Material Culture & Reconstruction
Ancient Greek, Greco-Roman and Byzantine objects, costume and production environments.
Founder & Creative Director of Archaeopolis
Georgios
Katsos
Bringing the ancient world
into lived experience.
Founder and creative director of an Athens-based studio creating historically informed experiences, cultural events and production environments inspired by Ancient Greece and the wider Mediterranean world.
Since 2005, Georgios Katsos has participated in living-history festivals, historical programmes and international cultural events in Greece and abroad.
As a founding member of the Association of Historical Studies KORYVANTES, he took part in an early period of international filming, experimental archaeology, traditional archery and living-history missions. Archaeopolis was established later, in 2016; the records below document Katsos's personal professional formation through the association and are not presented as Archaeopolis commissions.
His work explores three interconnected historical worlds: Ancient Greece, the Greek and Roman Mediterranean, and Byzantium. Across more than two decades of practical engagement, he has worked with historical interpretation, reconstructed material culture, traditional archery, ancient physical culture, costume, food, ritual, performance and immersive event production.
A practice built through experience
Knowledge translated
into physical presence.
Katsos has appeared in and contributed to Greek and international documentary productions concerned with ancient civilisation, everyday life, gastronomy and the material culture of the past. His work has involved television productions, cultural organisations, festivals, educational programmes, private clients and international entertainment projects.
As founder of Archaeopolis, he has directed projects ranging from intimate Ancient Greek dining and participatory mythology programmes to large public events, reconstructed historical environments and production support for television, film, gaming and branded entertainment.
Historical Gastronomy
Food, ritual, hospitality and social life interpreted through literary, visual and archaeological evidence.
Living History & Education
Participatory cultural programmes, festivals and experiences that translate knowledge into physical encounter.
Film, Television & Gaming
Historical consulting, reconstructed material culture and practical production support for screen worlds.
Archery & Physical Culture
Traditional archery, ancient physical practice and historically informed performer preparation.
Immersive Events
Creative direction for private, corporate, destination and public cultural experiences.
Historical gastronomy
Food, ritual
and social life.
A central field of Katsos’s work is the historical reconstruction and interpretation of food. He studies the relationship between gastronomy, ritual, social life and material culture, translating literary, visual and archaeological evidence into historically informed dining environments and public presentations.
In 2023, he participated as an invited speaker at the HORECA Gastronomy Conference organised by the Chef’s Club of Greece, where the official programme presented him as an Ancient Greek Food Expert & Planner.
View the official conference record ↗
Production environments
Historical worlds
built by hand.
Historical production is not limited to research or objects viewed in isolation. Textiles, market structures, vessels, food displays and material details must work together as one credible environment for filming and live experience.
This 2018 archive image documents Katsos preparing the coastal harbour setting developed during the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey project period: a practical example of creative direction carried through into hands-on installation.
Selected international record · KORYVANTES
International practice
before and alongside Archaeopolis.
Personal participation is confirmed by Georgios Katsos. Linked public records establish the corresponding productions, institutions and association activity; they are provided as professional context rather than as claims that Katsos alone delivered each programme.
HISTORYProduction participation · 2008
BISKUPINArchaeological festival · 2011
LYON · VIMINACIUMMuseum & conference · 2012
BBCProduction participation · 2013
TIME & EPOCHSInternational festival · 2015
MUNICIPALITY OF PENTELIPublic event context · 2018
5Channel 5 production · 2019
Porto Germeno & Marathon · October 2008
History Channel — Warriors: Spartan Vengeance
Multi-day filming with reconstructed hoplite equipment, Spartan battle sequences, formations, choreography and historical-production support.
View supporting record ↗Poland · 17–25 September 2011
Biskupin Archaeological Festival
An international living-history mission combining reconstructed material culture, public interpretation and an interview for Poland’s state television network TVP.
View supporting record ↗Lyon, France & Viminacium, Serbia
Museums and experimental archaeology
Living-history presentation at the Gallo-Roman museum in Saint-Romain-en-Gal and participation in the Viminacium international archaeological conference, connecting reconstructed equipment with experimental practice.
