The Legendary King of Macedonia at the Onassis Cultural Center

By Vicki J. Yiannias
“Alexander the Great, a pupil of Aristotle, schooled in military science, mathematics, art, literature, and theater, lived his life according to the legend of the Homeric hero Achilles” says the preface of the high-quality catalogue, Alexander the Great, an accompaniment to Alexander the Great: Treasures From An Epic Era of Hellenism on view at the Onassis Cultural Center in New York until April 16.

This jewel of an exhibition inaugurated by the Alternate Culture Minister of Greece, Fani Palli-Petralia, was with an elegant and impressive reception attended by an extraordinarily large audience on the evening of December 9 in the Olympic Atrium.

Introductory presentations were made by Ambassador Loukas Tsilas, the Onassis Foundation President Stelios Papademetriou, Alternate Minister Petralia and Professor Evangelos Venizelos, former Minister of Culture.

Speaking later in the evening, at a dinner held at the Waldorf Astoria in honour of the guests, the President of the Onnasis Foundation Stelios Papademetriou stressed the goals of the exhibition.

“We at the Onassis Foundation do not wish to engage in an argument about the Greekness of Alexandros or the Greekness of Macedonia. Slavs appeared in the horizon of that part of the world some seven centuries after the demise of Alexandros the Great. Albanians or Illyrians did not exist as a state until much later in the calendar of events and have never inhabited Macedonia to this date.

We all know that Alexandros the II, son of Philippos and Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus King of Epiros and all the ancestors of his father and mother bore Hellenic names”. Papademetriou underlined that the important thing to remember is that Alexandros completed his father’s plans and organized a “Pan-Hellenic League” in order to remove the threat to Hellenism from East.

“Is he who dedicated the spoils of his initial campaign to the Greeks with the inscription “Alexandros Philippou and the Greeks”, omitting totally even his own native land of Greek Macedonia”.

He noted that “Alexandros knew from the outset that his Pan-Hellenic campaign was not about Macedonia, but about Hellenism, which was something larger and more important than each of its various components, such as local Greek communities or local city states. He aspired to unite all Hellenes into one strong state and defend Hellenism in a way to secure its long term material and cultural interests”

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Professor Dimitrios Pandermalis, curator of Alexander the Great: Treasures From An Epic Era of Hellenism stated to the Greek News that “The American people have access to a great number of books, journals and other publications on Alexander the Great through stores and libraries . . . now they will have the exclusive opportunity to see original artefacts and art pieces excavated in the birthplace of Alexander. In this way the public can combine historical sources with authentic material culture that relates to and throws light on the unique personality of this figure of world history.”

Professor Pandermalis is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Thessaloniki, Director of Excavations at Dion, Thessaloniki, and President of the Organization for the Construction of the New Acropolis Museum.

Mr. Stelio Papademetriou, President of the Onassis Foundation (USA), made an important observation to the Greek News about the value of the exhibition. “I believe this is a wonderful exhibition because it contains many historical artefacts which also are very beautiful. In this era of confusion, when many people mix up history with political, or other necessities or requirements, and you do not know exactly what is true and what is not true, this exhibition goes a long way to uncover the actual facts, and you no longer need interpretations by so-called ‘historians’. It used to be a very strict discipline, but nowadays it became much more than Herodotus. Anybody who is somebody says any extravagance and then it’s studied very carefully, and this probably earns this scholar a tenure… and a salary.”

The humorous Mr. Papademetriou cited the marble head of Alexander from the Acropolis as his favorite piece. “With the broken nose . . . I believe it’s true . . . somebody must have broken his nose! He was a handsome man, somebody you don’t come by easily.”

Like Mr. Papademetriou, Professor Pandermalis also chose the same marble head (which graces the cover of the catalogue) “ . . . because it has special meaning. The other marble head of Alexander head is from Pella, the capital city of Alexander the Great, but this is from the Acropolis in Athens, the capital city of culture in ancient Greece. We can see all the characteristics of the youthful Alexander here . . . his eyes, the haircut — everything. He looks like a young god . . . and he wanted that.”

Do we have any way of knowing whether this is really how Alexander looked? “We have some indications about his figure, but we don’t have a real picture! There is no important ruler in the world who looks exactly like his portraits, but Alexander the Great was a fascinating figure, and in one way or another so was his appearance.”

