Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Foreman · Excavator · Guide · Dealer

Gregorios Antoniou

fl. 1879–1930 · Cyprus

Foreman who supervised excavations in Cyprus for the Cyprus Exploration Fund, the British Museum and Hogarth, and later worked at Knossos and Ephesus.

Biography

Gregorios Antoniou was foreman on British excavations at Kouklia, Polis, Salamis and Amathus between 1888 and 1897. Max Ohnefalsch-Richter took him on as pioneer, foreman and overseer in 1883 according to Kypros, the Bible and Homer; Buchholz and Recke date the start to 18801,2,3.

For the Cyprus Exploration Fund he was foreman at Kouklia in 1888, at Polis in 1889, where the excavators credited him with proverbial skill in choosing sites, and at Salamis in 18904,6,7. He was employed for the British Museum at Amathus in 1893 and was superintendent there in 1896-978,9. In 1899 he scouted sites in the Karpas for Welch10. By February 1902 he was at Knossos, and in 1904-05 he was foreman at Ephesus for David Hogarth9,11. In 1916 he was at Polis again, for Menelaos Markides12. A notice of Hogarth in the Geographical Journal of 1928 says Antoniou travelled with him in Cyprus, Crete and on the Euphrates and corresponded with him for life13.

Given states that Antoniou also dug without a licence and bought from unlicensed diggers14. His dates of birth and death are not recorded.

Life and work

  1. 1880–1883
    Larnaca stonemason taken on by Ohnefalsch-Richter as pioneer, foreman and overseer (1880 in Buchholz and Recke; 1883 in Kypros)

    LarnacaOhnefalsch-Richter 1893, pp. 341Buchholz 1989, p. 9Recke 2018, p. 6

  2. 1888
    Foreman of the Cyprus Exploration Fund; moved from Leontari Vouno to Kouklia; spotted a jar handle that led to a line of tombs

    KoukliaGardner et al. 1888, p. 158Maier 1997, p. 130

  3. 1889
    Foreman at Polis for Munro and Tubbs, tomb-digger of proverbial skill who chose the sites; had worked the site for Williamson in 1886-87; read numerals but not letters

    Polis tis ChrysochouMunro & Tubbs 1890, pp. 4

  4. 1890
    Foreman of the CEF Salamis season; at his urging the column-drum site was explored

    SalamisMunro et al. 1891, p. 99

  5. 1893
    Employed at once for the BM Turner Bequest dig at Amathus; superintendent of BM excavations 1896-7

    AmathusGoring 1983, pp. 40-41Tatton-Brown 2001, pp. 169

  6. 1899
    Scouted Carpass and Skilloura sites for Welch

    KarpasKiely 2015, p. 75

  7. 1902
    Arrived at Knossos from Cyprus as foreman (Mackenzie's diary, 17 Feb 1902)

    KnossosMomigliano 1999, p. 266

  8. 1904–1905
    Hogarth's foreman at Ephesus

    EphesusTatton-Brown 2001, p. 179 n. 7

  9. 1916
    Foreman for Markides at Polis

    Polis tis ChrysochouChilds et al. 2012, p. 18

  10. Undated
    NamedGiven (2025, 44) states that he also dug without a licence and bought from unlicensed diggers while serving as foreman; Hogarth recalled he knew islanders 'both legitimately and illegitimately'. No proceedings are recorded.

    Given 2025, p. 44

Connections

13 people
Max Ohnefalsch-RichterDavid George HogarthJohn Arthur Ruskin MunroJohn William WilliamsonMenelaos MarkidesPercy ChristianSir Arthur John EvansFrancis Bertram WelchH. Arnold TubbsSir Charles Leonard Wooll…Abraami CharalambosLoiso AnastasiReshid TchaoushGregorios Antoniou
FieldworkColleagues

Fieldwork & employment

Scholarship

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.Max Ohnefalsch-Richter (1893). Kypros, the Bible and Homer. London, Asher & Co.. Online
  2. 2.H.-G. Buchholz (1989). “Max Ohnefalsch-Richter als Archäologe auf Zypern”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 11-12, 3-27.
  3. 3.M. Recke (2018). Like Herrings in a Barrel: Max Ohnefalsch-Richter.
  4. 4.E. A. Gardner, D. G. Hogarth, M. R. James, R. Elsey Smith (1888). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1887-88”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 9, 147-271.
  5. 5.F. G. Maier (1997). “A hundred years after Hogarth: Digging at Aphrodite's Sanctuary at Palaipaphos”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 27, 127-136. Online
  6. 6.J. A. R. Munro, H. A. Tubbs (1890). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1889: Second Season's Work: Polis tes Chrysochou; Limniti”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 11, 1-99.
  7. 7.J. A. R. Munro, H. A. Tubbs, W. Wroth (1891). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1890: Third Season's Work: Salamis”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 12, 59-198. Online
  8. 8.Elizabeth Sarah Goring (1983). “Late Cypriot Goldwork, vol. 1”. PhD thesis, Bedford College, University of London.
  9. 9.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  10. 10.T. Kiely (2015). “Finds from Kouklia in the British Museum”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 45, 63-80.
  11. 11.N. Momigliano (1999). Duncan Mackenzie: a cautious canny highlander and the palace of Minos at Knossos. London.
  12. 12.W. A. P. Childs (ed.), J. S. Smith (ed.), J. M. Padgett (ed.) (2012). City of Gold: The Archaeology of Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum.
  13. 13. (1928). “Obituary: David George Hogarth”. Geographical Journal 71.
  14. 14.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.