Achille Adriani

Achille Adriani (born April 23, 1905 in Naples ; died December 12, 1982 in Rome ) was an Italian classical archaeologist .

Achille Adriani, son of Luigi Adriani and his wife Luisa, née Numeroso, studied classical studies at the La Sapienza University in Rome. In 1926 and 1927 he took part in the excavations in Veii under the direction of Giulio Quirino Giglioli , the results of which he also published. In 1927 he was laureed from Giulio Emanuele Rizzo . In 1928 and 1930 he was a scholarship holder of the Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene . During these stays in Greece he took part in the Italian investigations on the Aegean island of Lemnos . In 1930 he successfully applied to the Italian antiquity administration and became an inspector at the Soprintendenza di Napoli , but in 1931 he was commissioned to investigate the ancient city of Minturnae in Lazio . A year later he became director of the Greco-Roman Museum in Alexandria , a position which he held initially until 1940, and from 1948 to 1952 after the Second World War . At the same time, before the beginning of the war, he was secretary of the Société d'archéologie d'Alexandrie and editor of the Annuaire du Musée Gréco-Romain d'Alexandrie .

During these years he extensively researched the topography, architecture and sculpture of Alexandria in Roman times , carried out investigations in the palace district of the city and in the necropolis of Mustafa Pascha. When the war broke out he was interned as a civilian in Egypt until 1944, after the war ended in 1945 he was employed as an inspector of the Soprintendenza alle antichità di Roma . In the following years up to 1959 he published extensively the results of his Alexandrian studies, from 1961 to 1966 four volumes of the basic work "Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto greco-romano" followed . In 1963 he became professor of archeology and ancient art history at the University of Palermo and began extensive and, for the first time, systematic studies of the city of Himera in northern Sicily , which he completed in 1967. In 1966 he was appointed to the chair of archeology at the University of Naples , in 1971 he moved to the University of La Sapienza, where he taught until his retirement in 1975.

Achille Adriani was one of the best connoisseurs not only of Alexandrian architecture and topography, but of Alexandrian art in general. In 1983/84 the three-volume “Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani” were published in his honor and in 1984 the Giornate di studio in onore di Achille Adriani was organized.

Memberships

• German Archaeological Institute (full member from 1939)
• Institut d'Égypte
• Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia
• Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei ,
• Accademia di Lettere, Archeologia e Belle Arti di Napoli
• Accademia di Lettere, Archeologia e Belle Arti di Palermo

Publications (selection)

A bibliography on the writings of Achille Adriani is available from: Elena Epifanio: Scritti di Achille Adriani. In: Giuseppina Barone, Elena Epifanio Vanni, Nicola Bonacasa, Antonino Di Vita (eds.): Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani. Volume 1. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1983, pp. XV – XIX.

• Scavi di Minturno, 1931-1933. Catalogo di sculture. 1938.
• Le gobelet en argent des amours vendangeurs du Musée d'Alexandrie. Société de publications égyptiennes 1939.
• Sculture in tufo. Bretschneider, Rome 1939.
• Documenti e ricerche d'arte alessandrina. Sculture monumentali del Museo Greco-romano di Alessandria. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1947.
• Testimonies e momenti di scultura alessandrina. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1948.
• Himera. Volume 1: Campagne di scavo 1963-1965. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1970.
• Lezioni sull'arte alessandrina. Libreria scientifica editrice, Naples 1972.
• posthumous: La tomba di Alessandro: realtà, ipotesi e fantasie. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 2000.

literature

• Sandro Stucchi: Adriani, Achille. In: Archeologia classica. Volume 22, 1980, pp. I-II.
• Ida Baldassarre: Adriani, Achille. In: Enciclopedia Italiana. Appendix 4. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1978 (Italian).
• Nicola Bonacasa, Antonino di Di Vita: Alessandria e il mondo ellenistico-romano: studi in onore di Achille Adriani. Three volumes. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1983-1984.
• Nicola Parise: Adriani, Achille. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 34. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1988 (Italian).
• Sandro Stucchi, Margherita Bonanno Aravantinos: Giornate di studio in onore di Achille Adriani: Roma, November 26-27, 1984. "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, Rome 1991.