native Greek intelligentsia, and tensions between Pittakis and Ross. In 1835, Pittakis published his first monograph in French, on the topography and ruins of Athens. The work made extensive use of epigraphy, including (as Pittakis claimed) over 800 then-unpublished inscriptions, and has been described as the first epigraphical work written by an ethnic Greek. In this volume, he published the discovery of several Ionic column capitals in the wall of the Church of the Agia Kyra Kandili near the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates, along with a dedication to Hestia, which he took to indicate an ancient temple; these have been suggested in modern times to have been part of the Prytaneion, the shrine containing the sacred fire of Hestia seen as the heart of the political community, whose original location is lost. In 1836, on Ross's resignation as Ephor General, Pittakis was appointed ephor of the 'Central Public Museum for Antiquities', which was housed in various ancient structures around Athens until the construction of the Acropolis Museum in 1874. This made him the most senior archaeologist employed by the Greek Archaeological Service, and its de facto head. Archaeological Society of Athens In 1837, Pittakis led the foundation of the Archaeological Society of Athens, alongside Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, the Education Minister Iakovos Rizos Neroulos and the philanthropist Konstantinos Bellios. Where both Rangavis, Neroulos and Bellios were wealthy Phanariots (a class of mostly-wealthy Greek merchants from Istanbul, who had enjoyed special privileges in the administration of the Ottoman Empire), Pittakis was unusual in the new society in being both Athenian and of a humble background, a factor which created tension between him and the other elites of the Society. The Society held its first meeting on 28 April 1837, in the Parthenon. The Archaeological Society aimed to support the Greek Archaeological Service, which had minimal financial and human resources, in conserving, studying and excavating the monuments of Greece. Along with Rangavis, Pittakis launched and edited the periodical Archaeological Journal (), one of the society's main publications. Rangavis soon resigned as co-editor, leaving Pittakis as effectively the sole writer of the journal until 1860. From 1837, Pittakis, assisted by the Prussian architect Eduard Schaubert; Eduard Laurent, an architect from Dresden; and the Swiss sculptor Heinrich Max Imhof, carried out restoration work in the Society's name on the Acropolis. He began in the Erechtheion, a building he described as having 'fallen down', throughout 1837–1840,