“Alexander avoided presenting himself as a god on coins during his lifetime, and it was a problem for the Greeks to put the ruler on coins, before Alexander, but it seems he had that intention because he inaugurated, or made the first steps toward that. There is only one representation of Alexander as a warrior [not in the exhibition] in which he looks like Zeus. It’s not a real portrait, because we don’t have a picture! We don’t know whether the heads of Hercules are the head of Alexander or whether Alexander gave himself the characteristics of Hercules, but here a generation later, we have coins of Alexander.”

The city of Aigai, in the foothills of Mount Pieria at the southern edge of the Macedonian basin, was the first capital of the Macedonians and cradle of Temenides, the dynasty that ruled for three and a half centuries and gave to Greece — and history — two of its most famous heroes, Philip II and Alexander the Great.

This writer identifies Aigai because the breathtaking beauty of The Costume of the Lady of Aigai (ca 500 BC), found in the city’s royal necropolis, a spectacular find, known around the world. That exhibit was a cluster center throughout the evening, particularly for female admirers. Keeping their shape and form over the centuries, this complete costume of precious, intricately worked gold earrings, bracelets, necklaces, dress ornaments, a headdress — a gold encircling band with three long golden curls (a 10-century BC Macedonian invention), and the golden soles of a pair of sandals, seem to embody the vitality of the woman who wore them. “She was a woman in her thirties [then considered to be a mature age], probably Queen Euridike, wife of Amyntas III, and mother of three kings–Philip II among them–and grandmother of Alexander the Great, Angeliki Kottaridi, an important archaeologist on these digs told the Greek News. When she was dying, her daughter-in-law, the scheming Olympias – both were powerful, potentially deadly women — “came out”.

THE GUESTS

There is a long list of personalities of politics, diplomacy and arts that attended the opening of the exhibition.
The Board of Directors of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Association (USA): Mr. Stelio Papadimitriou, Esq., President; Ambassador Michael Sotirhos,Vice President; Mr. Paul Ioannidis, Secretary; Loucas Tsilas, Executive Director;

Board members Dr. John Brademas, Mr. Michael Jaharis, Professor George Babiniotis, Rector of the University of Athens, Ambassador Vassilios Vitsaxis.

Among the important political representatives from Greece were: Mrs. Fani Palli-Petrallia, Alternate Minister of Culture; Professor Evangelos Venizelos, Former Minister of Culture; Member of Parliament, and a major figure of the main opposition party, PASOK; Mrs. Vasso Papandreou, Former Minister of the Environment, Member of Parliament and a major figure of the main opposition party, PASOK; Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Member of Parliament and son of the former Prime Minister; Mr. Christos Zachopoulos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture; Ms. Silvana Rapti, Member of Parliament.

Some of the members of Diplomatic and Consular Corps that attended were: His Excellency Danilo Turk, Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairsa at the United Nations; His Excellency George Savvaidis, Ambassador of Greece to Washington DC; Her Excellency Claudia Fritsche, Ambassador of Liechtenstein to Washington DC; His Excellency Andreas Mavroyiannis, Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the United Nations; His Excellency Michael Daratzikis, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Nations; His Excellency Anastasios Mitsialis, Ambassador of Greece to Rome; His Excellency Michael Sotirhos, Former Ambassador of the United States to Jamaica & Greece (VP of Onassis Foundation (USA); His Excellency Clay Constantinou, Former Ambassador of the United States to Luxembourg; Mrs. Katerina Boura, Consul General of Greece in New York; Mrs. Martha Mavromati, Consul General of Cyprus in New York; Mr. Antonio Bandini, Consul General of Italy in New York.

Some leaders of the Greek American Community attending were: Mrs. Evangeline Douris, HANAC; Mr. Michael Jaharis, Businessman & Philanthropist;

Among the City and State Representatives were: Ms. Haeda Mihaltses, Director of Mayors Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Ms. Nicole Malliotakis, Special Assistant to Governor for Community Affairs

Many museum curators attended, such as Dr. Carlos Picon, Curator in Charge of Greek & Roman Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Directors, as well as a number of esteemed scholars, businesspeople, and important cultural personalities, such as Mrs. Dolly Goulandris, and Mrs. Shelby White.