Efi Oikonomou
I am a classical archaeologist (born July 10, 1976). I hold a Master of Arts in Archaeology of Rome and its Provinces (University of Southampton, United Kingdom, 2001) and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Archaeology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 2013).
Since 2002 I have been working for the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. Between 2002- 2003 I conducted field research and recording of antiquities for the IST (!6th) Ephorate of Antiquities. In 2003 I moved to the central Department of the Ministry of Culture (Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and then at the Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programs). Since 2014 I am curator at the Department of Collections of Vases, Minor Arts and Metalwork, at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
I have participated in European Research Programs and undertaken research as a collaborator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus. I have published extensively in editions of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, in Exhibition Catalogues and in Scientific Journals. My research interests mainly focus on ancient burial practices and the ideology they convey, while I am equally engaged in the study of iconography, as the process of image creating in mythmaking.
Moreover, from 2018 onwards, I am contacting a research, as part of a European research project on the use of cosmetic/medicinal minerals of antiquity (4th-3rd c BCE) from the perspective of the extant material culture, namely pellets and/or powders recovered from ceramic or metal containers, largely in female burials. By combining archaeological research, as well as microscopic and macroscopic methods, the project aims at providing answers for a series of questions, concerning the vessels’ use (based on literary testimonies in Classical times), the impact caused by their use, the criterion for the choice of the specific vessels as containers of pigments/ointments, the ingredients of the organic content, as well as the age, sex and status of the people who possessed or used those substances.
Since 2002 I have been working for the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. Between 2002- 2003 I conducted field research and recording of antiquities for the IST (!6th) Ephorate of Antiquities. In 2003 I moved to the central Department of the Ministry of Culture (Directorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and then at the Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programs). Since 2014 I am curator at the Department of Collections of Vases, Minor Arts and Metalwork, at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
I have participated in European Research Programs and undertaken research as a collaborator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus. I have published extensively in editions of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, in Exhibition Catalogues and in Scientific Journals. My research interests mainly focus on ancient burial practices and the ideology they convey, while I am equally engaged in the study of iconography, as the process of image creating in mythmaking.
Moreover, from 2018 onwards, I am contacting a research, as part of a European research project on the use of cosmetic/medicinal minerals of antiquity (4th-3rd c BCE) from the perspective of the extant material culture, namely pellets and/or powders recovered from ceramic or metal containers, largely in female burials. By combining archaeological research, as well as microscopic and macroscopic methods, the project aims at providing answers for a series of questions, concerning the vessels’ use (based on literary testimonies in Classical times), the impact caused by their use, the criterion for the choice of the specific vessels as containers of pigments/ointments, the ingredients of the organic content, as well as the age, sex and status of the people who possessed or used those substances.
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The iconographic representations uncovered in the elaborate Macedonian tombs is of utmost importance since it comprises the only preserved record of monumental iconography in historical times. Furthermore, forming an iconographic unity with the painted decoration preserved in the simpler burial monuments of Macedonia, they constitute bearers of messages of a period which marks the rise and fall of the Macedonian kingdom.
Given that the burial of a human being is integrated into a network of social and ritual symbols, the choice of a specific burial monument as much as the commission of the representation that will accompany the deceased is indicative of ideological concepts. In a continuously altering political and social setting the choice of iconographic circles in the burial monuments varies through time from a more archaic archetype advocating the life of the noble to the representation of warriors as well as of battle scenes.
Nonetheless, the representations related to the gods who preside over the burial rite and accompany the deceased during their passage to the Underworld are persistent from the middle of the 4th till the end of the 3rd c. B.C. In burial monuments, as refuge to the dead stand in attendance or their presence is alluded to, deities such as Demeter, Persephone, Pluto, Dionysus and Aphrodite, whose chthonic character is underlined not only by their appearance in funerary contexts, but also by the manner they are worshipped in the region, as well as by the occurrence of their symbols in sanctuaries of many cities. Moreover, in the burials prominent are objects associated with the mystic cults, in the enactment of which the deities, but also the relations between them, undergo transubstantiation, most characteristic being the example of Persephone, who from Demeter’s terrified daughter in the Eleusinian myth assumes the position of Ades’ equal partner, as Despina of the Kingdom of the Underworld.
The funerary representations, in combination with the rest of the co-findings, constitute testimonies of the influence exerted by the various mystic doctrines in the region, in response to the human need to partake of the divine and ensure a posthumous existence. Therefore, the presence of chthonic deities in burial monuments reflects not only the notions of the era, but also the anxiety of these specific deceased to declare their involvement with the divine and subsequently achieve a peaceful journey into the afterlife.
η κοσμογονία πραγματώθηκε με κέντρο τον άνθρωπο. Τα στοιχεία της φύσης μεταμορφώθηκαν σε τρομακτικά τέρατα, ενώ οι θεοί πήραν ανθρώπινη μορφή, λειτουργώντας άλλοτε ως προσηνείς παραστάτες και άλλοτε ως ανελέητοι διώκτες και τιμωροί.
The iconographic representations uncovered in the elaborate Macedonian tombs is of utmost importance since it comprises the only preserved record of monumental iconography in historical times. Furthermore, forming an iconographic unity with the painted decoration preserved in the simpler burial monuments of Macedonia, they constitute bearers of messages of a period which marks the rise and fall of the Macedonian kingdom.
Given that the burial of a human being is integrated into a network of social and ritual symbols, the choice of a specific burial monument as much as the commission of the representation that will accompany the deceased is indicative of ideological concepts. In a continuously altering political and social setting the choice of iconographic circles in the burial monuments varies through time from a more archaic archetype advocating the life of the noble to the representation of warriors as well as of battle scenes.
Nonetheless, the representations related to the gods who preside over the burial rite and accompany the deceased during their passage to the Underworld are persistent from the middle of the 4th till the end of the 3rd c. B.C. In burial monuments, as refuge to the dead stand in attendance or their presence is alluded to, deities such as Demeter, Persephone, Pluto, Dionysus and Aphrodite, whose chthonic character is underlined not only by their appearance in funerary contexts, but also by the manner they are worshipped in the region, as well as by the occurrence of their symbols in sanctuaries of many cities. Moreover, in the burials prominent are objects associated with the mystic cults, in the enactment of which the deities, but also the relations between them, undergo transubstantiation, most characteristic being the example of Persephone, who from Demeter’s terrified daughter in the Eleusinian myth assumes the position of Ades’ equal partner, as Despina of the Kingdom of the Underworld.
The funerary representations, in combination with the rest of the co-findings, constitute testimonies of the influence exerted by the various mystic doctrines in the region, in response to the human need to partake of the divine and ensure a posthumous existence. Therefore, the presence of chthonic deities in burial monuments reflects not only the notions of the era, but also the anxiety of these specific deceased to declare their involvement with the divine and subsequently achieve a peaceful journey into the afterlife.
η κοσμογονία πραγματώθηκε με κέντρο τον άνθρωπο. Τα στοιχεία της φύσης μεταμορφώθηκαν σε τρομακτικά τέρατα, ενώ οι θεοί πήραν ανθρώπινη μορφή, λειτουργώντας άλλοτε ως προσηνείς παραστάτες και άλλοτε ως ανελέητοι διώκτες και τιμωροί.