Aegae (Macedonia)

Aegae or Aigai was the original capital of Macedon, the ancient Greek kingdom of the Argead Makedones in Lower Macedonia. Aigai was located in the Haliacmon valley on the foothills of the Pierian Mountains, between the modern towns of Vergina and Palatitsia, overlooking the central Macedonian plain, in northern Greece. Alexander the Great was proclaimed king of Macedon at Aigai when his father Philip II was assassinated at the city's theatre. The city was abandoned in the 3rd century AD and was rediscovered in the 19th. Three major archaeological missions have been carried out at Aigai. The first was led by Léon Heuzey of the French School at Athens in the 1860s; Manolis Andronikos led excavations over a century later and made many important discoveries, including the tomb of Philip II of Macedon and the Golden Larnax bearing the Vergina Sun; and Angeliki Kottaridi led restoration efforts in the 2000s. Today it is the site of an archaeological site and two museums. In 1996, the archaeological site of Aigai was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its monumental significance in Western civilization and exceptional architecture.