Maria Chidiroglou
Διδάκτωρ Κλασικής Αρχαιολογίας Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών. PhD in Classical Archaeology, University of Athens.
1994-2005. ΙΑ ΕΠΚΑ. 11th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, in Euboea.
Σωστικές ανασκαφές, επιφανειακές έρευνες, επανέκθεση Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Καρύστου. Salvage excavations, surveys, re-organization of the exhibition in Karystos Archaeological Museum.
2005-2010. ΥΠΠΟΑ, ΔιΠΚΑ, Τμήμα Αρχαιολογικών Χώρων, Μνημείων και Αρχαιογνωστικής Έρευνας.
Ministerial Department of Archaeological Sites, Monuments and Research in the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Athens.
Από το 2010. As of 2010. Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο, Τμήμα Συλλογών Αγγείων, Μικροτεχνίας και Έργων Μεταλλοτεχνίας. Και: Φωτογραφικό Αρχείο (Τμήματος, από 2018).
National Archaeological Museum, Department of the Collections of Vases, Minor Arts and Metal Artefacts. Also: Photographic Archives (of this Dept. as of 2018).
Από το 2025. Προϊσταμένη του Τμήματος Διαχείρισης Επιστημονικών Αρχείων του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου.
As of 2025. Head of the Department of Documentary Archives of the National Archaeological Museum.
1994-2005. ΙΑ ΕΠΚΑ. 11th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, in Euboea.
Σωστικές ανασκαφές, επιφανειακές έρευνες, επανέκθεση Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Καρύστου. Salvage excavations, surveys, re-organization of the exhibition in Karystos Archaeological Museum.
2005-2010. ΥΠΠΟΑ, ΔιΠΚΑ, Τμήμα Αρχαιολογικών Χώρων, Μνημείων και Αρχαιογνωστικής Έρευνας.
Ministerial Department of Archaeological Sites, Monuments and Research in the Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Athens.
Από το 2010. As of 2010. Εθνικό Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο, Τμήμα Συλλογών Αγγείων, Μικροτεχνίας και Έργων Μεταλλοτεχνίας. Και: Φωτογραφικό Αρχείο (Τμήματος, από 2018).
National Archaeological Museum, Department of the Collections of Vases, Minor Arts and Metal Artefacts. Also: Photographic Archives (of this Dept. as of 2018).
Από το 2025. Προϊσταμένη του Τμήματος Διαχείρισης Επιστημονικών Αρχείων του Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου.
As of 2025. Head of the Department of Documentary Archives of the National Archaeological Museum.
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Papers by Maria Chidiroglou
Aspects of its history, collections and artefact documentation
through the study of its Photographic Archive and other archival sources.
Dr Maria Chidiroglou
Archaeologist - Curator
National Archaeological Museum,
Department of the Collections of Vases,
Metal and Minor Arts Artefacts
1 Tositsa Str., Athens 10682, Greece
[email protected]
[email protected]
The National Archaeological Museum, founded in Athens in 1866, is known through its Collections of Greek and Roman sculptures, ceramic vases, terracotta statuettes, bronze artefacts, glass vessels and jewellery. Its Photographic Archive, one of the oldest of the Greek Archaeological Service, recently implementing the updating and digitizing of its materials, houses analog, digitized and digital photographic documents, the earliest analog ones of which date in late 19th century. Many glass-plates and other early negatives of the Archive illustrate sculptures and vases acquired by the National Museum in its early period, as well as landscapes, views of early excavations, sites and monuments of the ancient Greek world.
This paper aims to briefly present moments from the early history of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens by tracing the context, provenance and excavation data of a number of example artefacts from its Collections. Photographs from the Museum Archive, early reports, documentation and other archival sources will help us investigate artefact data, as well as gain insights into the early archaeological research in Greece.
An overview of old and new finds.
