Places Near Thessaloniki Ideas for a Day Trip — Vergina

[caption id="attachment_7084" align="aligncenter" width="1920" caption="Grave of Philip II"][/caption]

Vergina is a small town located in Central Macedonia, Greece just 80 kilometers from Thessaloniki. The site is famous about the archaeological finds discovered by Professor Manolis Andronikos that included tombs of Macedonian Kings.

Vergina was in ancient times known as Aigai, the capital of the famous Macedonian Kingdom. This is the place where in 336 BC Philip II was assassinated in the theatre and Alexander the Great was proclaimed king. The place from where Alexander set out to conquer the most of the then known world.

[caption id="attachment_7085" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="War equipment from the King’s Tomb"]

[/caption] In Vergina were found, the tomb of Philip II, who is the father of Alexander the Great and the tomb of Alexander IV, who is the son of Alexander the Great and Roxana. One of the royal tombs in the Great Tumulus is identified as that of Philip II, who conquered all the Greek cities, paving the way for his son Alexander and the expansion of the Hellenistic world. [caption id="attachment_7086" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Jewelry and decorations from the Queen’s Tomb"]

[/caption] The tombs are protected by a set of underground enclosures build in 1993 and a museum has been constructed in order to display all the findings. The main piece of the collection is the golden larnax (a type of urn) of Philip II on it is the classic Greek Macedonian symbol of sun masterfully crafted and decorated with gold. Other significant archaeological findings include a beautiful fresco of Hades abducting Persephone, jewelry and decorations from the Queen’s Tomb and the war equipment from the King’s Tomb.

Since 1996, UNESCO has inducted the Archeological Site of Aigai in the World Heritage List.