Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis
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The Archaeological Museum of Amphipolis is a museum in Amphipolis, Central Macedonia, Greece.
Two kilometres from the Thessaloniki–Kavala national highway, just above the mouth of the River Strymon, is the archaeological site of ancient Amphipolis (a city founded in 437 BC) and the Archaeological Museum.
The museum contains many items related to the history and civilisation of Amphipolis dating from the Archaic to Christian periods. Its exhibition halls exhibit the cultural history of Amphipolis from prehistoric times down to the Byzantine period. The museum is housed in a building that was completed in 1995. The finds are displayed in chronological order and comprise the following groups: the prehistoric period (from Mount Pangaio and Ketil Tepes Hill); the Archaic period (from Kasta Hill and the Iron Age cemetery at Amphipolis); the Classical and Hellenistic periods (from the Archaic Gymnasium, the Hellenistic cemetery, the Hellenistic house, and from excavations on the archaeological site), the Roman period (mosaics from a Roman house and from excavations in the local cemetery); the Early Christian period (from five Early Christian basilicas at Amphipolis); and the modern era (from a chapel found at a low elevation near Nea Amphipoli).
The most important exhibits in the museum are a seal and a number of figurines of the Neolithic period (6000–3000 BC), gold jewelry from the graves in the Kasta mound in the environs of Amphipolis, a figurine of a dancer performing the Peirihios Dance, three statues—of Orestes and Electra (2nd century BC), a female figure (4th century BC), and Aphrodite and Eros (2nd century BC)—a bust of the local deity Attis (1st century BC), a full-length siren tearing her hair and beating her breast, a silver reliquary with the gold olive wreath that was found inside it, and a gold wreath from a male burial.
Moving on to the exhibits of the Roman and Byzantine periods, there are two mural paintings from the Roman house and a capital with rams’ heads carved in relief.
On the first floor are finds from ancient Argilos and Eion, the port of ancient Amphipolis, together with wall panels relating the history of ancient Amphipolis and the surrounding area.
At the entrance to the museum, visitors may also view 18th-century historians’ correspondence about ancient Amphipolis, together with photographs of the unearthing of the Lion of Amphipolis in 1913 and its restoration.
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Frescoes on display -
A sirens statue -
First floor exhibits -
Incribed grave stele
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Mural paintings -
Silver ossuary -
Statues of Orestes and Electra
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