[1][2][3] In an early age, his family settled in Bucharest, and later in Silistra where he spent most of his childhood.

[4][5] Fellow university students of Koumanoudis were Efthymios Kastorchis, Iraklis Mitsopoulos, Lysandros Kavtantzoglou and Emmanuel Kokkinos, who became notable teachers and archaeologists as well.

[4] He became a lecturer in 1845, and in 1846 he was appointed a professor of Latin philology of the University of Athens.

Among his discoveries, during his tenure at the Archaeological Society, were the Stoa of Attalos, Hadrian's Library, the Theatre of Dionysus, the Dipylon and the Kerameikos.

[10][11] His diary was preserved and transcribed by his great-grandson, fellow philologist Stefanos N. Koumanoudis, and published in 1980.