Ephor (archaeology)

[3] In 1834, the Greek Archaeological Service was established by the Archaeological Law of 10/22 May,[4] which also formally established the position of Ephor General of Antiquities (Greek: Γενικὸς Ἔφορος τῶν Ἀρχαιοτήτων), first held by Ludwig Ross after the abortive tenure of the architect Adolf Weissenberg.

[7] In 1871, the privately organised Archaeological Society of Athens, which had taken on some of the state's responsibility for excavating and managing cultural heritage,[8] began to appoint its own travelling ephors, known as 'apostles'.

[9] The first of these was Panagiotis Stamatakis, whose work formed the basis for several public archaeological collections throughout Greece;[9] he was followed in 1874 by Athanasios Dimitriadis, in 1880 by Dimitrios Philios, in 1882 by Christos Tsountas, in 1884 by Vasilios Leonardos, in 1891 by Andreas Skias and in 1894 by Konstantinos Kourouniotis.

Following pressure from members of the Archaeological Service, John Papadimitriou was appointed to lead it,[14] initially with the title of director of antiquities, in August 1958.

[16] The title was occasionally used by Spyridon Marinatos, appointed to lead the Archaeological Service during the Regime of the Colonels, then abolished again in 1982.