A number of Attic and Euboean black-figure vases of the late Archaic and early Classical periods from the island of Euboea, housed in the National Archaeological Museum, as well as in other Museums, are decorated with plants, animals and mythical creatures. New, Attic and Euboean, black-figure finds from the sanctuaries and ancient cemeteries of Euboea have been added to this number, as well as instances of archaic to early classical examples of Euboean relief pithoi decorated with plants and animals.
In this paper an attempt is made to briefly present some of the main types and categories of animal and plant decoration known in Euboean pottery of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. and to explore the role these representations played, as generic images or symbolic keys, in the civic or rural life and religious beliefs of the ancient population of this island. The role of mythical creatures, such as sphinxes and sirens depicted on burial vases, is also briefly outlined and a few new finds of the archaic period are presented.
The paper includes mention of literary sources related to the subject, through the study of which a reconnaissance of some aspects of the ancient resource-landscape, as well as of some standard status-symbol motifs promulgated in long periods by the social and political elites of the main Euboean cities, such as Eretria, Chalkis and Karystos, is attempted.
Das griechisch-schweizerische Projekt über die «Drachenhäuser» der Region Styra konzentrierte sich 2021 auf die Ausgrabung des Drakospito von Ilkizes und die Untersuchung des Komplexes von Palli Lakka.
This paper reviews the main issues raised by the drakospita and proposes new research perspectives, of which the work carried out at the Ilkizes site (Euboea) in September 2020 constitutes the preliminary.
Online : https://www.antikekunst.org/fr/les-publications/die-grabungsberichte/esag/
Ancient Karystos (mod. Karystos), the main city-state at the southern tip of the island of Euboea, attracted the interest of archaeological research from the 19th century. The city of Karystos from Classical to Roman times lies at Palaiochora and Kokkaloi, south of the medieval Castel Rosso, while the modern-day city of Karystos extends south of the ancient one.
Recent rescue excavation work in southern Euboea showed that the necropolis of ancient Karystos consisted of small, probably family cemeteries found to the west, east, and south of the ancient city along ancient roads. Between 1994 and 2005, six cemeteries were excavated which contained 110 graves dating from Archaic to Roman times. A variety of burial gifts including vases, figurines, metal tools, and jewelry were found in tile-covered, pit and cist graves, in burial pithoi, in cremations and in sarcophagi.
This study presents a selection of characteristic grave types, burial gifts (kterismata), and local burial customs found in these excavations. Some burial customs, such as the depositing of vases and figurines near stones outside of graves and the use of burial pithoi as cinerary urns, along with the use of pithoi and amphorae as burial pots (εγχυτρισμός) appear fairly frequently in cemeteries of the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries B.C. The custom of pot burials of children in Archaic pithos-amphorae is also found at Eretria, with which Karystos maintained political and religious ties throughout most of antiquity. A number of cremation burials, as well as the discovery of goat bones in open-form vases inside tombs characterize burials of the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods, along with the use of local limestone-sandstone for sarcophagi construction.
The study briefly presents representative vases and figurines from Classical to Hellenistic times, both local and imported from Attic, Eretrian, and other workshops. Preliminary research on the finds from the cemeteries of Karystos shows lekythoi, of the cylindrical and squat types, as the predominant shapes in 5th-century burials, and skyphoi and bowls (bolsals) in graves of the late 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Terracotta figurines, most of them locally produced, appear as burial gifts in the tombs of Karystos from the early 5th to the 3rd century B.C. Glass vases—often, unguentaria—and their clay counterparts appear in graves of the Roman period. Finally, this study includes remarks on parallel finds from other and previous excavations of ancient cemeteries at Karystos and elsewhere, as well as evidence from the sources and related epigraphic testimony.
The study of the cemeteries of ancient Karystos leads to the discovery of evidence for religious beliefs, burial customs, local resources, and social ties among the region’s ancient inhabitants. In parallel, study of the finds enriches archaeological data to enable research on local pottery and coroplastic production as well as metallurgy.
buildings located in the mountain range of Southern Euboea, the so-called drakospita or “dragon houses.”
Aspects of its history, collections and artefact documentation
through the study of its Photographic Archive and other archival sources.
