40 Facts About Panagiotis Efstratiadis

Panagiotis Efstratiadis served as Ephor General of Antiquities, the head of the Greek Archaeological Service, between 1864 and 1884, succeeding Kyriakos Pittakis.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis studied archaeology under the prominent epigrapher Ludwig Ross at the University of Athens, and in Germany at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich and the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was a founding and prominent member of the Archaeological Society of Athens, a learned society greatly involved in the practice and publication of Greek archaeology throughout the 19th century.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis worked alongside Pittakis on the society's excavations of the so-called 'Psoma House' in Athens from 1852, and on its excavations of the Theatre of Dionysus near the Acropolis of Athens between 1861 and 1867.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis is remembered for his efforts to protect Greece's archaeological heritage, particularly on the Acropolis of Athens, though his determined efforts to prevent the illegal excavation and export of antiquities were often undercut by the Greek state's limited financial and legal resources to do so.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis is significant for his expansion of the Archaeological Service and his patronage of Panagiotis Stamatakis, who succeeded him as Ephor General and whom he appointed to oversee the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann at Mycenae.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was born in the town of Mantamados on the Greek island of Lesbos, then part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1815.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis studied at the University of Athens under Ludwig Ross, who had served between 1834 and 1836 as Ephor General of Antiquities, the head of the Greek Archaeological Service.

In 1837, Panagiotis Efstratiadis received a government scholarship to study in at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat in Munich, where he was taught by the classicist and philhellene Friedrich Thiersch, and to read classical philology at the Humboldt University of Berlin.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis remained in Germany for six years, returning to Greece in 1843 to work as a teacher.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis took his first post in a secondary school in Nafplio, followed by a position as headmaster of another gymnasium in Athens, which he held until 1863.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was a founding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens, a learned society with significant responsibility for archaeological work and heritage management in Greece throughout the nineteenth century.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was a founding member in 1848 of the Archaeological Association, established by Rangavis as a national academy for Greek science and culture.

The association's first publication was accompanied by a letter in Ancient Greek written by Panagiotis Efstratiadis, extolling the contribution of Greeks to the study of the humanities and the role of modern Greeks in communicating epigraphical knowledge to the wider European world.

In 1849, Panagiotis Efstratiadis wrote the Ancient Greek text of the Decree of the Benefactors, a pseudo-classical stele erected by the association to honour those who had contributed financially to it.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis became one of Society's few remaining members, serving as vice-secretary and as a member of the board.

The excavation failed to furnish the extensive ancient remains predicted by Pittakis, though it did uncover numerous ancient inscriptions, which Panagiotis Efstratiadis published in three volumes.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis joined the society's council on its reformation, serving until 1883.

Between 1861 and 1867, Panagiotis Efstratiadis conducted excavations in the Theatre of Dionysus, near the Acropolis of Athens.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis's published scholarly output was limited; apart from the publication of the Psoma House inscriptions, he wrote fifteen articles in the Archaeological Journal on epigraphical matters between 1869 and 1874.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis maintained a daybook of excavations and events on the Acropolis.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis's entries testify to his struggles with profiteering by those buying the stone blocks taken from the medieval Frankish Tower at the Propylaia, with complaints from local residents that unstable piles of spoil from the excavations were endangering their homes, and with looting of antiquities, as well as the challenges of protecting objects and monuments from weathering once they had been exposed to the elements.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis carried out excavations of the Stoa of Eumenes, on the Acropolis's south slope, between 1864 and 1865.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis obtained ministerial approval for the project, which would be carried out by the Archaeological Society, though the final removal of the tower was delayed until 1875 by administrative reluctance and the personal intervention of King George.

When Schliemann was granted permission by the Greek government in 1874 to excavate at Mycenae, Panagiotis Efstratiadis insisted that Stamatakis should accompany the excavations as the state's overseer and representative.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was highly suspicious of Schliemann, and remained in continuous contact with Stamatakis by letter throughout the excavations, which eventually took place in 1876.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis's handling of Schliemann's case mirrored his earlier treatment, in January 1866, of the art dealers Grigorios Bournias and Ioannis Palaiologos, who had asked permission to excavate in the Profitis Ilias area of Athens.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis noted that the law obliged him to grant permission, as the excavation was on private land and the landowner's consent had been given, but insisted that the excavation should take place under strict supervision.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis opposed the removal of antiquities from Greece: in 1867, he denounced the epigrapher and art dealer Athanasios Rhousopoulos for selling the so-called Aineta aryballos to the British Museum, calling him "university professor, antiquities looter".

Panagiotis Efstratiadis eventually ensured that Rhousopoulos was fined 1,000 drachmas for the sale, but he was restricted by the need to retain good relations with the art dealers of Athens, who undertook more excavations in this period than either the Archaeological Society or the Archaeological Service and usually offered to sell the artefacts they uncovered to the state.

In 1873, for example, Panagiotis Efstratiadis noted in his records the illegal export by the art dealer Anastasios Erneris of a series of funerary plaques, painted by Exekias, to the German archaeologist Gustav Hirschfeld, but was unable to prevent or reverse the sale.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis oversaw the construction of the Central Museum under the architect Panagis Kalkos, which began in October 1866; after numerous delays due to financial limitations and political instability, the museum's west wing opened to the public in 1881.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis oversaw the beginning of the expansion of the Archaeological Service, which had previously consisted entirely of the Ephor General.

In 1879, Panagiotis Efstratiadis Kavvadias was recruited as an ephor, followed by Konstantinos Dimitriadis in 1881 and by five further appointments in 1883 and 1885, including those of Christos Tsountas and Valerios Stais.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis retired as Ephor General in 1884, and was succeeded by his protege Stamatakis.

In person, Panagiotis Efstratiadis was known to be meticulous, independent and highly protective of the antiquities in his care.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was introverted, private and withdrawn: no known image or photograph of him survives.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis maintained a friendly correspondence with his former teacher, August Bockh, and sought his advice on behalf of the Archaeological Society in 1851 over the reading of an inscription, now known to be from the base of the Phrasikleia Kore.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was awarded the Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown, and elected as both a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin and a member of the German Archaeological Institute at Rome.

Panagiotis Efstratiadis was considered a key figure in the foundation of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.