Andreas Alföldi
Hungarian historian, epigraphist, numismatist, archaeologist (1895-1981)
András (Andreas) Ede Zsigmond Alföldi (27 August 1895 – 12 February 1981) was a Hungarian historian, art historian, epigraphist, numismatist and archaeologist, specializing in the Late Antique period. He was one of the most productive 20th-century scholars of the ancient world and is considered one of the leading researchers of his time. Although some of his research results are controversial, his work in several areas is viewed as groundbreaking.
Professor Alföldi contributed significantly to the massive Cambridge Ancient History, including Vol. 12: The Imperial Crisis and Recovery. He became a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1955.
Life and career
The son of a doctor, Alföldi was born in 1895 in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Although the family finances were damaged after the death of his father in 1910, Alföldi was able to begin his studies of classical history after his graduation from high school. His first area of interest was in classical numismatics, which at the time was a neglected area of study in Hungary.
Like many middle class young men of his age, Alföldi participated in World War I. He was a highly decorated soldier, and after sustaining a severe injury, he was dismissed from the military in 1917.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Andreas Alföldi” as hungarian historian, epigraphist, numismatist, archaeologist (1895-1981). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as hungarian historian, epigraphist, numismatist, archaeologist (1895-1981). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q287822. VIAF identifies the subject as 27082156. The Library of Congress control number is n78089067. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1981, 1955 and 1910.
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This entry incorporates text from “Andreas Alföldi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.