On This Day In History: Greek Archaeologist Manolis Andronikos Who Discovered Tomb of Philip II of Macedon, Was Born – On Oct 23, 1919

Manolis Andronikos, a Greek archaeologist was born. Andronikos discovered the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander III the Great.

He was born at Bursa, Turkey and later moved with his family to Thessaloniki, Greece.

He studied philosophy at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and in 1952 became a professor of Classical Archeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

He also continued his studies at Oxford University with the professor Sir John D. Beazley (1954–1955) and returned back to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1957 where he taught Archeology first as instructor and later (1964) as professor.

His greatest discovery occurred in autumn 1977, when he found a tomb at Vergina in Macedonia, which he identified as that of Philip II of Macedon. The tomb was unplundered and contained many works of art of amazing richness and exquisite craftsmanship at Vergina in Macedonia, such as a golden larnax (image above).

The finds from this tomb were later included in the traveling exhibit “The Search for Alexander” displayed at four cities in the United States from 1980 to 1982.

He suggested that the tomb’s occupant was probably Philip, son of Amyntas, king of the Macedonians, created understandable sensation, and aroused world-wide interest. While the discovery was of great archaeological importance, the identification of the tomb with Philip has been debated by some archaeologists.

He lived permanently in Thessaloniki and died on March 30, 1992.