Heracles to Alexander the Great

This catalogue was originally released to accompany the first major archaeological exhibition to appear in the redeveloped Ashmolean Museum, which ran from 7 April to 29 August 2011, Heracles to Alexander the Great: Treasures from the Royal Capital of Macedon, A Hellenic Kingdom in the Age of Democracy.

Showcasing more than 500 treasures recently found in Aegae (the ancient capital of Macedon) this exhibition catalogue tells the story of the Temenid kings and queens - descendants of Heracles and the ruling dynasty of Alexander the Great. Cutting edge archaeological research of the last twenty years brings Aegae and the kingdom of Macedon into the global spotlight. The 18 essays presented in this catalogue cover a wide array of subjects centred on Aegae and the Temenid dynasty, offering an excellent starting point to understanding the history, art and archaeology of the complex and fascinating court of Macedon, a Hellenic kingdom flourishing in the age of democracy.

Excavations in the late 1970s in the modern village of Vergina revealed a series of spectacular royal tombs; one identified as belonging to Philip II and the others to members of Alexander the Great's immediate family. Remarkably preserved with much of their exceptionally rich contents intact, these burials take us on a journey back from the time of Alexander (d.323 BC) through classical and archaic times to the early years of the first millennium BC. The finds do not simply tell us of the wealth and social status of the deceased: they also reveal much of the ritual surrounding death.

Apart from some items from this burial, exhibited in New York in 2006, and some spectacular items from the tomb of Philip, none of these new finds had been seen by the public in or outside Greece. The extraordinary discoveries were shown for the first time at the Ashmolean Museum during the exhibition's run in 2011.

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford and the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2011.