Artemis Papatheodorou
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artemis-p.bsky.social
Artemis Papatheodorou
@artemis-p.bsky.social
200 followers 95 following 96 posts
Ottoman & Mediterranean history / History of archaeology

Marie Sklodowska Curie Global Fellow; Research project: Modern Mediterranean Archaeological Regimes in a Global Context (MMARe)

Co-editor: Bulletin of the History of Archaeology
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artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press! Check out the latest - open access - article by Maximilian Georg @bhajournal.bsky.social. Somewhere there, at the margins of the Mediterranean too, people were working on past remains... #MSCA #MMARe #HistoryOfArchaeology
bhajournal.bsky.social Bulletin of the History of Archaeology @bhajournal.bsky.social · 2d
New publication from the BHA! Check out Maximilian Georg on "The ‘New Romans,’ a Prestigious Museum, and a ‘Bosnian’ Identity: Archaeology and Colonialism in Austro-Hungarian Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1878–1918." Available #OpenAccess: archaeologybulletin.org/articles/10..... Abstract 👇

🗃️📚🏺
ustria-Hungary ruled Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had previously been under the Ottomans, from 1878 to 1918, under circumstances often described as ‘colonial.’ Austro-Hungarian rule was accompanied by extensive archaeological activities. This paper investigates how that archaeology was colonial in its purpose and practice. The Austro-Hungarians regarded Bosnia-Herzegovina as an archaeological ‘El Dorado,’ largely inaccessible in Ottoman times. While their occupation opened it up, archaeological remains now had to be saved from modernisation works as well as the ‘ignorance’ and ‘vandalism’ of local inhabitants. The new government emphatically supported the collection and excavation of archaeological objects across Bosnia-Herzegovina. It decreed their protection, while encouraging subordinate authorities and private citizens to make and report discoveries. Moreover, it established a Provincial Museum in the capital of Sarajevo, which exhibited and published prehistoric and Roman remains, and medieval tombstones. The objects were to teach the population their supposed Bosnian, pro-Habsburg identity, legitimise the Austro-Hungarian rulers as the new Romans, and demonstrate to Europe and the world the success of Austria-Hungary’s ‘civilising mission’ in an ‘oriental’ country. This ‘civilising mission’ under military occupation was the strongest indicator of an Austro-Hungarian colonialism. The individual archaeologists, most of whom came from other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, worked in that colonial situation, whether they supported it or not. Although their finds were not exported to the imperial capital of Vienna, and their archaeology openly relied on local assistance, the science of archaeology served the government as one of the non-violent tools for its soft-power style of rule.
December 12, 2025 at 7:21 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
4th workshop on Women in the Archaeology of Greece
CfP (31.12.2025) - Women Archaeologists and War
Organized by @efathenes.bsky.social and @britschoolathens.bsky.social on 9 & 10 March 2026
www.bsa.ac.uk/events/call-...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
British School at Athens : Call for papers – Women Archaeologists and War
4th workshop on Women in the Archaeology of Greece Call for papers – Women Archaeologists and War When: 09 & 10 March 2026 Where: EFA conference room | Didotou 6, Athens & British […]
www.bsa.ac.uk
December 11, 2025 at 3:49 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Conference - coming up! Exploring Reuse - Egypt, Mediterranea and the East (10-12 December, IFAO)
www.ifao.egnet.net/recherche/ma...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
IFAO - Manifestations scientifiques
L’IFAO fait partie du Réseau des Écoles françaises à l’étranger; il a pour vocation l’étude des cultures qui se sont succédé en Égypte depuis la préhistoire jusqu’à l’époque moderne.
www.ifao.egnet.net
December 9, 2025 at 3:45 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Coming up on December 8! Panel discussion on the Ottoman Aegean and antiquities @britschoolathens.bsky.social covering local communities, Ottoman officials, foreign diplomats & so much more: www.bsa.ac.uk/events/archa...
Happy to have been part of this project!
#MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
William Barlett, Rhodes, with the channel between the Islands and Asia Minor (1836), Wikimedia Commons From the BSA announcement: https://www.bsa.ac.uk/events/archaeology-in-the-ottoman-aegean-consuls-culture-commerce/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOb_NdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE3SzlyTVVFMEJudG54dE5tc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHrZSGVcsU0mDwsf5R221XlAHJtoBfDGGGFkkuGJb1ZaXsHZRbVgMvhnzFUdc_aem_xK4IlV-OWH1eVH7V3b2AKA
December 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Just made OA, the rich photo collection of Fahreddin (Türkkan) Pasha (1868-1948) also offers a glimpse into monuments protected under the Ottoman legislation on antiquities. Here, the Comnenian fortification walls in Trebizond/Trabzon/Trapezounta. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology #ircica
French text on photograph: Salut de Trébizonde. Murailles des Comnènes. Editeur: Théodore Stylianides. English translation: Greetings from Trebizonde. Walls of the Comnenes. Editor: Theodore Stylianides. Source: https://openaccess.ircica.org/items/21274ed8-5428-4377-ad09-78f19e9a7905 For the Fahreddin (Türkan) Pasha photographic collection more broadly, see: https://openaccess.ircica.org/communities/73322694-d203-46e2-accf-0e94f437bf81
December 2, 2025 at 4:08 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
#Thanksgiving: Three months into my #MMARe #MSCA fellowship, I look back with gratitude to the people who made it possible over the years: my family, teachers, university professors, administrators, directors, supervisors, funders, colleagues... I’m grateful to all of them!
