250pxIoannis Dimitriou ( el, Ιωάννης Δημητρίου, 1826–''c.'' 1900) was a cotton and industrial merchant that worked in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and was a major donator of ancient Egyptian artifacts which he gave to the National Archaeological Museum in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He also worked in his home island of

Lemnos Lemnos or Limnos ( el, Λήμνος; grc, Λῆμνος) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Lemnos regional unit, which is part of the North Aegean region. The p ...

Biography

He was born in 1826 in the village of Pesperago on the island of

. From his early age, he worked in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

where many Lemnians lived at that time. He took part in cotton manufacturing, the industrial workforce in a cotton company. He cooperated with the British and amassed a great fortune. He was one of the eminent Lemnians in Egypt and along with the banker

John Antoniadis John Antoniadis also known as Ioannis Antoniadis (Greek: Ιωάννης Αντωνιάδης) is a Greek astrophysicist. He is mostly known for his research of radio pulsars, a type of rapidly rotating neutron stars. Education Antoniadis was ...

and the worker Kyriakos Christodoulos, he represented the Egyptian-Lemnian businessmen who actively came from the island. They took part in the councils that were necessary for the functioning of the schools of the Greek community. He was one of the first members of the Lemnian Brotherhood in Alexandria. He died in Alexandria in the first decade of the 20th century.

Antiquities collection

Dimitriou was also an amateur archaeologist and a collector of artifacts mostly on Ancient Egypt as well as of ancient coinage. He was among those who worked and spent money for the running of the Alexandria Greek Museum in 1895. He donated his collection of ancient artifacts to the National Archaeological Museum in

in 1890. His collection was the basis for the Egyptian collection of the museum. Between 1892 and 1898, he gave a collection of 10,000

Ptolemaic Ptolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy, and may refer to: Pertaining to the Ptolemaic dynasty * Ptolemaic dynasty, the Macedonian Greek dynasty that ruled Egypt founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter * Ptolemaic Kingdom Pertaining ...

coins to the

Numismatic Museum of Athens Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also includ ...

with the mediation of the Greek consul

Markos Dragoumis Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nélson Marcos, Portugu ...

. For the preservation of coins, he created two rich oaken coin libraries which are preserved in the museum.

Bibliography

* Chrysikopoulos V., «L’Histoire des Collections d’Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee National d’Athenes» (''History of Ancient Egyptian Collections at the National Museum of Athens''), 2001, Lyon, France, p 36 και 358-374: «Les Principaux Donateurs de la Collection d’Athenes: Alexandros Rostovitz et Ioannis Dimitriou». (''The Main Donators of the Athens Collestion: Alexandros Rostovitz and Ioannis Dimitriou'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitriou Ioannis 1826 births 1900s deaths People from Lemnos Greek archaeologists Greek industrialists