Sarantis was born and raised in Athens, Greece, went to college at the University of Athens and became an archaeologist. After serving in the army and working for the Greek Archaeological Service, he did graduate work at Columbia University where he received the Ph.D. degree in 1971. He specializes in the art history and archaeology of Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East. He has excavated at Olympia, Thebes, Cyprus, and for the last twenty five years directed the Odyssey Project on the island of Ithaka, Greece, where he has identified the palace of Odysseus, the Cave of the Nymphs, and the Well-built Fountain, all from Homer's Odyssey.