Strabo

Philosopher, Geographer, Historian (63 BC – 24 AD)

Strabo came from Amasya of Pontus. He was a Stoic philosopher, but he is mostly remembered today for his work as a geographer and a historian. Nearly all of the information drawn from his life comes from his own work. He was a contemporary of Poseidonius.

He studied in Caria, Rome and Alexandria and travelled to many different places of the world, from Italy to Syria and from the Euxine Pontus to Aethiopia. Based on his travels, he wrote his magnum opus consisting of 17 books called Geographica. With this work is remained in history, as it was the Bible of geography throughout the ages. It contains scientific geographical data on nearly the entire known world at the time, except for the Americas. The first two books contain the definition and the methodology of geography, as well as a short description on the history of geography. In the following books he proceeds with descriptions of the entire Mediterranean, starting from Iberia and Gaul and going north to Great Brittain, Ireland, Thule and the Alps. Moreover, he provides with detailed descriptions on Italy, Sicily, the pardanubian territories, the Balkans and Greece before passing to the lands of Asia, beginning with the Caucasian lands and going to Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Persia, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Africa, Egypt and India.

Additionally, Strabo compiled information on the ethnographic background of each country, their agricultural and industrial activities, the histories of their cities, geological phenomena such as the volcanic landscapes of Italy and Sicily, the tides of Iberia, the rise and fall of the waters of Nile etc and attempted to identify the cities mentioned by Homer in his epics. His main purpose of writing this massive treatise was to show what the earth of each country gave to its peoples and what these peoples did with it.

Strabo also wrote another treatise called Historical Sketches consisting of 47 books of historical content. The books chronicle the history starting from the Carthagean war in 146 BC until the foundation of the Roman Empire. It is considered to be a follow-up of Polybius’ Histories. In constrast to Geographica, only a number of fragmnets survive.

His work exerted a great influence in geographic science in the Roman and Middle Ages. His books were reprinted all over Europe during the Renaissance and continue to this day to be an invaluable geographic source of the ancient world.

Bibliography

1. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades, Athens: 1995. Print.
2. Lasserre, Francois. Strabo. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com. Web.
3. “Strabon”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.

Manto Mavrogenous

Heroine of the Greek War of Independence (1796 – 1848)

Manto Mavrogenous was one of the few women who distinguished in the Greek War of Independence. She descended from the wealthy Phanariot family Mavrogenis (meaning Blackbeard), who was involved with commerce. She spent her entire family’s fortune to support the Greeks in the war, ending up poor and forgotten.

She was born in Trieste. When the Greek War of Independence began, her family moved to Paros and Manto was initiated into the Society of Friends (Philiki Hetaereia). She actively joined the war and contributed initially by clearing the Aegean archipelago from Turkish and Algerian pirates with her fleet. Afterwards, she funded the equipment of Mykonian ships, with which she participated in battles in Karystos, Pylion, Leivadia and Phthiotis. In 1822 she led the Mykonians into battle against the Algerian invasion in Mykonos. The same year, as captain of her own private navy, Manto descended to Peloponessus where she fought in battles dressed as a man. For a woman, this was very radical, at the time. She was recognized as the spirit of the Greek War of Independence of Mykonos.

As a result of her huge economic support to the Greek War of Independence, her governing skills in the navy and her epistles to French and English women for their support in the War, Manto’s name became very popular in Europe. Her contribution in the battles has been written extensively by foreign historians. Shortly after the nation’s independence, she was appointed leutenant general by John Kapodistrias as well as inspector of the orphanage of Aegina.

In the end, Manto had given everything she owned for the freedom of the nation. She had even given all her jewlery so that 2000 people from Messolonghi would be nursed and sheltered. In her own words, she said “It is not important what I will become, as long as my country is free. After I give everything I can provide for the holy cause of freedom, I will go to the battlefield of the Greeks to die if it is needed”. She died of typhus in Nauplion, in a house she had been granted by the government in utter poverty.