View supporting record ↗Greece · filming with historian Michael Scott
BBC — Who Were the Greeks?
On-camera reconstruction of Classical hoplite battle, formations, equipment and the practical life of the warrior, followed by international traditional-archery participation in Istanbul and Biga.
View supporting record ↗Moscow · Pelion · South Korea
International festivals and traditional archery
Participation in Time and Epochs: Rome, the Total Field Game at Kissos and the international traditional-archery programme in South Korea, extending practical interpretation across European and Asian contexts.
View supporting record ↗Specialised instructor training · July 2016
Level 1 Archery Instructor Seminar
Completed specialised training in archery safety, teaching methodology, shooting technique and beginner instruction. Certificate of participation awarded following the course assessment. This training later supported the development and safe delivery of Archaeopolis’ Ancient Greek archery experiences and historically grounded weapons and equipment demonstrations.
Municipality of Penteli · 13 July 2018
One Ship, One Story
A public historical journey organised around the reconstructed Olkas, with pankration, Byzantine hoplomachia, long-sword practice, music and collaborating historical-martial groups.
View supporting record ↗Spata, Attica · April 2019
Channel 5 — My Greek Odyssey with Bettany Hughes
A UK documentary production on the Mycenaean world, with reconstructed warriors, battle scenes, formations, pre-war ritual, historical consulting, choreography, weapons and armour.
View supporting record ↗Selected film-development archive
Historical knowledge
inside pre-production.
Development records are identified separately from completed productions so that invitations, proposed services and realised professional credits are not confused.
2017–20Film developmentPrivate archive
Invited screenplay reviewer & prospective historical-production consultant
Under Spartan Law
Historical feature developed by director and screenwriter Konstantinos Mousoulis
Development correspondence documents an invitation to Georgios Katsos and members of KORYVANTES to explore screenplay review, historical pre-production advice, reconstructed Spartan armour, performer preparation and combat choreography. Later drafts circulated under the working titles Lakedaimon and Spartan Nightmare.
The record confirms development discussion and script review. It does not claim that financing, a formal production commission, completed filming or release followed.
View the documented development record →Selected documented work
From private encounters
to international productions.
Selected cases connect the visible project record with public sources and material preserved in the Archaeopolis archive.
Ubisoft · Athens · 2018
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
View project and evidence →COSMOTE TV · 2020
Everyday Life in Ancient Greece
View project and evidence →DETH–Helexpo · Thessaloniki · 2019–2020
Gods of Olympus
View project and evidence →Reconstruction, interpretation and events
Olkas Ship Reconstruction
View project and evidence →Selected publications & editorial work
Research carried
into print.
The practice behind Archaeopolis also extends into authored research and editorial work, connecting material culture and lived historical interpretation with longer-form scholarship.
2022BookISBN 9789606879715
Contributing essay author & editorial contributor
Behind the Gaze of the Buddha
Greco-Buddhism and Greco-Buddhist Art · Georgios Z. Iliopoulos · Talos F. · 2022
Georgios Katsos contributed the essay Hellenism and Buddhism: Historical and Geopolitical Review. The study considers Greco-Buddhism and Gandharan art through Alexander the Great's eastern world, the movement of philosophical and visual forms, and their contemporary relevance to cultural, religious and gastronomic diplomacy.
He also contributed to the book's editorial preparation alongside Nikos Zappas and Tasos Tsiplakos. The public retail record documents the editorial team; authorship of the essay is preserved in the original manuscript.
View the public book record ↗History becomes more meaningful when knowledge is translated into a reconstructed vessel held in the hand, a meal prepared from evidence, a bow drawn with traditional technique or a complete environment entered by a contemporary audience.
Through Archaeopolis, Georgios Katsos continues to develop a growing archive of objects, images, films, reconstructed environments and documented projects. This archive supports new experiences, cultural programmes and historical productions while preserving the methods and practical knowledge accumulated through more than twenty years of work.
Every publicly presented project is documented according to the evidence available. Independent publications and official sources are identified separately from material preserved within the Archaeopolis private archive.
Bespoke by design