Inscribed Silver Plate from Tomb II at Vergina: Chronological Implications

by David W. J. Gill

Hesperia, Volume 77, Issue 2
Page(s): 335-358
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40205751
Year: 2008
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ABSTRACT:

Five items of silver plate from tomb II at Vergina are inscribed with their ancient weights. The inscriptions, using the acrophonic and alphabetic systems, suggest that the pieces were made to a drachma weight of ca. 4.2 g. This weight of drachma was introduced to Macedonia by Alexander the Great and does not appear to have been used by Philip II. The inscriptions on the silver add to the cumulative evidence provided by the cremated remains, black-gloss saltcellars, and iconography of the lion-hunt frieze that tomb II was the final resting place not of Philip II, but of Philip III Arrhidaios and Adea Eurydike.