The purple and white cotton cloth discovered in a royal tomb half a century ago may indeed be the cloak of Alexander the Great.
One of the many privileges enjoyed by the ancient Macedonian king was wearing purple clothing, and Alexander the Great certainly made the most of this royal privilege. Experts believe he wore purple garments whenever he had the chance. A new study published in the Journal of Field Archaeology suggests that one of his most famous purple garments may have been excavated, as reported by IFL Science on October 30.
Illustration of Alexander the Great wearing a purple cloak. (Image: Sun).
Alexander the Great utilized the privilege of wearing purple almost daily, according to the historian Ephippus from Olynthus, an ancient Greek author. He rarely went anywhere without his long cloak, known as a chiton or sarapis, in a light purple color. In the new study, expert Antonis Bartsiokas from Democritus University of Thrace and his colleagues suggest that this cloak was hidden along with other items in the tomb of one of his half-brothers.
The Great Tumulus of Vergina, first excavated in 1977, contains the remains of several relatives of Alexander the Great, although it wasn’t until late last year that the identities of these individuals were confirmed. Notably, the Royal Tomb II houses a golden sarcophagus containing the remains of Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexander the Great’s half-brother, along with armor and other items.
Among these items is the purple and white cloth that was once thought to have wrapped the bones of Arrhidaeus. However, in the new study, Bartsiokas reexamined this ancient fabric and reached a completely different conclusion.
Exterior of the Royal Tomb II. (Image: Wikimedia).
Upon examining a series of molecular and microscopic analyses of the fabric, Bartsiokas revealed that it is actually purple-dyed cotton with a white center, likely bleached with the mineral huntite. He noted that the physical characteristics of the fabric perfectly match descriptions in ancient sources of the sacred cloak worn by Alexander the Great. Bartsiokas even referred to this fabric as the “most precious artifact of antiquity.”
To bolster his argument, Bartsiokas pointed out that Royal Tomb II is adorned with a mural depicting Alexander the Great wearing the very cloak found in the golden sarcophagus. In the painting, Alexander the Great is identified by wearing the purple hat called kausia, adorned with a crown that only royalty could wear. He is shown in a purple cloak hunting a lion, seemingly poised to deliver a fatal blow.
To this day, the final resting place of Alexander the Great remains a mystery, and the royal tombs of Vergina continue to be a subject of significant debate. Therefore, Bartsiokas’s conclusions are sure to spark further discussion among scholars.
