Response Paper 4 In Ancient Greece it was an important part of Greek culture to bury the dead. As seen in the Odyssey, Elpenor, one of Odysseus’ men who fell to his death unnoticed from Circe’s roof, talked to Odysseus in the underworld and asked for a proper burial. Odysseus sailed all the way back to Circe’s island to find his body and give him his burial rights and a grave mound just as Elpenor asked, for fear that his death will become the god’s curse upon him. By going back, this showed the importance of a proper burial. This is also clearly exemplified in Sophacles: Antigone. Recently published last month in an article titled, “Skeleton may unlock secrets of Ancient Greece’s largest burial mound,” archaeologists found a skeleton buried under Ancient Greece’s largest burial mound which suggests that the identity of this skeleton belongs to a high-status individual. There is not one individual author to this article, however it was published November 14, 2014, by www.news.com.au. The description of the burial mound stating that it was the largest burial mound, and the “antechamber being decorated with beautiful mosaics” and “huge decapitated sphinxes” suggests that the tomb belongs to someone of very high status. The burial mound itself dates back to the time of Alexander the Great, and there were bones found in October which were announced to be identified as Alexander’s father, Macedonian King Philip II. The article suggests that the skeletal remains may belong to “those of Alexander’s Persian wife, Roxana, his mother, Olympias, or one of his generals.”
Judging from the facts given in this article, and in another article titled, “Remains of Alexander the Great's Father Confirmed Found” originally lead me to believe that this large burial mound belongs to someone of higher stature than just a family member such as the wife or mother. Alexander the Great’s Father’s tomb contained three chambers, similar to the tomb of interest. However, the sphinxes and marble sculpture point more towards a woman’s burial mound because of the feminine features, so it makes sense that this tomb belonged to someone such Alexander’s mother Olympias.
To further look into more details, since the original article posed