Bibliography

1. Konstantaras, Konstantinos. Το Άδοξο Τέλος των Αγωνιστών του 21᾿. Hilektron Publications: Athens, 2016. Print.
2. Lampsidis, Georgios. Μαντώ Μαυρογένους – Μια μαύρη σελίδα της επανάστασης του 1821. History of Macedonia. History-of-macedonia.com. Web. February 17, 2011.

Julian

Philosopher, Byzantine Emperor (331 – 363)

Flavius Claudius Julianus was Caesar of the Roman Empire and Emperor of the Byzantine Empire during the latter’s first years of establishment. He was also a Neoplatonic philosopher with rich philosophic and scientific work. The Christians gave him the name “Apostate”, which they use to this day, because he did not accept Christianity. He was the only Byzantine Emperor who opposed Christianity as the new state religion and struggled to revive the Ancient Greek religion, philosophy and spirit, in spite of being Emperor only 20 months.

He was born in Constantinople and was the nephew of Constantine, the first Byzantine Emperor. He studied philosophy, rhetoric and science in Athens, then returned to Constantinople where he served as Caesar of the Roman Empire from 335 to 360 together with Constantius II and then alone from 361 until his death in 363.

Julian was the only Byzantine Emperor who was not a Christian. He reigned at a time when Hellenism was being hunted down in favour of Christianity that was quickly gaining a fertile ground and imposed as the new religion. Followers of the “old religion” were persecuted and their temples destroyed. Julian saw this as a threat against the Hellenic thought and decided to take actions to stop the dissemination of Christianity.

Aside from his military and economical reforms, by far the largest part of his politics was aimed at reviving the Greek civilization. He issued proclamation on the freedom of worshiping all religions, banned Christians from teaching in public education or occupying positions in politics and the military and obliged them to pay for the damages they had done on the Ancient Greek temples. Numerous Greek cities began regaining their former glory. Festivals and games in Olympias, Delphi and Antioch were revived, temples and cities that were mere ruins were repaired such as Athens, Macedonia, Epirus, Nicopolis, Eleusis and philosophic schools were protected by edict. Philosophers and priests were sent throughout the empire to promote the Greek civilization, which they successfully accomplished without bloodshed.

In parallel, Julian was involved with Neoplatonism, a continuation of the Platonic philosophy established by Plotinus and Iamblichus. He wrote numerous treatises on philosophy and astronomy as well as hymns and publicly supported Aristarchus’ heliocentric model.

Julian was not against Christianity; rather, he wanted to bring an order so that both religions were practiced. In his own words, he did not want the Christians to be killed, beaten or treated badly. He founded public hotels where people were treated independently of their religion. He did not forbid Christians to practice their religion nor did he persecute them, as he was against violence. Indeed, Christians were tolerant to his reforms.

During his last days as Emperor he embarked on an expedition to Mesopotamia to defeat the Persians. He was assassinated by a Christian on the way back. Shortly after, his reforms did not last and the situation was reverted back to how it originally was before his reign as Emperor. Destruction, persecutions and slaughter continued, reaching the apex with the destruction of the Library of Antioch by the Christians.

Julian remains a controversial figure who distinguished for his military and spiritual virtues. His big love for Greece and his ill efforts to reconcile the tensions between the two religions resulted to much unnecessary hate against him, even by modern scholars. The goal of his life to revive the Greek spirit would not be realized until 1000 years later by Georgios Plethon – Gemistus.

Bibliography

1. Ayfantis, Georgios. Ο Βωμός της Ελπίδος. Hellenikon Selas: Athens, 2007. Print.
2. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades, Athens: 1995. Print.
3. Ιουλιανός,o Μέγας. Ένας πραγματικός Έλληνας. Theasis.gr. Web.
4. Stewart Henry Perowne, Christian Kopff. Julian. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com. Web.

