Amphipolis, Greece - For the two hundred residents living in the remote mountain village of Amphipolis, the discovery of a marble tomb from the time of Alexander the Great holds the promise of fame and fortune.
Every day, the elderly inhabitants wait with bated breath at the village's only café for news from archaeologists working nearby about who the richly decorated tomb, the largest ever uncovered in Greece, was built for.
The excitement has been so great that the archaeological work, now in its fourth month, has received real-time coverage by local news media.
“The entire nation is being informed about developments of the archaeological excavation but we are normally the first to find out -after the archaeologists that is,” says 83-year-old Dimitris Bikos, pointing in the direction of a sandy hill containing the scattered remains of ancient Amphipolis.
“The tomb is too big for it not to belong to royalty - every single person in the village believes that Alexander the Great is buried here -it is like we have struck oil.”
Although a small village now, in ancient times Amphipolis with its vast wealth in gold reserves used to be a major city of the Macedonian Kingdom ruled by Alexander. He used the city's port as a base to launch ships to conquer Persia, Asia and north-east Africa.
The burial site, located 100 kilometres east of Thessaloniki, dates back to the late 4th century BC, and the marble wall encircling it is 500 metres long, dwarfing the tomb of Alexander's father Phillip II, in the town of Vergina, west of Thessaloniki.
Step by step, the team of archaeologists have dug their way through four tomb chambers unearthing an array of impressive artefacts, starting with the tomb's entrance which is surrounded by two headless sphinxes -mythological creatures that are part bird, part lion and part human.
Soon after two sculpted caryatid figures two metres tall appear followed by a brightly coloured peddle mosaic depicting the abduction of Persephone (the daughter of Zeus), then come painted human figures and lastly the skeletal remains in a grave.
“We may never know the identity of the skeleton, even after DNA testing is carried out,” Culture Ministry General Secretary Lina
Mendoni said, adding that lab results of the bone analysis and DNA testing could take up to six months.
“We will be able to carry out tests that will determine whether the skeletal remains were male or female, the age and what he/she ate - but we may never know who it is.”
Mendoni hopes the paintings in the tomb may help solve the mystery of who is buried inside while geophysicists are currently busy scanning the site to see if there are other underground chambers and bodies inside.
The list of possible occupants of the tomb is broad, ranging from Alexander's wife, Roxanne and their son Alexander IV, who were exiled to Amphipolis after his death and slain there along with his mother Olympias, as well as his brother and sister-in-law.
Many experts believe, Alexander who died in 323 BC at the age of 32, was most certainly buried in Alexandria, Egypt, dampening the hopes of local residents.
But Morfi Avaei, 54, who sells homemade jams and honey across the street from Amphipolis' Archeological Museum, disagrees.
“What mother would leave the body of her son in a foreign land? Certainly Olympias had arranged for Alexander's body to be brought back here, even without her enemies knowing.”
Regardless of the tomb's identity, residents' hope the discovery will help the region flourish with badly needed tourism.
Since the start of the excavation, the museum that attracted about 30 visitors each weekend now receives more than 2 000, says Kostas Melitos, the mayor of Amphipolis.
Tourist buses and school groups are seen arriving at the site at an almost daily basis even though it is not yet open to the public, while seaplane companies are looking to add Amphipolis to their regular routes.
“An American cruise ship company will start docking at the nearby city of Kavala and will be busing people here,” says the mayor.
Giannis Christou who runs Amphipolis' sole café is even expanding its garden to be able to accommodate an increase in visitors.
“People don't seem to care that they cannot visit the tomb yet - they are curious just by the discovery and this is good for business.” - Sapa-dpa