Pittakis

Kyriakos Pittakis (1798 - 1863), Greek archaeologist. While serving in the Greek army against the Ottoman Empire, Pittakis was among the soldiers in a famous battle in 1821. The Turkish troops had control of the Acropolis; desperate for ammunition, they began to dismantle sections of the Acropolis in order to recover the lead clamps which they intended to use for bullets. When Pittakis and his cohorts learned of this, they sent bullets to the opposing army, in hopes that the Acropolis would be spared such destruction.

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Pittakis became Greece's first General Keeper of Antiquities. From 1837 to 1840, Pittakis supervised the reassembly of the Erechtheion. Thought well-intentioned, his ignorance drew criticism from architecture historians and archaelogists.

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Kyriakos Pittakis campaigned to collect epigraphical material in Athens, gathering inscriptions in the church of Megale Panagia, the Theseum, the Stoa of Hadrian and the Tower of the Winds. Such preservationary efforts have been considered significant contributions to Greek archaelogy.

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Sources:

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• Papageorgiou-Venetas, A. Athens: the Ancient Heritage and the Historic Cityscape in a Modern Metropolis. Athens (1994). p. 230.
• Funeral eulogy for Pittakis, by archaeologist and professor A. Rizos Rangavis, October 24, 1863.

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