Dr. Giorgos Papantoniou

IRCHSS Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow

I did my B.A. in History and Archaeology at the University of Cyprus (2003) and my Ph.D. in Classics at Trinity College Dublin (2008), where I also held an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS), Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009-10). I have also temporarily worked as an archaeologist in the Department of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus, and as a researcher and visiting lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Cyprus. I am currently holding a 3-year IRCHSS Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship co-funded by the European Commission (Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships) to work on the project entitled ‘Unlocking’ Sacred Landscapes: A Holistic Approach to Cypriot Sanctuaries and Religion. This project constitutes a collaboration between the Department of Classics, Trinity College Dublin and the Laboratory of Geophysical - Satellite Remote Sensing and Archaeo-environment, Foundation for Research and Technology, Hellas (FORTH), Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS).

Research interests

My main agenda for research is based on interdisciplinary approaches. Bringing together archaeological, textual, epigraphic, art-historical, and anthropological evidence, I work on ancient Cypriot ritual space, sanctuaries and religion from the Late Bronze Age to the Roman period.

I have recently completed the preparation of a monograph, which represents the first extended attempt to study the transition in Cyprus from the city-kingdoms to the Hellenistic period through religion, royal ideology and local responses thereto. Particular focus is placed on the art, architecture and archaeology of the island from the Archaic to the Hellenistic/early Roman period. The main research questions of the project are approached through three lines of investigation: 1. the study of sacred landscapes and architecture; 2. the study of cult and religious art (mainly sculptures and terracotta figurines) in specific case-studies; and 3. the study of the Hellenistic ‘portrait-like’ sculptures and their epigraphic manifestation. Moving beyond the field of Cypriot history and archaeology, the monograph aims to provide a paradigm for the study of religion in relation to social power in other fields of study, and a case-study for the enrolment of other areas of the Mediterranean into the political and cultural Hellenistic oikoumene.

My broader area of interest includes the interaction of Cyprus with other Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures, particularly mainland Greece, the Syro-Palestinian coast and Egypt. I am specifically interested in Greek sanctuaries and religion, Greek and Roman mystery cults, Greek sculpture and terracotta figurines, Hellenistic royal image on coins and statues, Alexander the Great, Hellenistic ruler cult, Ptolemaic Alexandria, ancient medicine, classical mythology, ancient imperialism, landscape archaeology and approaches to ancient art and iconography.

Selected publications

Monographs

• Papantoniou, G. forthcoming. Religion and Social Transformations in Cyprus: from the Cypriot Basileis to the Hellenistic Strategos. Leiden: Brill (The Mnemosyne Series).

Edited volumes

• Papantoniou, G. ed. 2008. POCA 2005. Postgraduate Cypriot Archaeology. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of Young Researchers on Cypriot Archaeology, Department of Classics, Trinity College, Dublin, 21-22 October 2005. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1803. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

• Papantoniou, G. forthcoming. ‘From the Cypriot City-kingdoms to the Hellenistic Period’. To appear in a textbook on ancient Cypriot history and archaeology prepared by the Open University of Cyprus, edited by M. Iacovou.
• Papantoniou, G. forthcoming. ’Cypriot Sanctuaries and Religion in the Early Iron Age: Views from Before and After’. In Cyprus and the Aegean in the Early Iron Age. The legacy of Nicolas Coldstream, edited by M. Iacovou. Nicosia: Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation.
• Papantoniou, G. forthcoming. ‘From Segmentation to Unification: Sacred Landscapes and Sculpture in the Construction of Hellenistic Island Identities’. In Hellenistic Cyprus, edited by G.E. Koiner, and A. Ulbrich. Graz.
• Papantoniou, G. 2011. ‘”Hellenising” the “Cypriot Goddess”: “Reading” the Amathousian Terracotta Figurines’. In From Pella to Gandhara: Hybridisation and Identity in the Art and Architecture of the Hellenistic East. British Archaeological Reports, edited by A. Kouremenos, S. Chandrasekaran, and R. Rossi, 35-48. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Journal Articles

• Papantoniou, G. 2009. ‘”Revisiting” Soloi-Cholades: Ptolemaic Power, Religion and Ideology’. Cahier 39 (Centre d’Études chypriotes): 271-87.

Book Reviews

• Papantoniou, G. 2011. Review of La coroplastie chypriote archaïque. Identités culturelles et politiques à l’époque des royaumes, by S. Fourrier. Babesch 86: 237-9.

Conference Proceedings

• Frangeskides, F., A. Lanitis, and G. Papantoniou. 2008. ‘A Contact-less Interactive Tool for Exploring Archaeological Data’. In VSMM 2008: Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Virtual Systems and Multimedia. Short Papers. 20-25 October 2008, Limassol, Cyprus, edited by M. Ioannides, A. Addison, A. Georgopoulos, and L. Kalisperis, 305-10. Budapest: VSMM Society.
• Papantoniou, G. 2008. ‘Cypriot Sacred Landscapes from Basileis to Strategos: Methodological and Interpretative Approaches’. In POCA 2005. Postgraduate Cypriot Archaeology. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of Young Researchers on Cypriot Archaeology, Department of Classics, Trinity College, Dublin, 21-22 October 2005. British Archaeological Reports, International Series 1803, edited by G. Papantoniou, 37-45. Oxford: Archaeopress (peer-reviewed).
• Sarris, A., G. Stamatis, N. Papadopoulos, E. Kokkinou, S. Topouzi, E. Kokkinaki, E. Moissi, M. Iacovou, V. Kassianidou, G. Papasavvas, G. Papantoniou, and M. Dikomitou. 2006. ‘Palaepaphos, Cyprus: The Contribution of Geographical Information Systems and Geophysical Prospection in the Study of the Archaeological Topography and Settlement Patterns.’ In The World is in your Eyes. CAA 2005. Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology. Proceedings of the 33rd Conference, Tomar, March 2005, edited by A. Figueiredo and G. Velho, 199-204. Tomar: CAA Portugal.

Contact Details

Department of Classics,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.

Telephone: 00 353 1 8961208
Fax: 00 353 1 6710862
Email: papantog@tcd.ie