page_title: Ancient Macedonians
section_title: Visual arts
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient Macedonians / Culture and society / Visual arts
caption_attribution_description: Lion hunt. Mosaic from Pella (ancient Macedonia), late 4th century BC, depicting Alexander the Great and Craterus. Housed in the Pella Museum. From Olga Palagia (2000). "Hephaestion’s Pyre and the Royal Hunt of Alexander," in A.B. Bosworth and E.J. Baynham (eds), Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction. Oxford &amp; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198152873, p. 185: “A floor mosaic of the late fourth century, excavated in one of the dining rooms of the 'House of Dionysus', a palatial mansion at Pella, shows two Macedonians hunting a lion on foot, using spear and sword (Fig. 8). They are both heroically nude but for a billowing chlamys, and shown as equals, with the king on the left being differentiated by his kausia. The egalitarian spirit of the mosaic reflects the mores of the Macedonian nobles: not for them the mounted king in mixed Oriental dress...This mosaic has long been thought to represent Craterus coming to Alexander's rescue...”
context_page_description: The Macedonians were an ancient tribe that lived on the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios in the northeastern part of mainland Greece. Essentially an ancient Greek people, they gradually expanded from their homeland along the Haliacmon valley on the northern edge of the Greek world, absorbing or driving out neighbouring non-Greek tribes, primarily Thracian and Illyrian. They spoke Ancient Macedonian, a language closely related to Ancient Greek or a Doric Greek dialect, although the prestige language of the region was at first Attic and then Koine Greek. Their religious beliefs mirrored those of other Greeks, following the main deities of the Greek pantheon, although the Macedonians continued Archaic burial practices that had ceased in other parts of Greece after the 6th century BC. Aside from the monarchy, the core of Macedonian society was its nobility. Similar to the aristocracy of neighboring Thessaly, their wealth was largely built on herding horses and cattle.
  Although composed of various clans, the kingdom of Macedonia, established around the 8th century BC, is mostly associated with the Argead dynasty and the tribe named after it.
context_section_description: By the reign of Archelaus I of Macedon, the Macedonian elite started importing significantly greater customs, artwork, and art traditions from other regions of Greece. However, they still retained more archaic, perhaps Homeric funerary rites connected with the symposium and drinking rites that were typified with items such as decorative metal kraters that held the ashes of deceased Macedonian nobility in their tombs. Among these is the large bronze Derveni Krater from a 4th-century BC tomb of Thessaloniki, decorated with scenes of the Greek god Dionysus and his entourage and belonging to an aristocrat who had a military career. Macedonian metalwork usually followed Athenian styles of vase shapes from the 6th century BC onward, with drinking vessels, jewellery, containers, crowns, diadems, and coins among the many metal objects found in Macedonian tombs.
  Surviving Macedonian painted artwork includes frescoes and murals on walls, but also decoration on sculpted artwork such as statues and reliefs. For instance, trace colors still exist on the bas-reliefs of the Alexander Sarcophagus. Macedonian paintings have allowed historians to investigate the clothing fashions as well as military gear worn by ancient Macedonians, such as the brightly-colored tomb paintings of Agios Athanasios, Thessaloniki showing figures wearing headgear ranging from feathered helmets to kausia and petasos caps.
   
  Aside from metalwork and painting, mosaics serve as another significant form of surviving Macedonian artwork, especially those discovered at Pella dating to the 4th century BC. The Stag Hunt Mosaic of Pella, with its three dimensional qualities and illusionist style, show clear influence from painted artwork and wider Hellenistic art trends, although the rustic theme of hunting was tailored for Macedonian tastes. The similar Lion Hunt Mosaic of Pella illustrates either a scene of Alexander the Great with his companion Craterus, or simply a conventional illustration of the generic royal diversion of hunting. Mosaics with mythological themes include scenes of Dionysus riding a panther and Helen of Troy being abducted by Theseus, the latter of which employs illusionist qualities and realistic shading similar to Macedonian paintings. Common themes of Macedonian paintings and mosaics include warfare, hunting and aggressive masculine sexuality (i.e. abduction of women for rape or marriage). In some instances these themes are combined within the same work, indicating a metaphorical connection that seems to be affirmed by later Byzantine Greek literature.
caption: Alexander (left), wearing a kausia and fighting an Asiatic lion with his friend Craterus (detail); late 4th century BC mosaic,[142] Archaeological Museum of Pella, Macedonia
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