Saints Cyril & Methodius

Theologists, Missionaries (826 and 815 – 869 and 885)

Constantine and Michael were two brothers from Thessaloniki, theologists and missionaries, who under the order of Emperor Michael disseminated Orthodox Christianity to the Slavs and created their first alphabet, the Glagolitic. While their work’s importance in Greece is somewhat negligible, they are considered as the most important saints of all in the Slavic civilization.

During the 9^th century, when Emperor Ratsislav of Moravia sought help from the Byzantine Empire to neutralize the Franco-Bulgarian alliance that had posed as a threat to his empire, he turned to Byzantine Emperor Michael, who chose 2 theologists to introduce Orthodox Christianity to Great Moravia and translate its teachings to Slavic language, as part of a treaty, in return for the Byzantine Empire’s support. These two theologists were brothers Constantine and Michael. Constantine had graduated from the University of Constantinople with a degree in philosophy. Because of his ease to learn languages very quickly, he had great success as a diplomat of the Byzantine Empire with the Arabs and the Khazars. Michael, the older brother, had a familiarity with the Slavic language having worked in the monastery of Polichronos in Asia Minor.

There had been many missionaries from various kingdoms prior to the two brothers that were preaching the word of Jesus Christ. However, Constantine and Michael were the ones to successfully disseminate Christianity to them because they taught it in the Slavs’ own native language. Since there was no written Slavic language, they created the Glagolitic alphabet, the very first alphabet of the Slavs, which was used to translate hundreds of Christian works from Greek to Slavic, including the whole mystery of the Divine Liturgy. Many new words were created using Greek roots to express higher notions and meanings from Christianity. Thus, the Slavs could adore their God and perform the ecclesiastical mysteries in their own language.

Constantine and Michael laid the foundations of the Slavic literature; they transformed it from a language that was limited to expressing daily activities to a language that could express their God’s adoration. Michael translated the entire Old and New Testament as well as the Holy Scripture from Greek to Slavic with the help of two of his students while Constantine wrote numerous original treatises in Slavic.

Constantine and Michael received the highest honours from Pope Nicolas I for their offering to the Slavs. Shortly before his premature death, Constantine received the name Cyril while his brother Michael changed his name to Methodius and continued his work as a missionary in Moravia, preaching Orthodox Christianity and challenging many conservatives of the old religion. Even though he had a respectable amount of followers, Methodius and his students were imprisoned, tortured relentlessly and eventually sold as slaves. Their original alphabet also fell into disuse shortly after Methodius’ death due to its complexity.

The consignment of the two brothers to the Slavic world is enormous and eternal. After their deaths, their students and followers disseminated Christianity and scripture to Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia and Russia, where they found fertile ground to grow. The Glagolitic alphabet was replaced slowly over the centuries by the Cyrilic, so named in honour of Cyril, made by Climent of Ohrid, one of Methodius’ greatest students. It is the one used to this day by over 10 nations in Europe and Asia. Both earned the title of “equal-to-apostles” and co-patron saints. They were canonized by the Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches and are commemorated on May 11^th or May 24^th.

Bibliography

1. Άγιος Κύριλλος καὶ Μεθόδιος Φωτιστές των Σλάβων. Ορθόδοξος Συναξαριστής. Saint.gr. Web.
2. Gonis, Dimitrios. Ιεραποστολικοί αγώνες των αγίων Κυρίλλου και Μεθοδίου-Αποτίμηση της προσφοράς τους. Βιβλιοθήκη «Πορφυρογέννητος». Apostoliki-diakonia.gr. Web.

Myron

Sculptor (5^th century BC)

Myron was one of the greatest sculptors of antiquity, together with Scopas, Pheidias, Polycleitus, Lysippus and Praxiteles. He was born in Eleutheres, Attica and was student of Ageladus of Argus, one of the most renowned sculptors of athletic themes. The great sculptors Pheidias and Polycleitus were also Ageladus’ students.

Myron worked in Athens, where he ran his own business of statues. He received commissions from Asia Minor and Sicily. He worked almost exclusively on bronze. His themes included mostly representations of Gods, heroes, athletes and animals.

