Alexander Sarcophagus




 The sarcophagus, one of the masterpieces of the world of archeology, was found in room III of Hypogeum A, together with the three undecorated sarcophagi exhibited in this hall. The sarcophagus does not actually belong to the Macedonian King Alexander the Great, but takes its name from the depiction of Alexander the Great in the battle scene adorning one of his long faces. War scenes are depicted on one long and one short side of the sarcophagus made of Pentelikon marble, and hunting scenes are depicted on the other long and short sides. The reliefs of the Alexander Sarcophagus, the latest sarcophagus of the necropolis, are all painted. The ornaments indicate that the sarcophagus belongs to the last King of Sidon, Abdalonymos. Although Abdalonymos is distantly related to the Sidon royal family, he was appointed as king by Alexander's commander Hephaistion, who was assigned to choose a king for the city after the Battle of Issos. On the sarcophagus, there are depictions of important events from the life of Abdalonymos. For example, on one of the long faces, the Battle of Issus, which opened the gates of Syria to Alexander and the kingdom to Abdalonymus, is depicted. The first figure of the scene, depicted on a horse with a lion's skin on his head, is Alexander the Great. There are suggestions that the figure in the center of the composition might be Hephaistion, who chose Abdalonymos as the king, and that the figure at the other end of the scene might be Perdikkas or Krateros, again one of Alexander's commanders.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Terrastrial City Walls of Istanbul in Zeytinburnu

Image
Zeytinburnu hosts some terrestrial part of Istanbul city walls which  holds a length of 22 kilometers in three zones in all. Terrestrial walls had been built in 4 years during the reign of Theodosius 2 and had finished on August 25, 413 located between Ayvansaray, a sea-neighborhood in Haliç, and Yedikule in the Marmara coast with a length of 5.5km. These walls contain 3 parts as inner walls, outer walls and the moat. The inner walls were about 5 meters wide, 20 meters high and reinforced with a tower in every 60 meters. The inner walls were 14 meters away from the outer walls. The outer wall were reinforced with 96 towers some of which were up to 23 meters high. The moat was 20 meters wide and 6 meters deep. Altınkapı in Yedikule was the most majestic city gate and used only by the emperors in times of expeditions for departures or arrival. Other city gates of Zeytinburnu are Belgradkapı, Silivrikapı, Mevlanakapı, Sulukule Kapısı and Topkapı. The terrestrial walls was repaired sev...
Read more

The tallest structure of Topkapi Palace: Justice Tower (Adalet Kulesi)

Image
Topkapi Palace II. The first construction of the Justice Tower (aka Adalet Kasrı) in its courtyard belongs to the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror. Some parts of the mansion, which was wooden when it was first built and not as high as it is today, became the section where valuable carpets, fabrics, trays and pitchers and documents were stored. Sultan III. When the Outer Treasury Building was built during the reign of Murad I, the items in the Justice Tower were moved to the new building. The location of the Tower of Justice is important in terms of symbolic meaning. The Justice Tower, which was built adjacent to the Kubbealtı (Divan-ı Hümayun), where the state was administered and decisions were taken on behalf of the state; it gives a message to the society that the state is governed fairly and that the decisions taken are fair. The Justice Tower, which was repaired in various periods of the 17th and 18th centuries, was built by Sultan II. It took on a new style during the reign of Mahmu...
Read more

You need to know this before you make your plan to visit Ayasofya in Istanbul

Image
  As one of Turkey’s oldest historical monuments, Hagia Sophia is centuries old. Profit Mohammed was not born when it was built. Originally, it was a Roman Greek church and used as a church 916 years. After Turkish people conquered Constantinople, it became a mosque and was used as a mosque for 481 years. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk turned the historical monument into a museum after the Turkish Republic was established. As it changed over the centuries, it went from a church to a mosque to a museum. Eventually, the historical monument was converted into a mosque again in 2023. It was free entry for all visitors when it became a mosque, regardless of their religion or nationality. While the Muslims use the first floor as a mosque, the government turned the upper gallery into a museum where you can see beautiful mosaic from the Byzantine era. You can enter the mosque first floor, where there is apsis (mihrap) anytime during the day, if you are a Turkish Muslim citizen. If you are Muslim, b...
Read more