Alexandros Andreou - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alexandros Andreou

Διεθνής Διημερίδα Νομισματικής "Μάντω Οικονομίδου" Αθήνα, 20-21 Απρίλιου 2016, Πράκτικά συνεδρίου της Ζ΄Επιστημονικής Συνάντησης αφιερωμένης στη μνήμη της Μάντως Οικονομίδου, Ελένη Παπαευθυμίου (επιστημονική επιμέλεια) έκδοση των φίλων του ΝΜ (Αθήνα 2018) , 2018

ACQUISITIONS OF ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN TIMES OF THE NUMISMATIC MUSEUM (1964-2015) The Athens Num... more ACQUISITIONS OF ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN TIMES
OF THE NUMISMATIC MUSEUM (1964-2015)
The Athens Numismatic Museum collection counts more than 600.000 ancient and modern
objects, mainly coins but also lead seals, gems and medals, which come from donations
of individuals, purchase through private sponsorship or state funds or repatriation of illicit
traffic of Cultural Heritage.
The conference dedicated to the memory of Mando Oeconomides is a trigger to the
presentation of a minimum part of the acquirements during her time, which have been
studied and published by her, as well as of those acquired by her successors, Ioannis
Touratsoglou (1995-2001), Despoina Evgenidou (2002-2011) and Georgios Kakavas
(2012 up to this day).
The selection of the acquirements of the years 1964-2015, an indicative example of
the museum’s rich collections, was very difficult since they are all distinguished objects,
witnesses of history, economy, society and art. We decided to publish some unique coins, coin
hoards and coins binded in jewel, in terms of their rarity, scientific interest and artistic value.

in K. Liampi – Cl. Papaevangelou-Genakos – D. Plantzos (eds), Coinage / Jewellery. Uses – Interactions – Symbolisms from Antiquity to the Present, International Conference Proceedings, Ios, 26-28 June 2009 (Athens 2017), 179-196

In the ancient Greek world, jewellery made of a variety of materials has been associated with ma... more In the ancient Greek world, jewellery made of a variety of materials has been associated with many aspects of public and private life. They were offered in births and weddings, worn for beauty purposes, linked to personal experiences, had an important role in religious life as part of cult ceremonies and practices and often accompanied their owners in afterlife.
The presence of jewellery inside sanctuaries is related to the offering of material goods to the gods to express gratitude and ensure their goodwill, a particularly significant act on both a social and economic level.
Jewellery belongs to the group of precious objects offered primarily by women –but also by men- to deities in a strictly pre-arranged context of recompense. They constitute essentially an act of reverence; yet, at the same time they are offered in order to induce the divine benevolence towards the worshippers in the hope that they will benefit in return with immaterial goods necessary in the various stages of human life, such as good fortune in marriage and childbirth, health and prosperity. A second equally significant reason for this practice was to promote oneself and display one’s status superiority over other members of the society. Moreover, precious jewellery had monetary value and was counted among the private and public movable property accordingly.
Valuable information on the type and amount of jewellery attested to sanctuaries, the persons who offered it and the areas it was kept derives from inventory lists, excavations and occasionally the objects themselves.

in E. Apostolou – Ch. Doyen (eds), Coins in the Peloponnese: Mints, Iconography, Circulation, History. From Antiquity to Modern Times, Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique Supplément 57 / Οβολός 10, volume I: Ancient Times (Athens 2017), 97-107, 2017

Coins have been a significant presence in sanctuaries in the Peloponnese since the end of the 6th... more Coins have been a significant presence in sanctuaries in the Peloponnese since the end of the 6th century BC due to their association with cult practices and activities that took place there. Causes should be explored within the economic and social context of values implemented chiefly in the city-state and the religious environment in general. Coins are offered to deities as, on one hand, an expression of piety and on the other, a means of recompense in order to ease relations between the devotee and the divinity, to redeem the divine favour and to attain social prestige. At the same time, the function of coins is instrumental in numerous situations, as expected in a society that has adopted a monetary economy reflected primarily in the use of coinage. It is connected with the organization of pan-Hellenic games and festivals in honour of the gods. It is utilized in transactions carried out within the sanctuaries’ premises. It is traced in the completion of ambitious construction programmes and the commission of artistic creations. Finally, coins constitute an indirect testimony on the origins of all –representatives, travellers, pilgrims, soldiers, merchants– visitors in these sacred places.

The aim of this entry is to present the topographic, archaeological numismatic and epigraphic ev... more The aim of this entry is to present the topographic, archaeological numismatic and epigraphic evidence of Laodicea ad Lycum in Phygia

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 2011

... Most of them are based in the idea of drawing an Ag-profile from the surface to the bulk of t... more ... Most of them are based in the idea of drawing an Ag-profile from the surface to the bulk of the object (LA-ICP-MS [11], PIXE and RBS [1]). Within this study a set of three complementary XRF methodologies is proposed to be ... Coins preservation state and pre-analysis treatment. ...

This paper aims to present the depiction of the star and the moon on ancient coins through some e... more This paper aims to present the depiction of the star and the moon on ancient coins through some examples from the NM collections dating from the Classical to the Hellenistic periods. In most cases the celestial bodies shown on the coins were related to the patron deities of certain cities, while in some cases they were also connected to historical events or even with political propaganda.

