- Amedeo Maiuri
Amedeo Maiuri (
January 7 ,1886 -April 7 ,1963 ) was a renownedNeapolitan archaeologist, famous for his archaeological investigations of the Roman city ofPompeii which was destroyed in the eruption ofMount Vesuvius in August of A.D. 79.Born at
Veroli , Italy, from 1914 until 1924 the young Maiuri directed the Italian archaeological mission inGreece , with a focus onRhodes and the construction of a new museum there.In 1924, Maiuri was installed as the chief archaeologist of
Pompeii , serving as director until 1961. Maiuri's work at Pompeii was revolutionary and he exposed many remains, and proposed chronologies, that are still at the focus of scholarly discussion. Maiuri's work focused on one of below the destruction level when he chose to excavate one of the most famous houses of Pompeii, theHouse of the surgeon . He excavated theCasa dell'Efebo in Pompeii, and discovered a small bronze statue known as thePlacentarius , which is now housed in theNaples National Archaeological Museum .Maiuri excavated other cities destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius, such as
Herculaneum .He rediscovered the Cave of the
Cumaean Sibyl in May 1932. The Cave is a or passage over 131 meters long running parallel to the side of the hill and cut out of the volcanic stone.The few remains of the Tiberian villa Damecuta are the result of excavations done between 1937-48 by Maiuri (who also excavated
Villa Jovis ), on land donated to the Italian Government byAxel Munthe , celebrated author of "The Story of San Michele".His book, "L'anfiteatro flavio puteolano" (1955), is considered to be the definitive
monograph on the subject of the Flavian Amphitheater inPozzuoli .The model of the torch used in the 1960
Olympic Games inRome was inspired by Professor Maiuri from torches reproduced on ancient monuments.Maiuri died in
Naples in 1963.Bibliography
* Mairui, Amedeo. "L'anfiteatro flavio puteolano". Napoli : G. Macchiaroli, 1955. (OCLC OCLC search link|79380459)
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