Arthur Hubert Stanley "Peter" Megaw, (20 July 191028 June 2006) was an architectural historian and archaeologist. He specialised in

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

churches. He served as Director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, between 1935 and 1960 and as Director of the

British School at Athens The British School at Athens (BSA; ) is an institute for advanced research, one of the eight British International Research Institutes supported by the British Academy, that promotes the study of Greece in all its aspects. Under UK law it is a reg ...

from 1962 to 1968.

Early life

Megaw was born on 20 July 1910 at Portobello House nursing home in Portobello, Dublin, Ireland. He was the second of four sons of Arthur Stanley Megaw, a solicitor, and his wife, Helen Isabel Bertha Megaw (née Smith). Between 1924 and 1928, he was educated at

Campbell College Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, a boys'

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

. He went on to read architecture at

Peterhouse, Cambridge Peterhouse is the oldest Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has around 300 undergraduate and 175 graduate stud ...

, at the same time as the actor

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...

, graduating in 1931. Two of his brothers, Basil Megaw and

Eric Megaw Eric Christopher Stanley Megaw MBE (1908 – 25 January 1956) was an Irish (Belfast-educated) engineer who refined the power of the cavity magnetron for radar purposes (detection of U-boats) in the Second World War. He was appointed an MBE in 1943 ...

, also had notable careers in their own fields.

Career

Megaw never held an academic post at a university. He spent 75 years "working on the study and preservation of the monuments of the Christian East". He first joined the

as Walston Student in 1931, to study

Byzantine architecture Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the Fall of Cons ...

. He served as the first Director of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus between 1935 and 1960. In Cyprus he excavated the

Kourion Kourion (; ) was an important ancient Greek city-state on the southwestern coast of the island of Cyprus. In the twelfth century BCE, after the Mycenaean Greece#Collapse or Postpalatial Bronze Age (c. 1200–1050 BC), collapse of the Mycenaean p ...

episcopal basilica and the Medieval fortress at Saranta Kolones. With the independence of Cyprus from British Rule in 1960, he spent two short, successive posts at

Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and gardens of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife ...

in Washington DC and at the Byzantine Institute of America in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. He served as Director of the British School at Athens from 1962 to 1968. Following his early retirement from the directorship, he joined the Harvard Centre for Byzantine Studies at Dumbarton Oaks as a

visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

. He spent the remaining years of the 1960s and the 1970s splitting his time between Cyprus and the United States. Megaw's work can be seen in the photographic collection held at the Conway Library,

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

Later life

Megaw died of cancer on 28 June 2006 at his London home in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

. He was cremated on 20 July 2006 at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 in 2021), ...

, London.

Personal life

Megaw was known to his friends and colleagues as Peter. In Cyprus he also acted as a public information officer and an intelligence officer on behalf of the island's British colonial government. In 1937, he married Elektra Elena Mangoletsi. She was an artist who was born in 1905. She died in 1993. They did not have any children.

Honours

In June 1949, he was appointed Serving Brother of the

Venerable Order of Saint John The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

(SBStJ). In the 1951

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are ...

, he was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE). He was promoted to Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John (CStJ) in September 1967. In 1995, the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

awarded him the Frend medal. This is an award for studies related to the archaeology, history and topography of the early Christian Church. The book ''Mosaic:

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for A.H.S. Megaw'' was published in 2001 in his honour.

Publications

* Megaw, A. H. (1946)
Three vaulted basilicas in Cyprus.
''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', ''66'', 48–56. * Megaw, A. H. (1951). ''Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus: 1937'1939''. Nicosia: Government Printing Office. * Megaw, A. H. (1972)
Supplementary excavations on a castle site at Paphos, Cyprus, 1970–1971.
''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', 323–343. * Megaw, A. H. S. (1974)
Byzantine architecture and decoration in Cyprus: metropolitan or provincial?.
''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', ''28'', 57–88. * Megaw, A. H. (1976)
Excavations at the episcopal basilica of Kourion in Cyprus in 1974 and 1975: A preliminary report.
''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', ''30'', 345–371. * Megaw, A. H. S., & Jones, R. E. (1983)
Byzantine and allied pottery: A contribution by chemical analysis to problems of origin and distribution.
''Annual of the British School at Athens'', ''78'', 235–263. * Megaw, A. H. S. et al. (2007). ''Kourion. Excavations in the Episcopal Precinct.'' Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Harvard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Megaw, Peter 1910 births 2006 deaths Archaeologists from Dublin (city) Irish Byzantinists Irish architectural historians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of St John People educated at Campbell College Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge Directors of the British School at Athens British Byzantinists 20th-century British archaeologists Byzantine archaeologists 20th-century Irish archaeologists People from Portobello, Dublin