A pink rose in a vase standing on a festive table. Photo by Artemis Papatheodorou, Thanksgiving Day, 27 November 2025.
November 28, 2025 at 12:25 AM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Smiley faces after our #HistoryOfArchaeology panel at the #MESA Annual Conference. With two of my co-panelists, Dr Ceren Abi (left) who works on WWI restitution & Dr Nilay Özlü (right) who presented on her cataloguing of Ottoman Archive docs from the Imperial Museum. Two great projects! #MMARe #MSCA
In the corridors of the Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference following our successful panel on the history of Ottoman archaeology. With Dr Ceren Abi (left) and Dr Nilay Özlü (right).
November 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Ready for the #MESA Annual Conference where I will present on the archaeological laws of the Ottoman Principality of Samos, in a wonderful panel on the #HistoryOfArchaeology. Did you know that Samos adopted laws on antiquities nearly 15 years before Constantinople? Do join us for more! #MMARe #MSCA
mesa1966.bsky.social Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) @mesa1966.bsky.social · Oct 10
Connect, learn, and grow at MESA 2025. Register now and don't miss out! mesana.org/annual-meeti...
November 20, 2025 at 2:53 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
On the occasion of the #GEM opening… Did you know that the Principality of Samos could boast of a 200-odd collection of Egyptian antiquities donated to its museum by the Gizah Museum in 1898? #MMARe looks into this fascinating story of an inter-Mediterranean export. #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
The Egyptian collection of Abbas Hilmi at the Old Museum in the Pythagoreion Highschool, Principality of Samos. Photograph taken in 1900. Source: Αρχαιολογικόν Δελτίον 27 (1972)
November 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
In 1859, when Prince Gkikas smuggled precious antiquities from the Principality of Samos to Moldavia & Wallachia, the islanders mobilized to get them back. And they did! #MMARe tries to shed light to this case. #InternationalDayAgainstIllicitTraffickinginCulturalProperty #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
Excerpt from a meeting by the General Assembly of the Samians where they discussed the smuggling of antiquities from the island by Prince Gkikas. The original to be found at the Samos branch of the Greek General State Archives (20 [illegible month] 1859, 1α).
November 14, 2025 at 5:45 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Citizen restitution: ““I felt a special kind of satisfaction. I don’t even know how to describe it. … I felt like I had done something good.” An article on a singular object return: www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
A Man Brought His Father’s ‘Piece of the Parthenon’ to Greek Officials. They Said It Was From an Even Older Temple in the Acropolis of Athens
The engraved marble fragment likely came from an archaic temple called the Hekatompedon, making it around 2,600 years old
www.smithsonianmag.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:20 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Deadline coming up! CfP “Mirages of Byzantium across the Arts in France (1821–1931),” a conference on the reception of Byzantium, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon: maryjahariscenter.org/blog/mirages...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
Mirages of Byzantium across the Arts in France (1821–1931) | Mary Jaharis Center
maryjahariscenter.org
November 6, 2025 at 4:55 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press and OA! The new issue of Diyar has a special section on the history of art and museology in the Ottoman Empire. Check it out: nomos-elibrary.de/de/document/...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
DIYÂR - Nomos eLibrary
Diyâr ist eine neue interdisziplinäre und Regionen übergreifende wissenschaftliche Fachzeitschrift, herausgegeben von der Gesellschaft für Turkologie, Osm…
nomos-elibrary.de
November 4, 2025 at 6:18 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press & with an amazing list of contributors! “Turning the Page, Archaeological Archives and Entangled Knowledge” edited by O. Bobou et al.: www.brepols.net/products/IS-...
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
Brepols - Turning the Page
Brepols is an international academic publisher of works in the humanities, with a particular focus in history, archaeology, history of the arts, language and literature, and critical editions of histo...
www.brepols.net
October 30, 2025 at 7:05 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press & OA! “Illicit excavation and the sale of ‘duplicate’ antiquities: Rupert Gunnis and the Cyprus Museum, 1926 1932” by Nicholas Stanley-Price at the CCEC: journals.openedition.org/cchyp/2109
Shared for reference; opinions not my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
Illicit excavation and the sale of ‘duplicate’ antiquities: Rupert ...
