Alexander Mazarakis Ainian, born in Athens in 1959, is Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Thessaly (Volos). He studied in Brussels (ULB) and London (UCL), where he obtained his PhD degree dealing with the origins of the Greek temple. In earlier years he worked at the Greek Archaeological Service of Attica and taught at the Ionian University of Corfu. He has taught and lectured as an invited professor in various universities of the USA, Paris and at Louvain-la-Neuve. He is the director of several European-funded research projects and of excavations in Greece (at Oropos, Kythnos, Skiathos and Soros in Thessaly). He is a member of the Archaeological Society, the German Archaeological Institute, Membre correspondant of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.