Archaeological Museum of Pythagoreion: The History of Ancient Samos
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Stone Age, Iron Age, Classical, Medieval
- Civilizations
- Ancient Greek, Byzantine, Roman
- Site type
- Museum
On this page9 sections
History
The Archaeological Museum of Pythagoreion is a museum in Greece that presents the cultural and historical development of ancient Samos, at modern Pythagoreion, and its surrounding countryside. Its collections span the 4th millennium BC to the 7th century AD, placing the island’s history within the wider Greek world through archaeological finds from settlements, cemeteries, sanctuaries, and domestic contexts.
Origins and new exhibition
The museum was established in the early twentieth century and for many years operated in the town hall of Pythagoreion. Planning and preparation for its present exhibition took place between 2003 and 2009. A purpose-built museum opened in 2010, providing a new setting for material recovered through rescue and systematic excavations in the ancient city and elsewhere on Samos.
Approximately 3,000 objects form the collection. They include pottery, sculpture, coins, small objects, votive offerings, jewelry, funerary monuments, architectural decoration, and other archaeological finds. Together, these objects present successive phases of Samian history rather than a single period or type of activity.
Settlements, cemeteries, and sanctuaries
The museum’s earliest material includes finds from the Neolithic settlement at Kastro. The collections also trace the Geometric period, an early phase of Greek history conventionally associated with the 9th and 8th centuries BC, through objects from the cemetery of ancient Samos. Rural cemeteries at Myloi, Mytilinioi, and Mavratzaioi extend this picture beyond the urban center and show the range of archaeological work carried out across the island.
Religious life appears through material from the Heraion, the sanctuary dedicated to Hera, a major Greek goddess associated with marriage and queenship. Marble inscriptions from the sanctuary include decrees issued by the Samian citizen body. The museum also preserves finds from open-air sanctuaries dedicated to Cybele, an Anatolian mother goddess whose worship spread through the Greek and Roman worlds. These objects date from the Archaic period through the Hellenistic period, the centuries after Alexander the Great’s conquests when Greek culture spread widely across the eastern Mediterranean and Near East.
Samian society and later periods
The exhibition follows ancient Samos through changing historical periods and includes material associated with political authority, burial customs, religious practice, domestic life, and everyday activity. Its themes include Roman emperors, ancient cemeteries from the Geometric period through the 4th to 7th centuries AD, sanctuaries, sculpture from the Archaic through Roman periods, and ordinary objects. Early Christian graves are represented by oil lamps, while a Byzantine hoard from Megali Lakka in Vathy contains 300 gold coins and gold jewelry. The hoard was found in 1984 by the Dutch archaeologist Saskia de Melker, who handed it to the police station.
One inscription gives a direct connection to the political history of sixth-century Samos. A marble seated statue of Aiakes, identified as the father of Polycrates, the tyrant or sole ruler of Samos, was found at Pythagoreion and dates to around 540 BC. The inscription states that Aiakes dedicated the statue to Hera from a tenth of profits he had gained through piracy. The dedication links personal wealth, political society, and worship at the Heraion within a single monument.
Funerary evidence and historical interpretation
Funerary monuments provide another route into the island’s history. A funerary stele, an upright commemorative stone associated with a burial, is decorated with a palmette, a stylized palm-leaf ornament, and carries an inscription mentioning Diagoras of Delos. Another palmette-decorated stele was found at Chora and dates to around 500 to 490 BC. Alongside these monuments, pottery dating from the 9th to the 2nd century BC and sculptures from the Archaic and Roman periods help the museum present long-term changes in Samian culture.
Remains
The museum occupies a purpose-built building in the center of modern Pythagoreion, beside an archaeological area and close to the remains of ancient Samos. Its displays combine a chronological account of the ancient city with thematic presentations of religion, burial, political authority, sculpture, household life, and material culture.
Exhibition building and archaeological setting
At the entrance, a three-dimensional model presents ancient Samos and its principal monuments. A screen beside the model shows images of the city’s archaeological sites. The ground floor follows the history of Samos through successive periods, including objects from the rural cemeteries at Myloi, Mytilinioi, and Mavratzaioi. A separate area contains marble inscriptions from the Heraion, including decrees of the Samian citizen body.
The upper floor is arranged thematically. Sections address Roman emperors, the cemeteries of ancient Samos, sanctuaries, sculpture, domestic life, and everyday objects. An information room is also located on this floor. Outside, marble and stone architectural members, individual structural or decorative components of buildings, are displayed from ancient Samos. The outdoor area also gives access to a partially excavated section of an ancient urban neighborhood in the center of the ancient city.
Monuments and sculptures
A large marble sarcophagus shaped like a temple building dates to the second half of the 6th century BC, approximately 550 to 530 BC. The museum also displays a marble lion dating to about 540 to 520 BC, as well as the seated statue of Aiakes from around 540 BC. The funerary steles from Pythagoreion and Chora add inscribed evidence to the collection of burial monuments.
Roman-period sculpture includes a marble statue of the emperor Trajan, which is larger than life-size and measures 2.71 meters in height. It dates to around AD 114. Marble busts of the emperors Augustus and Claudius date to the 1st century BC. Their portraits form part of the museum’s presentation of Roman-period material from Samos.
Pottery, sanctuaries, and everyday objects
A marble and ceramic collection presents objects associated with religious observance, household use, and personal possessions. A pyxis, a small vessel used for storing personal items including jewelry, dates to around 550 to 525 BC. Its decoration shows the reception of Heracles on Mount Olympus and his marriage to Hebe, the goddess associated with youth. The scene includes Eileithyia, Hermes, Athena, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Ares, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus, Hestia, Apollo, and Artemis.
Material from the open-air sanctuaries of Cybele includes architectural and other finds dating from the Archaic to Hellenistic periods. Pottery from the 9th to the 2nd century BC, jewelry, coins, votive offerings, and small objects broaden the physical record beyond monumental sculpture. Oil lamps from Early Christian graves represent the communities and practices of the first centuries of Christianity, while the Byzantine gold coins and jewelry from Megali Lakka preserve evidence of a later period in the island’s history.
