Semni Karouzou

Semni Papaspyridi-Karouzou (1897–1994) was a Classical archaeologist who specialized in the study of pottery from ancient Greece. She was curator of the ceramic collections at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens for over thirty years, a post of tremendous but often overlooked importance. She and her husband, Christos Karouzos, the Director of the National Museum, secured the safety of the collections during the Second World War, and reestablished the exhibits post-war.

She published twenty books and over 120 articles during the course of her distinguished career, many of which have proven foundational to understandings of the Classical world. She was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Lyon, Tübingen, and Thessaloniki for her scholarship and contributions to the field.