Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Archaeologist · Excavator · Collector · Donor

Ferdinand Dümmler

1859–1896 · Germany

German classical scholar who spent the summer of 1885 in Cyprus with Max Ohnefalsch-Richter, examined Cesnola's Curium findspot, and whose Cypriot purchases went to Berlin and Kassel.

Biography

Ferdinand Dümmler was born at Halle on 10 February 1859 and died at Basel on 15 November 18965. He travelled in the Mediterranean, became a lecturer at Giessen and later a professor at Basel1.

On 26 June 1885 he applied to excavate at Agia Paraskevi, Phoinikiais, Alambra and between Psematismenos and Maroni, with Max Ohnefalsch-Richter as government overseer, and he gave up Agia Paraskevi on 11 July because of illness1. The Cyprus Museum catalogue records tombs that Ohnefalsch-Richter opened for him at Agia Paraskevi, Alambra, Idalion, Laksha and Psemmatismeno2. M. Recke writes that Dümmler was entitled to a share of the finds but renounced it so that the tomb groups would stay together; they were later dispersed from the Museum between 1889 and 18943. With Ohnefalsch-Richter he also examined the spot where Luigi Palma di Cesnola said the Curium Treasure had been found and found undisturbed earth2,4. On 4 September 1885 Cesnola wrote to his lawyer in Limassol asking who Dümmler was4.

He published the results as "Aelteste Nekropolen auf Cypern" in Athenische Mittheilungen 11 (1886)10. Schmid reads it as containing criticism of Cesnola alongside his own work at Phoinikiais, Dali and Alambra1. In a letter from Rome of 7 February 1887 he supported Ohnefalsch-Richter in his dispute with the Cyprus Museum1.

Objects he had bought in Cyprus went in 1896 to the Berlin Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte as a gift, and Kassel received Cypriot material from his estate in 18993.

Life and work

  1. 26 June 1885
    Application to the Cyprus government to excavate at Ag. Paraskevi, Phoinikiais, Alambra and between Psematismenos and Maroni, with Ohnefalsch-Richter as government overseer; states he was sent by the German Imperial Institute to study and report on Cypriot antiquities (Cyprus State Archives, as reported by Schmid). He says he readily obtained the permit.

    NicosiaSchmid 2025, p. 72

  2. 11 July 1885
    Gave up digging at Ag. Paraskevi because of illness and said he would start at Phoinikiais, then Alambra and a spot between Psematismenos and Maroni.

    Agia ParaskeviSchmid 2025, p. 72

  3. June–September 1885
    Stay in Cyprus June to September 1885. Myres/O-R's Catalogue records tombs opened by O-R 'for' or 'with' Dümmler at Agia Paraskevi, Alambra (one tomb in each of two necropoleis), Idalion (Dali), Laksha (two graves) and Psemmatismeno (two tombs plus two more); contents went to the Cyprus Museum and were dispersed 1889-94.

    CyprusMyres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899Schmid 2025, p. 72

  4. 1885
    With O-R examined, before numerous witnesses, the spot where Cesnola said he found the 'Curium Treasure': undisturbed earth at a small depth; the Catalogue treats this as an absolute refutation of Cesnola's story. On 4 Sept 1885 Cesnola wrote from New York to his Limassol lawyer asking who Dümmler was. Dümmler also toured with O-R (Chytroi).

    KourionMyres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899Buchholz 1989

  5. 1886
    Published 'Aelteste Nekropolen auf Cypern', Athenische Mittheilungen 11, 209-262: Cypriot tombs from his visit plus comparison with Cesnola's earlier finds, about which he was very critical; he labels excavations at Phoinikiais, Dali and Alambra as his own.

    AthensSchmid 2025, p. 72Given 2025

  6. 7 February 1887
    Wrote from Rome to the High Commissioner (presumably) enclosing an offprint, backing O-R in his dispute with the Cyprus Museum; says the 1885 excavations were done on behalf of the Imperial German Archaeological Institute.

    RomeSchmid 2025, p. 72

  7. 1896
    Gave the antiquities he had bought in the Cypriot art trade (the Berlin entry lists 'Agia Paraskevi, Karpassia') to the Berlin Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte.

    BerlinRecke 2012, p. 91Recke 2012, p. 107

  8. 1899
    Kassel, Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, received Cypriot material (4 stone, 61 ceramic, 11 terracotta items, 1 stone vessel, 2 spindle whorls in the Kassel entry) 'aus Nachlass Ferdinand Dümmler'.

    KasselRecke 2012, p. 91Recke 2012, p. 111

Connections

5 people
Max Ohnefalsch-RichterCharles F. WatkinsAndreas VondizianoGeorgi SotiriLuigi Palma di CesnolaFerdinand Dümmler
FieldworkColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Cypriot antiquities acquired in the local art trade by Dümmler

    From Agia Paraskevi (Karpassia) per Berlin entryMuseum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, Berlin1896Recke 2012, p. 107

  • Cypriot antiquities from his estate

    Museum Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel1899Recke 2012, p. 111

  • 1885 tomb groups from Agia Paraskevi, Alambra, Idalion, Laksha, Psemmatismeno; Dümmler explicitly renounced his share to keep the groups together

    Cyprus Museum, Nicosia1885Recke 2012, p. 91Myres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899

Sources

  1. 1.Stephan G. Schmid (2025). “Was there an official German interest in the archaeology of Cyprus between 1878 and 1914?”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960, 69-92. Leiden, Sidestone Press.
  2. 2.J. L. Myres, M. Ohnefalsch-Richter (1899). A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  3. 3.Matthias Recke (2012). “Deutschland und das antike Zypern. Beiträge zur Geschichte einer archäologischen Disziplin”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 42.
  4. 4.H.-G. Buchholz (1989). “Max Ohnefalsch-Richter als Archäologe auf Zypern”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 3-27.
  5. 5.Wikidata / GND (2026). Ferdinand Dümmler (Q97772; GND 116238925). Online
  6. 6.A. G. Marangou (ed.) (2000). The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and Deeds.
  7. 7.Michael Given (2025). “Over the landscape, in the landscape? Knowledge and agency in Cypriot archaeology, 1870-1910”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960. Leiden, Sidestone Press.
  8. 8.J. A. R. Munro (1891). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1890: Third Season's Work: Polis tes Chrysochou”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 12, 298-330.
  9. 9.F. Duemmler (1889). “Review of P. Herrmann, Das Gräberfeld von Marion auf Cypern”. American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts 5, 342.
  10. 10.F. Dümmler (1886). “Mittheilungen von den griechischen Inseln, IV. Aelteste Nekropolen auf Cypern”. Mittheilungen des Deutschen Archaeologischen Instituts, Athenische Abtheilung 11, 209-262.
  11. 11.P. Wolters (1917). Aus Ferdinand Dümmlers Leben. Dichtungen, Briefe und Erinnerungen, den Freunden.
  12. 12.T. Stylianou-Lambert, A. Bounia (2016). The Political Museum: Power, Conflict, and Identity in Cyprus.