Michael Basil Cosmopoulos ( gr, Μιχαήλ Βασιλείου Κοσμόπουλος; born 1963) is Professor of Greek History and Archaeology with the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology; and Holder of the Endowed Professorship in Greek Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. He is a Fellow of the

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Academy of Science, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Corresponding Member of the Athens Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the

European Academy of Sciences and Arts The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laur ...

Early life and education

He was born in Athens in 1963 and graduated from the Anavryta Magnet High School. He studied Archaeology,

Ancient History Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

, Anthropology, and Classical Languages at the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

(B.A., summa cum laude, 1981), the University of Sorbonne-Paris IV (D.E.U.G., 1983), and

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

(M.A. 1986, Ph.D. 1991). He also holds a Diploma in

Underwater Archaeology Underwater archaeology is archaeology practiced underwater. As with all other branches of archaeology, it evolved from its roots in pre-history and in the classical era to include sites from the historical and industrial eras. Its acceptance has ...

from the Council of Europe (1984).

University career

In 1989, at the age of 26, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Classical Studies and

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, where he taught a wide range of subjects and received two teaching awards. At the University of Manitoba he founded the Center for Hellenic Civilization. In August 2001 he moved to St. Louis to take up the Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundation Endowed

Professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Studies as Professor of

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

and

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

with the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Archaeological work

He has excavated at various

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

s in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, including

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; grc, Μυκῆναι or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos; and south of Corinth. ...

Epidavros Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city (''polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: '' Palaia Epidavros'' and '' Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong to ...

, Ancient Corinth,

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

Oropos Oropos ( el, Ωρωπός) is a small town and a municipality in East Attica, Greece. The village of Skala Oropou, within the bounds of the municipality, was the site an important ancient Greek city, Oropus, and the famous nearby sanctuary of ...

and

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

(now Berezan) in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

. He is the director of Archaeological Research in Eleusis and since 1999 he directs the excavations of the

Archaeological Society of Athens The Archaeological Society of Athens (Greek: Εν Αθήναις Αρχαιολογική Εταιρεία) is an independent learned society. Also termed the Greek Archaeological Society, it was founded in 1837 by Konstantinos Bellios, just a fe ...

Iklaina Iklaina ( el, Ίκλαινα) is a historic village in the municipal unit of Pylos, Messenia, Greece. The settlement, which is situated in low hills approximately northeast of Pylos, stands upon the remains of a Late Bronze Age (ca. 1600-1100 BC) ...

Messenia (IK.A.P.: Iklaina Archaeological Project) near Pylos. His excavations in Iklaina brought to light an important center of

Mycenaean civilization Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland ...

with

Cyclopean walls Cyclopean masonry is a type of stonework found in Mycenaean architecture, built with massive limestone boulders, roughly fitted together with minimal clearance between adjacent stones and with clay mortar or no use of mortar. The boulders typic ...

frescoes Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...

, paved streets, and the oldest record of Linear B of

Mainland Greece Greece is a country of the Balkans, in Southeastern Europe, bordered to the north by Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria; to the east by Turkey, and is surrounded to the east by the Aegean Sea, to the south by the Cretan and the Libyan Seas, ...

Greek Studies

Cosmopoulos has been actively involved in the

dissemination To disseminate (from lat. ''disseminare'' "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Meaning Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view ...

of Greek Studies in North America. In Canada, in addition to the Hellenic Center at the University of Manitoba, he founded the Pan-Macedonian Association of Manitoba, and the Canadian Committee for the Restitution of the

Parthenon Marbles The Elgin Marbles (), also known as the Parthenon Marbles ( el, Γλυπτά του Παρθενώνα, lit. "sculptures of the Parthenon"), are a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of the architect and sc ...

. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, he created the University of Missouri–St. Louis Greek Studies Program, with annual enrollments of 300 students and one of the few Degrees of Greek Studies in North America. He also founded the Nicholas and Theodora Matsakis Center for Hellenic Culture. He has organized many international conferences, public lectures, and events to inform the Canadian and US public on issues of

Greek culture The culture of Greece has evolved over thousands of years, beginning in Minoan and later in Mycenaean Greece, continuing most notably into Classical Greece, while influencing the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. Other cul ...

. He has given hundreds of lectures on Greek archaeology issues in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and the UK. For his research accomplishments he has been awarded the Canada Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research in the

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

. He has also received numerous

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely ...

awards, including the Archaeological Institute of America Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Publications

Cosmopoulos has published 16 books and more than 100 articles and scholarly papers on the archaeology, culture, and socio-political history of

ancient Greece Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of Classical Antiquity, classical antiquity ( AD 600), th ...

. His books include: * 2018: Iklaina. The Monumental Buildings. . * 2016: The Political Geography of a Mycenaean District. The Archaeological Survey at Iklaina. . *2015: Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. . *2014: The Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis. The Bronze Age, Vols. I-II. Library of the Athens Archaeological Society 295–296, Athens. . *2007: Experiencing War: Trauma and Society in Ancient Greece and Today. Ares Publishers, Chicago. . *2004: The Parthenon and Its Sculptures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge . *2004: Η Νάξος και το Κρητομυκηναϊκό Αιγαίο. Στρωματογραφία, Κεραμική και Οικονομική Οργάνωση του Υστεροελλαδικού Οικισμού στη Γρόττα. Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, Δημοσιεύματα Περιοδικού Αρχαιογνωσία, Αρ. 3 ( *2003: Greek Mysteries. The Archaeology and Ritual of Greek Secret Cults. Routledge, London and New York . Greek translation: Ελληνικά Μυστήρια. Αρχαιολογία και Τελετουργικό των Αρχαίων Ελληνικών Μυστηριακών Λατρειών, Eκδόσεις Ενάλιος, Αθήνα 2007 *2001: The Rural History of Ancient Greek City-States: the Oropos Survey Project. British Archaeological Reports-International Series 1001, Oxford *2001–2008: Journal of Modern Hellenism (co-editor, with A. Gerolymatos, H. Psomiades, C. Ioannides) *1992: Macedonia. An Introduction to its Political History. Manitoba Studies in Classical Civilization. Winnipeg . *1991: The Early Bronze 2 in the Aegean. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology XCVIII. Jonsered.. *1984: Νεολιθική Μικρά Ασία. Αθήνα *1982: Αρχαικα Εργαστήρια Γλυπτικής. Η Σάμος. Αθήνα *1981: Υστεροελλαδικοί Θαλαμωτοί Τάφοι. Αθήνα *1979: Περικλής. Εκδόσεις Παπαδήμα. Αθήνα.

References

External links

University of Missouri page

Michael Cosmopoulos Home Page

University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

Greek Professorship University of Missouri

Archaeological Project of Iklaina, Pylos, Messinia

Article about Naxos in the Oxford Journal of Archeology

"The Future of the Greek Language in America" (op-ed in the Greek daily newspaper "TO BHMA" 04.11.2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cosmopoulos, Michael Archaeologists from Athens Living people 1963 births University of Paris alumni National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni Greek emigrants to the United States People from Athens Greek expatriates in France University of Missouri–St. Louis faculty