TERRACOTTA HEAD OF AN ELDERLY MALE FIGURE FROM IOANNIS MILIADIS EXCAVATIONS ON THE SOUTH SLOPE OF... more TERRACOTTA HEAD OF AN ELDERLY MALE FIGURE FROM IOANNIS MILIADIS EXCAVATIONS ON THE SOUTH SLOPE OF THE ACROPOLIS. A PORTRAIT OF A PHILOSOPHER;
In 1957, in the excavations conducted by I. Miliadis in the site of the sanctuary of the Nymphe on the south slope of the Acropolis, the terracotta head of an old male figure, bald and bearded, came to light. On the basis of styllistic similarities in the rendering of the pupil and the iris of the eye, by incision, and the long beard with coiled locks, to the portraits of the emperors of the late Antonine period, such as of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, as well as the kosmetai, the head is dated to the late second century AD. The unique coroplastic work follows the artistic trends of the sculpture workshops of Athens in imperial times, which were carving busts in the type of the intellectual man, and the Second Sophistic movement, which gave impetus to the revival of philosophical currents, such as the Stoics and the Cynics. From the treatment of the back of the beard it is argued that the head was affixed to a bust adorning one of the private houses located in the quarter that developed around the sanctuary in Roman times.

ΑΡΓΤΡΟ ΣΑΣΗΡΑ ΚΑΡΠΑΘΟΤ Η Κάξπαζνο λεζί κε θαζαξά δσξηθό ραξαθηήξα θαίλεηαη κε ηα κέρξη ζηηγκήο δε... more ΑΡΓΤΡΟ ΣΑΣΗΡΑ ΚΑΡΠΑΘΟΤ Η Κάξπαζνο λεζί κε θαζαξά δσξηθό ραξαθηήξα θαίλεηαη κε ηα κέρξη ζηηγκήο δεδνκέλα λα έθνςε αξγπξνύο ζηαηήξεο θαη ηηο ππνδηαηξέζεηο ηνπο ζηελ αξρατθή επνρή κε εηθνλνγξαθηθό ζέκα ην δειθίλη. Ο εηθνλνγξαθηθή ζεκαηνινγηά ηεο θνπήο ην ζπλδέεη ίζσο κε ηνλ Πνζεηδώλα, ηε ζεόηεηα πνπ αληηπξνζσπεύεη όζν νπνηαδήπνηε άιιε ην ζαιάζζην ζηνηρείν. Ο Πνζεηδώλαο εμάιινπ ζπλδέεηαη θαη κε άιινπο κύζνπο

Η Κάρπάθος, νησί με καθαρά δωρικό χαρακτήρα, όπως προκύπτει από τα μέχρι στιγμής δεδομένα, έκοψε ... more Η Κάρπάθος, νησί με καθαρά δωρικό χαρακτήρα, όπως προκύπτει από τα μέχρι στιγμής δεδομένα, έκοψε στους αρχαϊκούς χρόνους αργυρούς στατήρες και τις υποδιαιρέσεις τους που είχαν ως εικονογραφικό θέμα το δελφίνι. Με βάση την εικονογραφική θεματολογία της κοπής, το νόμισμα συνδέεται ίσως με τον ποσειδώνα, τη θεότητα που αντιπροσωπεύει όσο καμία άλλη το θαλάσσιο στοιχείο. Εξάλλου, ο ποσειδώνας συνδέεται και με άλλους μύθους στα Δωδεκανήσα, όπως με την κόρη του, ρόδη, την οποία απέκτησε με την άλία, αδερφή των Τελχίνων της ρόδου, και από την οποία πήρε το όνομά του το ομώνυμο νησί. Επίσης, με την εξόντωση του Γίγαντα πολυβώτη, στον οποίο εκσφενδόνισε ένα τμήμα της Κω με αποτέλεσμα να σχηματιστεί το νησί Νίσυρος.

The application of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis in a non-invasive manner on ancient silver c... more The application of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis in a non-invasive manner on ancient silver coins may not provide reliable bulk compositional data due to possible presence of a surface, silver enriched layer. The present work proposes a set of three complementary analytical methodologies to assess and improve the reliability of XRF data in such cases: a) comparison of XRF data on original and cleaned micro-spots on coin surface, b) Ag K/L ratio test and c) comparison of experimental and theoretically simulated intensities of the Rayleigh characteristic radiation emitted from the anode. The proposed methodology was applied on 82 silver coins from the collection of Ioannes Demetriou, donated to the Numismatic Museum of Athens in the 1890s. The coins originate from different mints and are attributed to the first five Ptolemaic kings' reign (321-180 B.C.). They were analyzed in-situ by using a milli-probe XRF spectrometer. The presence of an Ag-enriched layer was excluded for the majority of them. The silver fineness was found to be high, with very low concentrations of copper and lead. The composition data provide important information about possible sources of silver during the Ptolemaic period and indications of a gradual coinage debasement after 270 B.C. due to economic or technical reasons.

Talks by Alexandros Andreou

Metallurgy in Numismatics, The Royal Numismatic Society, Special publication No. 56, 2020

The excavations of Valerios Stais (1897-1915) at the sanctuaries of Poseidon and Athena at Sounio... more The excavations of Valerios Stais (1897-1915) at the sanctuaries of Poseidon and Athena at Sounion, brought to light large and small scale diverse offerings. While monumental sculpture and architectural spolia have been published, the small finds have only recently been studied thoroughly, and their publication is in press. The excavation in 1907 of the bothros situated on the south east corner of the sanctuary of Poseidon, has revealed an interesting group of small objects of various materials including metal; among the latter one stands out, a bronze cast tool, a punch, first studied by Petros Calligas in 1997. His interpretation however, as well as those of other scholars, are challenged in this paper which will attempt to cast light on the most likely use of this tool, its importance and the circumstances that may have led to its presence in the sanctuary and its subsequent deposition inside the bothros, before 480/479 BC.

Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy, 2011

Metallurgy in Numismatics, The Royal Numismatic Society, Special publication No. 56, 2020