“After lunch to inspect the Museum – we were welcomed by Mr Markides and taken round by the Committee – it is very well arranged by Mr Markides who really is the father of the whole thing. There ar...
journals.openedition.org
October 28, 2025 at 2:55 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
On this #InternationalOpenAccessWeek (www.openaccessweek.org), let me share the link to #BulletinOfTheHistoryOfArchaeology (@bhajournal.bsky.social), the OA journal of which I am a co-editor. Many of the articles cover the Mediterranean: archaeologybulletin.org. #MSCA #MMARe #HistoryOfArchaeology
International Open Access Week
International Open Access Week is held annually to inspire global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge in order to address important social issues affecting people around the world. Open Acce...
www.openaccessweek.org
October 23, 2025 at 2:18 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
It’s #InternationalOpenAccessWeek (www.openaccessweek.org)! Did you know that all #MSCA project publications are open access? So will be those of #MMARe. Stay tuned! #HistoryOfArchaeology
International Open Access Week
International Open Access Week is held annually to inspire global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge in order to address important social issues affecting people around the world. Open Acce...
www.openaccessweek.org
October 21, 2025 at 6:50 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
On this #InternationalArchaeologyDay (oops, it was yesterday), I glance at these Fayoum portraits and feel as if they are inviting us to tell their story from their Egyptian necropolis to the display case of the RISD Museum. #MMARe helps us understand such journeys from a legal viewpoint! #MSCA
Three Fayoum portraits on the foreground and a mummy case on the background from the collections of the RISD Museum in Providence, RI (USA).
October 19, 2025 at 5:38 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Last week’s conference on the French Expedition in the Morea (1829) @IFG had a panel on History and Archaeology – now available online: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Circulated for reference only. The views expressed are not necessarily my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
Ημερίδα: Η Γαλλική Επιστημονική Αποστολή του Μοριά σήμερα | Journée d’étude : Revisiter l’Expédition française scientifique de Morée aujourd’hui - YouTube
Ανακαλύπτοντας την Πελοπόννησο | À la découverte du Péloponnèse Το Γαλλικό Ινστιτούτο Ελλάδος, η Γαλλική Σχολή Αθηνών και το Ινστιτούτο Ιστορικών Ερευνών του...
www.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Artemis Papatheodorou
cogutinstitute.bsky.social
Cultural historian Artemis Papatheodorou @artemis-p.bsky.social (Columbia University) explores Ottoman Greek oral histories in the talk “Oral History, Collective Memory, Photography, and Living People as Windows into the Past” Thursday, Oct. 16, 4–5:30 pm, on campus. buff.ly/OqYYumt
October 7, 2025 at 12:30 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
"Artistic Networks of Trust - Collecting and Dealing in Times of War and Diplomacy:" A conference on Calouste Gulbenkian and his era; in person & online, 8-10 Oct. 2025
gulbenkian.pt/en/agenda/ar...
Circulated for reference only. The views expressed are not necessarily my own. #MMARe #MSCA
Artistic Networks of Trust
The Calouste Gulbenkian Conference in Art History, in its second edition, offers a reflection on networks of trust in the art world, through the lens of Calouste Gulbenkian’s life and transnational ac...
gulbenkian.pt
October 7, 2025 at 8:12 AM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press! “All for a Silver Vase? Osman Hamdi Bey’s Indignant Resignation Letter from the Ottoman Imperial Museum” -Erhan Tamur in Keshif
journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/ke...
Circulated for reference only. The views expressed are not necessarily my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
All for a Silver Vase? Osman Hamdi Bey’s Indignant Resignation Letter from the Ottoman Imperial Museum | Keshif
journals.univie.ac.at
October 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Roaming the halls of archives and libraries in Athens these days for the fruits of research. Here at the Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens for the reports of the Greek archaeologists who conducted excavations in the Smyrna Zone between 1919 and 1922.
#MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
The 1924 volume of the Archaeologikon Deltion found at the Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens.
October 1, 2025 at 2:45 PM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Hot off the press & OA: “Hellenizing Mycenae: from Heinrich Schliemann's excavations to National Museum” by A. Kourkoulakos & V. Balaskas; Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Circulated for reference only. The views expressed are not necessarily my own. #MMARe #MSCA
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies: Volume 49 - Issue 2 | Cambridge Core
Cambridge Core - Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies - Volume 49 - Issue 2
www.cambridge.org
September 27, 2025 at 8:40 AM
artemis-p.bsky.social
Upcoming conference: More Stories about Things in Motion @ École française d'Athènes
On ancient objects travelling in the Mediterranean & beyond...
More info: www.efa.gr/events/more-...
Circulated for reference only. The views expressed are not necessarily my own. #MMARe #MSCA #HistoryOfArchaeology
More Stories about Things in Motion – EFA
www.efa.gr
September 23, 2025 at 1:19 PM