Kenan Tevfik Erim (13 February 1929 in
İstanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
– 3 November 1990 in
Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
) was a Turkish
archaeologist
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 landscap ...
who excavated from 1961 until his death at the site of
Aphrodisias
Aphrodisias (; grc, Ἀφροδισιάς, Aphrodisiás) was a small Ancient Greece, ancient Greek Hellenistic_period, Hellenistic city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Anatolia, Turkey. It is located near the modern village of ...
in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.
Life
His father, Tevfik Erim, was a diplomat who was a member of the Political Section of the Secretariat of the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
in the 1930s (attending as such the
Évian Conference
The Évian Conference was convened 6–15 July 1938 at Évian-les-Bains, France, to address the problem of German and Austrian Jewish refugees wishing to flee persecution by Nazi Germany. It was the initiative of United States President Franklin D. ...
) and of the Turkish delegation to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
in the 1950s. So, although of Turkish birth, Kenan Erim was raised and educated in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, Switzerland, and undertook university studies in the United States. He took his first degree in
Classical archaeology
Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about i ...
at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
(NYU) in 1953, and his Ph.D. at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
in 1958.
In 1957 he lectured at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
, and from 1958 on he was employed by NYU, where he became full professor in 1971. NYU still supervises the excavations at Aphrodisias to this day. There is a charming memorial to Professor Erim near the magnificently restored main gate.
Honours
*1961:
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
*1986: Liberty Medal of New York City
*1987: Commendatore of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy
*1988: National Geographic Society Centennial Medal
Bibliography
* 'Morgantina', ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 62 (1958), pp. 79–90 (reprinted in ''Morgantina Studies'' II, Princeton University Press, 1989)
* 'Two inscriptions from Aphrodisias', ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 37 (1969), 92-5
* 'A letter of Gordian III from Aphrodisias in Caria' (with
J. Reynolds), ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 59 (1969), 56-58
* 'The copy of Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices from Aphrodisias in Caria' (with J. Reynolds), ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 60 (1970), 120-140
* 'Diocletian's Currency Reform, a new inscription from Aphrodisias' (with J. Reynolds & M. Crawford), ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 61 (1971), 171-77
* 'Aphrodisias, Awakened City of Ancient Art', 'National Geographic Magazine' Vol. 141, No. 6 (1972), 766-791
* 'A portrait sculpture of Domitian from Aphrodisias, Opuscula Romana 9 (1973), 135-42
* 'The Aphrodisias copy of Diocletian's Price Edict' (with J. Reynolds), ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 63 (1973), 99-110
* 'Aphrodisias' (with J. Reynolds) in (edd. Inan, Alföldi), ''Römische und frühbyzantinische Porträtplastik aus der Turkei'' (Mainz, 1979), nos. 173-209
* 'A relief showing Claudius and Britannia from Aphrodisias', ''Britannia'' 13 (1982), 277-81
* 'Sculptors from Aphrodisias: some new inscriptions' (with C. Roueché), ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 50 (1982), 102-15
* ''Aphrodisias, City of Venus Aphrodite'', 1986
* Aphrodisias Bibliography (with J. de la Genière) in ''Aphrodisias de Carie: Colloque Lille 1985'', Paris, 1987, 159-165
* 'Sculptors of Aphrodisias in the inscriptions of the city', ''Festschrift J. Inan'' (Istanbul, 1989, appeared 1991), 517-538.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erim, Kenan
1929 births
1990 deaths
Archaeologists from Istanbul
Classical archaeologists
Classical scholars of New York University
20th-century archaeologists