He was born and raised in Uptown ThessalonikiIn a 19th-century Ottoman house. She has loved animals since she can remember. At the age of five, one afternoon, when she realized that it was a bunny playing in the yard that was boiling in their kitchen, she grabbed the pot and threw it out the window and burst into tears. Explosive, willing to do anything to protect his own “sacred and faithful” from an early age. At the age of six, Angeliki Kotoritis, through a book of mythology, a gift from his mother, he also fell in love with the ancient Greeks. “Not understanding how or why, I told them that I would be with them from now on.” And it is. Dedicated and relentless.
He studied archeology in Thessaloniki, fulfilling his childhood dream. On September 5, 1977, a third-year student, she found herself for an internship in Vergina, which at the time was a small village with a coffee shop, a restaurant, and a kiosk in the square with a single telephone. She chose her because her professor at Aristotle University, Manolis Andronikos, impressed her with his teaching. “He had a sharp political mind, he dealt with the philosophy of science and the impulse of things,” he says. But there was another reason: as an elected representative of the students, she did not want to take someone else's place. During those years, almost everyone preferred other excavations such as Dion or Cheschlos. Andronikos, the master, is, as he calls him, “unfashionable like Pandermalis and Despinis”. Of course, the following year, after the discovery of Philip II's tomb, everything changed. Aegis was to become the seat of Ageliki Gotaridis; Research, study, teaching, hard work and tireless efforts. She herself describes it with a metaphor: “I am like a hamster in a cage: I wake up and sleep with the Macedonians in my mind.” Since 1989, the first winner of the competition of the Archaeological Service, he was appointed curator in Imathia-Vergina, and until a few days ago, when he retired, his goal was to introduce a different parameter into the collective consciousness-consciousness: make as many Greeks as possible understand that the Macedonians are different. “A society of the Homeric type, where the people line up next to their leader, but not the Lewis Catorge type of king as we understand it. There is no absolute monarchy. The Macedonian king is a “father” to his subjects, which is why he is usually Alexander (from alexo, to drive away enemies) or Amyntas. (He defends himself for the people and protects them). He was also chosen. The king's son did not ascend the throne. Most people did not know this, so they did not understand the miracle of the goats”. But in his days, beyond countless publications, conferences, and global scientific conversation, a miracle happened: polycentric. Goat Museum. In permanent and temporary exhibitions, the complexity of Macedonia's history unfolds before the eyes of visitors. In places invisible to the public, there is an important research center, where hundreds of treasures “come to life” in a laboratory again thanks to the care of the guardians. Angeliki Kotarides knows the museum and the archeological site. Everything in its rooms bears the stamp of scientific knowledge and its aesthetics.
“Archaeology and monuments only brought me joy. The pains I experienced helped me overcome them. Philippos and Alexandros never betrayed me,” says Angeliki Kotaridis.
However, when asked for her personal account, she responds politely. “Archaeology and monuments gave me only joy. Whatever pains I had, they helped me overcome them. Philip and Alexander did not betray me. Like Plato, who was always a compass in my life, they both showed that my path must always be upward. To become better and better.” . If someone chides her for the various theories about who is buried in Agee and asks her master, she would wake up the little girl indignantly: “The reason journalists don't listen. -experts for their opinion – to Thoreau, for a few “clicks”. It's like going to the orthopedist with a toothache!” He told me in our recent phone conversation.
As for her life from now on? She herself likes, “My mind should be prosperous, and I manage to write because I have neglected it. As Seferis says, “For tomorrow our souls travel, let us say a few words.” I imagine her like this: in a house with a big garden, Mrs. Boo, her dog. And in a house where her cats play, reading and writing avidly.