{"id":22,"date":"2017-06-03T14:09:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-03T14:09:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hellenicarmors.gr\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2024-08-27T18:05:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T18:05:55","slug":"the-artist","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.hellenicarmors.gr\/en\/the-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"\u03bf \u0394\u03b7\u03bc\u03b9\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03cc\u03c2"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Katsikis Dimitrios<\/h2>\n

the Artist<\/h3>\n

Demetrios Katsikis is an Athenian-based metal artist widely known as \u201cthe modern Hephaestus\u201d. He graduated from the Agricultural University of Athens (department of Agricultural Biotechnology) and he holds a MSc from the Wageningen University of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

His strong inborn passion with Greek art and culture and military technology inevitably guided him to work with metal, in an attempt to \u2018resurrect\u2019 the first Greek school of armouring of modern times.
Inspired by the depth and richness of Greece\u2019s cultural background he started from scratch (self taught) and after a few years was able to recreate a rich variety of protective military gear ranging from the 15thcentury BC to the 15th century AD. The unique panoplies created from his exemplary work are classics of the Trojan war, bell and muscled cuirasses and linen linothorax of the Classical Greek period and later period armour of the Military Saints of the Eastern Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

His work combines in-depth research through archaeological findings, academic papers, pictorial representations, wall frescoes, paintings, pottery and philological sources with traditional raising techniques (hammering) to recreate authentic suits of armour. His artifacts cover armour styles from the Mycenaean Bronze Age to the Late Eastern Roman era. Materials commonly used in his artwork are bronze and iron sheets, bronze and silver castings, linen and silk fabrics, wool, leather, wood,
natural horns and horse tails.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It is not easy to gauge the actual significance of armour in a historical, military and religious context throughout Greek history. What is a fact is that these artifacts have had a role to play in the progress of Greek civilization throughout three millennia. Homeric heroes, gods, Athenian and Spartan hoplites, divine Hellenistic hegemons, powerful Roman emperors, imposing Orthodox military saints have all been represented in art donning impressive, heavy panoplies. Such artistic examples (pottery, sculptures, paintings etc.) span from the Black Sea, southern Italy, North Africa, the Middle East and Asia Minor to as far as western India (Gandhara Art). For example, the Athenian muscled cuirass (5th century BC) can be considered as the most iconic suit of armour of the Western world.<\/p>\n

In May 2010, Demetrios Katsikis, exhibited his artistic work at the Museum hall of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum and the research library (\u03a4rustees of Harvard) during the ongoing Internationalrustees of Harvard) during the ongoing International Symposium, \u039cilitary Men in Byzantium, Emperors, Saints, and Soldiers at Arms, ilitary Men in Byzantium, Emperors, Saints, and Soldiers at Arms, at the invitation of the museum curator, Ms Gudrun Buhl and the co-organizer, renowned professor Jon Haldon (Professor of History and Hellenic Studies at Princeton University). Following this, he pursued further his research and work to recreate panoplies from all the distinctive cultural phases of Greece spanning over 3500 years. His work is widely accepted and he has attracted international acclaim by participating in international documentaries\/series on Ancient Greek themes. Today, he continues to collaborate with various researchers and museums.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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He lives and creates in Athens and likes to repeat again and again the following quote:<\/span><\/p>\n

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The historical, military and religious role of the armors to the Greek past it is very difficult to be estimated to its pragmatic dimensions, these very artifacts have deep stigmatized the route and the stream of the Greek civilization throughout three millennia. Homeric Heroes, Gods, Athenian and Spartan hoplites, holly Hellenistic Hegemons, powerful Roman Emperors, imposing Orthodox Military Saint have been represented bearing heavy impressive armors. An expert eye can detect Greek style armors in various means of artistic expressions (pottery, sculpturing, painting etc.) from Euxine Ponto, to South Italy, to North Africa, to Middle East &Asia Minor and far to the Western India (Gandhara Art). The Athenian muscle cuirass (5th century BC) should be considered by far the most influential body armor of the Western hemisphere.<\/p>\n

The last four years he has been working closely with photographer-photojournalist Dimitrios Karvountzis to make the best photographic imprint of the demanding work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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