Digging Deeper

Since I was in Greece, I figured it would be good to further enhance my understanding of ancient civilizations by going to the Vergina and Pella Archeological Museums.  

These museums house many of the items found at archeological sites and categorize them based on how they were used in ancient times.

Here are some examples of items on display, including a marble head of Alexander the Great who was born in Pella 356 and reigned 336-323 BC.

Walking through each room was like walking through time, observing the items used in daily life during early 1-4th centuries BC.  

Visitors found collected and displayed items used for the household, civic administration, marketplace, and even items you would find in a cemetery!

There was even a numismatic display of coins found in the marketplace and inscriptions on tombstones from 500 BC.  

I found displays of military armor of particular interest after watching video accounts of the ancient Greeks at war.

Then it was off to the actual tombs of leaders such as Alexander's father Phillip II of Macedon at a nearby location.  The Royal Tombs Museum was built around actual discovered tombs, allowing visitors to go underground to see the entrances to these tombs.

Five stages of Ancient Greece:

1. Bronze Age - Helladic civilization from 3000 BC, and then Mycenaean era at end of 11 century BC
2. Iron Age - aka Greek Dark Ages from 1100 BC to 750 BC; believed to be illiterate until 950 BC when they used the Phoenician alphabet; city states formed coming out of the Dark Ages
3. Classic Age - between 5th century BC and death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC; heavy war and conflict between Athenians and Spartans; democracy born in this period; city states joined for protection against Persia
4. Hellenistic Age - between death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 BC; gave freedoms of new thought and expressing culture in conquered territory that stretched to India
5. Roman Age - conquest of the Roman Empire beginning with the defeat in Corinth 146 BC until the fall of the Roman Empire that ended ancient Greece in 330 AD

All in all, a wonderful opportunity for people interested in travelling back to three periods of Greek history!  I certainly learned a lot about the Classic period, then into the Hellenistic period before venturing into the Roman era in 146 BC.