John Papadimitriou

John K. Papadimitriou (; was followed by March 1. In this article, this date and all subsequent dates are given in the "New Style" Gregorian calendar, while dates before it are given in the "Old Style" Julian calendar.}} – April 11, 1963) was a Greek archaeologist. Along with George Mylonas, he excavated Grave Circle B, the oldest known monumentalized burials at the Bronze Age site of Mycenae.

The son of a schoolteacher, Papadimitriou studied archaeology and literature at the University of Athens. He served briefly in the Hellenic Navy and entered upon an academic career, before taking a post with the Greek Archaeological Service in 1929. Early in his career, he excavated on Corfu and at Nicopolis, and published two short studies on archaeological history. He also studied abroad at the Humboldt University of Berlin, which awarded him a doctorate in 1935.

During the Axis occupation of Greece, Papadimitriou joined the communist-led National Liberation Front; his left-wing views attracted suspicion and sometimes hostility from the Greek establishment in the years after the war, under Greece's strongly anti-communist regime. He excavated at the Sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron in Attica, and at the Sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus, though both projects were largely sidelined by the discovery of Grave Circle B, of which he became the excavation's co-director. Work on the grave circle continued until 1954.

Following a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Papadimitriou returned to his excavations in Greece, where he unearthed the Temple of Artemis at Brauron, identified the Cave of Pan at Oenoe, and excavated the Piraeus Artemis, Apollo and Athena statues. He was placed in charge of the Archaeological Service in 1958, and presided over a period of reform, expansion, and improvement. He was in post at the time of his death, from a heart attack, on April 11, 1963. Many of his reforms were undone by his long-time opponent, Spyridon Marinatos, who led the Archaeological Service under the Greek junta that came to power in 1967. After the fall of the junta in 1974, Papadimitriou's reputation was rehabilitated and the service was further reformed along the lines he had begun. Provided by Wikipedia