HANFMANN, GEORGE MAXIM ANOSSOV

HANFMANN, GEORGE MAXIM ANOSSOV (1911–1986), U.S. archaeologist. Hanfmann was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was educated at the University of Berlin. With the advent of the Nazis he was forced to leave Germany and went to Harvard. He became curator of classical art at the Fogg Art Museum in 1946 and professor of fine arts at Harvard in 1956. From 1958 he excavated at sardis as field director of the excavations in Turkey. He was largely responsible for the discoveries of the ruins and partial reconstruction of the Sardis synagogue. His earlier work specialized in Etruscan sculpture, but he extended his work by dealing with the interrelation between Greek and neighboring Near Eastern cultures in the Homeric and post-Homeric archaic age. Hanfmann's expertise ultimately encompassed Etruscan sculpture, Roman sarcophagi, Anatolian city planning, Hellenistic survivals in Byzantine art, Near Eastern narrative, and ancient technology, especially metallurgy. In honor of Hanfmann and his contributions to classical archaeology and Greek and Roman art, the Hanfmann Lectureship was established in 1988 by the Archaeological Institute of America. Scholars who hold the position specialize in one or more of the subjects to which Hanfmann was dedicated. Hanfmann's publications include Season Sarcophagus in Dumbarton Oaks, 2 vols. (1951), Etruskische Plastik (1956), Roman Art (1964), Classical Sculpture (1967), Letters from Sardis (1972), From Croesus to Constantine (1975), Sculpture from Sardis (1978), and Sardis from Prehistoric to Roman Times (with W. Mierse, 1983). (Penuel P. Kahane / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)