Furtwängler, Adolf

Adolf Furtwängler, (born June 30, 1853, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden [Germany]—died Oct. 10, 1907, Athens, Greece), German archaeologist whose catalogs of ancient Greek sculpture, vase painting, and gems brought thousands of art works into historical order.

In 1878–79 Furtwängler took part in the German excavation of Olympia, site of the ancient Greek games. While serving as museum director for the Berlin Antiquarium (1880–94), he prepared a comprehensive description of Mycenaean vases and pottery fragments from the Aegean area, as well as Meisterwerke der griechischen Plastik (1893; Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, 1895).

After becoming professor of archaeology at the University of Munich (1894), he researched the marble sculptures from the Greek island of Aegina and in 1901 went there to begin a systematic excavation of the 5th-century-bc temple of the goddess Aphaea. During his stay he also explored the site of the city of Orchomenus in the ancient district of Boeotia and found evidence of pre-Mycenaean history.