Valerios Stais (; Kythira, 1857 – Athens, 1923) was a Greece archaeologist.
Biography
He initially studied
medicine but later switched to
archaeology obtaining his Doctorate from the University of Halle (Saale) in 1885.
He worked for the National Archaeological Museum of Athens from 1887, eventually becoming Director of the Museum, a post he held until his death. During that period he organized or participated in excavations in
Epidaurus,
Argolis,
Attica,
Dimini,
Antikythera and elsewhere.
He wrote a lot on archaeological matters, published several papers, mainly in
Archeologiki Efimeris (
Αρχαιολογική Εφημερίς "Archaeological Newspaper"
), and many books.
Valerios Stais also became the first to study the Antikythera mechanism from the lumps of archaeological material retrieved from a wreck found near the coast of Antikythera in 1900.[D. J. de Solla Price, "An ancient Greek computer", Scientific American June 1959: 60-67 . In some later publications in that context, his name has been confused with that of Spyridon Stais, a politician.] He identified that one of the pieces had a gear wheel embedded in it.
