Ancient king’s remains found

The bones of Philip II of Macedonia are identified, correcting a long-standing error.

By examining dusty bones pulled from the bottom of an ancient tomb, researchers say they’ve identified the remains of King Philip II of Macedonia, the father of Alexander the Great, in a tomb in Vergina, Greece, along with his wife and a child.

The discovery, described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, corrects a decades-long case of mistaken identity.

“A nearly 40-[year]-old mystery concerning the Royal Tombs of Vergina has finally been solved that puzzled historians, archaeologists, and physical anthropologists,” the team of European researchers wrote.

Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC, and his young wife and newborn son were killed shortly thereafter, according to historical accounts, but it’s been unclear what happened to the king’s remains.

In 1977 and 1978, the skeletons of two men were excavated from the Royal Tombs II and I in Vergina. At the time, researchers said the Tomb II skeleton was probably that of Philip II, an idea that persisted even though this skeleton didn’t appear to match the description of Philip II in at least one very significant way.

Three years before his death, the king was famously wounded in the leg by a lance that left him lame, according to historical accounts.

“The current view is that Philip II was buried in Tomb II,” the study authors wrote. “However, the male skeleton of Tomb II bears no lesions to his legs that would indicate lameness.”

But after examining the skeleton from Tomb I, the researchers found that it had a very obvious case of “knee ankylosis,” a stiffness in the joint that is clear evidence of lameness. There is also a hole through the knee’s bone overgrowth, but no obvious signs of infection.

“This evidence indicates that the injury was likely caused by a severe penetrating wound to the knee, which resulted in an active inflammatory process that stopped years before death,” the authors said.

Philip II’s wife, Cleopatra, and child were probably killed very shortly after the king, they wrote. Olympias, the fourth wife of Philip and the mother of Alexander the Great, is said to have killed them to secure her own son’s position as new ruler of Macedonia, also known as Macedon.

So if Tomb I is the true final resting place of King Philip II and his young wife and child, then who is in Tomb II? Probably Philip II’s son King Arrhidaeus and his wife, Eurydice, who never had a child, according to historical records.

Arrhidaeus and Eurydice were also killed by Olympias, but in 317 BC, two decades later.

Tomb II may also contain some of the armor belonging to Philip II’s son and Arrhidaeus’ half-brother, Alexander the Great.