Dr Maria Chidiroglou
Archaeologist - Curator
National Archaeological Museum,
Department of the Collections of Vases,
Metal and Minor Arts Artefacts
1 Tositsa Str., Athens 10682, Greece
[email protected]
[email protected]
The National Archaeological Museum, founded in Athens in 1866, is known through its Collections of Greek and Roman sculptures, ceramic vases, terracotta statuettes, bronze artefacts, glass vessels and jewellery. Its Photographic Archive, one of the oldest of the Greek Archaeological Service, recently implementing the updating and digitizing of its materials, houses analog, digitized and digital photographic documents, the earliest analog ones of which date in late 19th century. Many glass-plates and other early negatives of the Archive illustrate sculptures and vases acquired by the National Museum in its early period, as well as landscapes, views of early excavations, sites and monuments of the ancient Greek world.
This paper aims to briefly present moments from the early history of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens by tracing the context, provenance and excavation data of a number of example artefacts from its Collections. Photographs from the Museum Archive, early reports, documentation and other archival sources will help us investigate artefact data, as well as gain insights into the early archaeological research in Greece.
An overview of old and new finds.
A number of Attic and Euboean black-figure vases of the late Archaic and early Classical periods from the island of Euboea, housed in the National Archaeological Museum, as well as in other Museums, are decorated with plants, animals and mythical creatures. New, Attic and Euboean, black-figure finds from the sanctuaries and ancient cemeteries of Euboea have been added to this number, as well as instances of archaic to early classical examples of Euboean relief pithoi decorated with plants and animals.
In this paper an attempt is made to briefly present some of the main types and categories of animal and plant decoration known in Euboean pottery of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. and to explore the role these representations played, as generic images or symbolic keys, in the civic or rural life and religious beliefs of the ancient population of this island. The role of mythical creatures, such as sphinxes and sirens depicted on burial vases, is also briefly outlined and a few new finds of the archaic period are presented.
The paper includes mention of literary sources related to the subject, through the study of which a reconnaissance of some aspects of the ancient resource-landscape, as well as of some standard status-symbol motifs promulgated in long periods by the social and political elites of the main Euboean cities, such as Eretria, Chalkis and Karystos, is attempted.
Das griechisch-schweizerische Projekt über die «Drachenhäuser» der Region Styra konzentrierte sich 2021 auf die Ausgrabung des Drakospito von Ilkizes und die Untersuchung des Komplexes von Palli Lakka.
This paper reviews the main issues raised by the drakospita and proposes new research perspectives, of which the work carried out at the Ilkizes site (Euboea) in September 2020 constitutes the preliminary.
Online : https://www.antikekunst.org/fr/les-publications/die-grabungsberichte/esag/
Ancient Karystos (mod. Karystos), the main city-state at the southern tip of the island of Euboea, attracted the interest of archaeological research from the 19th century. The city of Karystos from Classical to Roman times lies at Palaiochora and Kokkaloi, south of the medieval Castel Rosso, while the modern-day city of Karystos extends south of the ancient one.
Recent rescue excavation work in southern Euboea showed that the necropolis of ancient Karystos consisted of small, probably family cemeteries found to the west, east, and south of the ancient city along ancient roads. Between 1994 and 2005, six cemeteries were excavated which contained 110 graves dating from Archaic to Roman times. A variety of burial gifts including vases, figurines, metal tools, and jewelry were found in tile-covered, pit and cist graves, in burial pithoi, in cremations and in sarcophagi.
This study presents a selection of characteristic grave types, burial gifts (kterismata), and local burial customs found in these excavations. Some burial customs, such as the depositing of vases and figurines near stones outside of graves and the use of burial pithoi as cinerary urns, along with the use of pithoi and amphorae as burial pots (εγχυτρισμός) appear fairly frequently in cemeteries of the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries B.C. The custom of pot burials of children in Archaic pithos-amphorae is also found at Eretria, with which Karystos maintained political and religious ties throughout most of antiquity. A number of cremation burials, as well as the discovery of goat bones in open-form vases inside tombs characterize burials of the Late Classical and Hellenistic periods, along with the use of local limestone-sandstone for sarcophagi construction.
