Vassos Karageorghis (

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 ...

: Βάσος Καραγιώργης) FBA (29 April 1929 – 21 December 2021) was a Cypriot archaeologist and director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus.

Biography

He attended the

Pancyprian Gymnasium The Pancyprian Gymnasium (Greek: Παγκύπριον Γυμνάσιον) is the oldest still operational high school in Cyprus, founded in 1812. History In the same location as the current school there was an older school established in 1753 kn ...

, he studied Classics in 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 ...

and at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, having the chance to excavate at

Verulamium Verulamium was a town in Roman Britain. It was sited southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, England. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon ...

under

Sir Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales a ...

. He was Assistant Curator of the Cyprus Museum between 1952 and 1960 and Curator from 1960 until 1963. Afterwards with the retirement of

Porphyrios Dikaios Porphyrios Dikaios (Greek: Πορφύριος Δίκαιος) FSA (16 August 190423 August 1971) was a Greek Cypriot archaeologist born in Nicosia. He studied archaeology in the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, in the British ...

he became Director of the Department of Antiquities from 1963 to 1989. He is notable for the excavation of the Iron Age necropolis of Salamis, his excavations at

Kition Kition ( Egyptian: ; Phoenician: , , or , ; Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ) was a city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus (in present-day Larnaca). According to the text on the plaque closest to the excavation pit of the Kathari site (as of ...

and Geometric necropolis at Palaepaphos. He published extensive catalogues of Cypriot collections in museums in Cyprus and abroad. In 1981, Karageorghis became a founding member of the

World Cultural Council The World Cultural Council is an international organization whose goals are to promote cultural values, goodwill and philanthropy among individuals. The organization founded in 1981 and based in Mexico, has held a yearly award ceremony since 198 ...

. He was Professor of archaeology and Director of the Archaeological Research Unit of the University of Cyprus. He died on 21 December 2021 at the age of 92.

Publications

A Cypriot Silver Bowl Reconsidered, 1. The Iconography of the Decoration
Metropolitan Museum Journal, v. 34 (1999)
Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
(2000)
The Cesnola Collection of Cypriot Art: Terracottas
(2016)

References

1929 births 2021 deaths Cypriot archaeologists Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy Founding members of the World Cultural Council Alumni of the University of London People from Famagusta District 20th-century archaeologists 21st-century archaeologists National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni Academic staff of the University of Cyprus {{Cyprus-bio-stub