rotunda, which may date from the period (288 BC–281 BC) when this daughter of Ptolemy I was married to the Diadochi Lysimachus, then king of Macedon. Widowed after his death in battle in 281 BC, she married her half-brother, Ptolemy Keraunos and later her brother Ptolemy II in 274 BC. Of the monumental dedication which surmounted the door, only a single block remains, and it is thus not possible to determine the complete inscription. Ptolemy II himself had the Propylaeum built across the entrance to the sanctuary: the powerful Ptolemaic fleet which allowed him to dominate the bulk of the Aegean up to the Thracian coast, and the construction at Samothrace bear witness to his influence.

The re-establishment of the Antigonid dynasty on the Macedonian throne with Antigonus II Gonatas, soon lead to a clash for maritime supremacy on the Aegean: Antigonus Gonatas celebrated his victory at the naval battle of Kos by dedicating one of his victorious ships to the shrine by 255 – 245 BC; displayed in a building constructed on an ad hoc basis on the West terrace; the Néôrion (site plan number 6). It may have been inspired by another Néôrion, at Delos, probably built at the end of the 4th century BC, which he re-used and dedicated to another of his ships at the same time.

The naval war between the Ptolemaics and the Antigonids continued intermittently through the second half of the 3rd century BC, until Philip V of Macedon, the last Antigonid king to attempt to establish a Macedonian thalassocracy, was finally beaten by an alliance between Rhodes and Pergamon. A monumental column was dedicated to him in front to the large stoa of the upper terrace by the Macedonians by 200 BC. It was very probably during one of these episodes that the monumental fountain containing a ship's prow of limestone and the famous Winged Victory were built (cf. photograph and site plan number 9). This could actually be a dedication from Rhodes rather than Macedon, as analysis of the limestone used for the prow and the type of vessel indicated that it came from Rhodes.

The sanctuary became the final refuge for the last king of Macedon, Perseus of Macedon, who went to the island after his defeat at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC and was there arrested by the Romans.