Enter Alexander: The Battle of Chaeronea Exhibition Opens in Athens

A stunning new exhibition on the ancient Battle Chaeronea that confirmed Macedonia’s control over the southern Greek city-states opens on Thursday in Athens.

Some two hundred and forty antiquities and historical items from twenty-seven museums in Greece and abroad and four private collections are included in the new exhibition titled “Chaeronea, 2 August 338 BC: A day that changed the world,” opening at the Museum of Cycladic Art (MCA).

The exhibition highlights the importance of the Battle of Chaeronea in ancient times, specifically during the transition from the Classical to Hellenistic period. The Battle of Chaeronea paved the way for Alexander the Great’s legendary conquests.

“The theme is the battle that opposed the Macedonian army of Philip II against that of the allied Greek cities of southern Greece—and in particular the Sacred Band of Thebes and the army of Athens—a conflict that for the first time brought the eighteen-year-old Alexander to the front line of history: Alexander who was soon to conquer the world with his great campaigns in Asia,” the MCA notes.

Battle of Chaeronea exhibition includes unique antiquities

Several of the objects are on public exhibition for the first time, with archaeological evidence originating in excavations of the Polyandrion of the Thebans and the Tumulus of the Macedonians, both sites of multiple burials. Some have not been fully published, while several were studied in detail during preparations for the exhibition.

One of the outstanding exhibits is that of the tomb of the warrior from Igoumenitsa wearing unique battle gear, the historical Macedonian shield inscribed with the name of King Alexander, golden staters (coins) issued by Philip, Alexander, and his successors, and the bones of the Sacred Band of Thebes soldiers.

Andy Warhol’s ‘Alexander the Great’ (1981) portrait from the MOMus-Museum of Contemporary Art, a version of his iconic work that was commissioned by Greek collector Alexandros Iolas, is also on show.

The show also honors Greece’s early archaeologists at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, including reports of their excavations (Panagiotis Stamatakis, Georgios Sotiriadis, respectively).

In addition, it includes information on how the modern Greek state handled the battle and its monuments in its narrative, as well as how the newspapers of those times viewed it.

Slowly forgotten, the Battle of Chaeronea rekindled the public’s interest from the end of the 18th century, when the marble pieces of the fallen Lion of Chaeronia attracted visitors, academics, and locals.

The exhibition is divided into nine units. The last one, “The Battle of Chaeronea today,” examines how the battle can be reconstructed for younger generations that might not be familiar with museums.

It includes a diorama of the battle with Playmobil figurines especially made by collectors for the show, with the help of Playmobil Hellas, and descriptions through comics.

“We examine the event itself, what follows, we see what this famed Hellenistic world that opens up after the battle of Chaeronea is, and we experience its consequences to this day,” a museum spokesperson said. “All the gold that the Western world used up to 1492 is the gold that Alexander brought in his campaign. In other words, objects that had very long-term consequences and that we are still experiencing today.”

Related: Battle of Chaeronea Confirmed Macedonia’s Dominance Over Rest of Greece