Mathematician, Teacher of the Greek Nation (c.1694 – 1760)
The most prominent member of the old noble family of Ioannina, Balanos Vasilopoulos was a priest, scholar and writer, headmaster of the Gioumas School of Ioannina, who exerted significant influence in the subjugated Greeks during the Ottoman yoke, and whose work as a pedagogue helped pave the way for the Greek War of Independence. A major representative of the Greek Enlightenment, Vasilopoulos disseminated the works of the Ancient Greeks, as well as compiled some of the first textbooks of mathematics, particularly in geometry in the free Greek nation.
Vasilopoulos studied next to his teacher Methodios Anthakitis, whom he succeeded in the School of Gioumas as headmaster. Thereafter, the school came to be known as Balaneios School. For 40 years he taught Greek language, philosophy, theology and most importantly mathematics. He published the works of ancient Greek mathematicians namely Euclid’s Elements, Theodosius’ Sphaerics, as well as compiled treaties on theoretical geometry and trigonometry, adding his own commentaries. This facilitated their use as textbooks in schools when in 1830 the Greek nation gained its independence. Furthermore, he wrote commentaries on the works of Hippocrates and Galen. In this manner, the ancient Greek mathematicians and physicians became more accessible to the uneducated Greek populace.
Vasilopoulos died in 1760, almost 60 years before the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence. Yet, together with his teacher Methodios Anthrakitis, his arch-rival Eugenios Voulgaris, and numerous other Teachers of the Greek Nation Vasilopoulos sowed the seeds of the Greek awakening at a time when the majority of the Greeks remained largely cut-off from education, their history and their glorious legacy. Vasilopoulos sought to reconnect the Greeks with their exalted past. Following his death, the reigns of the school passed to his son Kosmas Balanos. The School eventually became one of the most illustrious cultural centers in Greece, with hundreds of students and scholars having passed from it.
Bibliography:
- Ἀμυγδαλάκη, Ε. Παρασκευοπούλου, Α. Μπαλᾶνος Βασιλόπουλος. Ἐργαστήριο Ἠλεκτρονικῆς Διαχείρησης Ἱστορικῶν Ἀρχείων. Τμῆμα Ἱστορίας καὶ Φιλοσοφίας τῆς Ἐπιστήμης Πανεπιστημίου Ἀθηνῶν. http://dlab.phs.uoa.gr/index.php/viographika/details/6/46
- Μπαλᾶνος, Βασιλόπουλος. Νεότερο Ἐγκυκλοπαιδικό Λεξικό τοῦ Ἡλίου. Ἀθῆναι: 1952.
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