????

New York, April 4, 2000, - The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is proud to announce an upcoming lecture by Dr. Ioannis Touratsoglou, Director of the Numismatic Museum and Acting Director of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. Dr. Touratsoglou's U.S. appearances are part of the Alexander Papamarkou Lecture Series sponsored by The American Friends of the Cycladic Art Foundation. The American Friends of the Cycladic Art Foundation is generously co-sponsoring Dr. Touratsoglou's ANS lecture entitled, "The Price of Power: Drachms in the Name of Alexander in Greece" to be held at the American Numismatic Society's new building on Thursday, April 13, 2000. A cocktail reception will begin at 6:00p.m. and the lecture will follow at 6:30p.m. The event is open to the public.

Dr. Touratsoglou is one of the leading archaeologists in Greece. Renowned for his contributions on the excavations at Vergina and Pella in ancient Macedonia, he became Director of the Numismatic Museum in Athens in 1994 and the Director of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 1999. Dr. Touratsoglou received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece and his PhD in Ancient History from the University of Saarland, Germany. He is fluent in Greek, English, French and German and has 47 numismatic and 28 archaeological publications.

This will be the second lecture held at the American Numismatic Society's new building at 140 William Street in the heart of New York's Financial District. The ANS purchased the building in 1998 for $7.8 million and plans to relocate to the new premises in 2001.

The American Numismatic Society (ANS), founded in 1858, is a non-profit international center for the preservation and study of coins, medals and paper money, representing 2,500 years of material culture. The Society's priceless holdings of coins, medals, paper money and related objects currently number close to one million items. The ANS collection spans all periods of history and geographic locations and contains great rarities. Scholars and coin enthusiasts use our library, which is the world's most comprehensive library of numismatic literature and holds 100,000+ volumes. Both the ANS collection and library are open to the public.

The American Friends of the Cycladic Art Foundation was formed to promote the educational and historical significance of ancient Greek art and culture in the United States.