The study briefly presents representative vases and figurines from Classical to Hellenistic times, both local and imported from Attic, Eretrian, and other workshops. Preliminary research on the finds from the cemeteries of Karystos shows lekythoi, of the cylindrical and squat types, as the predominant shapes in 5th-century burials, and skyphoi and bowls (bolsals) in graves of the late 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Terracotta figurines, most of them locally produced, appear as burial gifts in the tombs of Karystos from the early 5th to the 3rd century B.C. Glass vases—often, unguentaria—and their clay counterparts appear in graves of the Roman period. Finally, this study includes remarks on parallel finds from other and previous excavations of ancient cemeteries at Karystos and elsewhere, as well as evidence from the sources and related epigraphic testimony.
The study of the cemeteries of ancient Karystos leads to the discovery of evidence for religious beliefs, burial customs, local resources, and social ties among the region’s ancient inhabitants. In parallel, study of the finds enriches archaeological data to enable research on local pottery and coroplastic production as well as metallurgy.
buildings located in the mountain range of Southern Euboea, the so-called drakospita or “dragon houses.”
The present volume is the outcome of a conference held in Athens in 2021 and addresses the apotropaia and phylakteria from different perspectives such as literary sources, archaeological material and iconography.
All due publishing/ authors/ photographic copyrights, as well as any other legally prescribed, rightful copyright, preserved.
For photographs from the Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, in Athens:
Credit line: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
Copyright: © Hellenic Ministry of Culture / Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development (H.O.C.RE.D.).
Papers with results from surveys and excavation research in Karystia (southern Euboea), in Greek and English.
In the National Archaeological Museum in Athens are housed terracotta figurines of musicians from Attica, Euboea, Boeotia, the Aegean islands and various regions in Greece, as well as from sites in western Asia Minor, modern Turkey, such as Myrina and Smyrna. Examples include figurines of Eros and youths with lyres, flutes and cymbals, of Pan with pipes, female figurines with harps, kitharas, tambourines and other. They are dated in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods. These figurines can be studied in a number of ways. Their connection to graves or sanctuaries underscores popular religious beliefs and occasionally illustrates stories from myth. Their study also helps us gain insights into the standard types of string, wind and percussion musical instruments used in all regions in these periods, as well as of garment types often worn by figures of divine musicians, such as Apollo, or mortal ones.
In this paper a first presentation of some figurine types found in central Greece and Asia Minor grouped per site contexts and musical instruments is attempted, with the purpose of gaining information on aspects of music as performed and enjoyed by the ancients, especially as part of cultic and communal activities. Excavation and site information is supplied, where available, to help distinguish types of figurines found in graves, sanctuaries or domestic spaces. Another part of the paper briefly focuses on aspects of music education in antiquity. This subject is illustrated, among other instances, by a number of terracotta figurine groups of the National Archaeological Museum that were found in graves in Euboea and other Greek sites.
As a whole, this paper aims at a first selective examination of terracotta figurine types of musicians found in central Greece and parts of Asia Minor that are dated from the late 4th to the early 1st century BC.
Λόγω των υγειονομικών πρωτοκόλλων που επιβάλλουν περιορισμένο αριθμό συμμετεχόντων με φυσική παρουσία, οι εργασίες της Συνάντησης θα μεταδοθούν και διαδικτυακά. Για την παρακολούθηση της Συνάντησης είναι απαραίτητη η έγκαιρη εγγραφή σας στον ακόλουθο σύνδεσμο: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIufuitrz0vG9yyFfKNZ2NTgl6zDLVaXwNq
The session is sponsored by El Sec Shipwreck Re-excavation Project (Universitat de València).
https://www.amth.gr/news/epistimoniko-symposio-arhaiologiko-moyseio-thessalonikis-60-hronia