Many of Myron’s statues are some of the most well-known in the world today. He built the statues of Athens and Marsyas, which originally stood in the Acropolis of Athens, the statue of Apollo of Ephesus, the statue of Athena with her helmet, the bronze cow that stood in the marketplace of Athens, the statue of the Minotaur and the statue of Ladas, which in antiquity was considered his greatest work. It depicts an Olympic runner falling dead to the ground on the moment of his victory. It was displayed in Olympia. In addition, Myron built 2 statues of Lycinus, a Spartan king who had won in a horse race and a statue in honour of an Olympian.

His most famous sculpture today is the Discobolus, or the Disc Thrower. It depicts a young athlete back swinging a discus at the moment before he is about to throw it. It is considered to be a masterpiece of art because Myron has achieved in depicting the athlete’s most intense moment with his body’s expression, yet his face remains completely unexpressed.

Being a few years older than Pheidias, Myron was considered to be the greatest sculptor of his times. He is often credited with the introduction of realism and vividness in sculptures. During the Roman times, many of his statues were replicated in marble with great accuracy and are displayed today in museums. A large part of his works has still to be discovered.

Bibliography

1. “Myron”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Ο αρχαίος Έλληνας γλύπτης Μύρων ο Αθηναίος, (περ. 480-440 π.Χ.). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΕΧΝΗΣ Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ. Peritexnisologos.blogspot.bg, Web. April 30, 2016.
3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Myron. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com. Web.

Nicholas Christofilos

Physicist (1916 – 1972)

Nicholas Christofilos was an autodidact physicist, a pioneer in the field of accelerator and nuclear physics, who first conceived the strong-focusing principle. The “Crazy Greek” as he was nicknamed by the press, went on to have a highly prestigious career in the United States and his name today is connected with one of the largest space experiments ever conducted on Earth, Operation Argus.

As a child, he would invent improvised radio transmitters. Christofilos graduated from the University of Athens with a degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. During the axis occupation in Greece, he worked in an elevator manufacturing company – he would later found his own – and in the meantime, studied physics by himself from various American and German books he could get his hands on. It was then that he made the discovery of the strong-focusing principle of the synchrotron accelerators. His original patents on the synchrotron particle accelerator, a circular accelerator combining electric and magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles in enormous velocities was first patented in 1946. However, it was left unpublished for many years, until scientists across the Atlantic recognized his discovery’s importance and offered him a place in the Brookhaven experimental laboratory.

Having all of a sudden become from an elevator technician in Greece to a nuclear physics researcher in one of the most important research institutes in America, Christofilos began participating in top-secret physics research projects in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The most famous one, which was proposed by him, was Operation Argus. The operation, which was prepared in less than 4 months and was approved by President Eisenhower under complete secrecy, aimed at creating some sort of magnetic “mirror”. Thus, in 1957, in the midst of the Cold War, three atomic bombs were launched into space. Their explosions released countless of high-energy electrons that were entrapped in the Earth’s magnetic field, creating, as Christofilos had predicted, an artificial zone of electrons around the Earth’s magnetosphere between the zones of Van Allen, which lasted for nearly 2 weeks. It turned out to be even more successful than anticipated.

Operation Argus was one of the largest and most impressive space operations ever to be conducted by the American government. The nuclear blasts from the atomic bombs were so strong that disabled every satellite and blacked-out all radars above the North Atlantic, including the Russians’ satellites in orbit. It also marked the first time man created an artificial aurora.

Today, over 200 research papers bear his name, mostly on nuclear fusion such as the proposed Astron, antennas of continental dimensions and particle accelerators. They also include multiple other operations of huge proportions such as: Operation Sanguine, a project on telecommunication with extremely-low frequencies between submarines and Operation Starfish, a nuclear-war scenario project that turned night into day, creating yet another aurora which took 10 years for the Earth’s magnetic field to recover. His principle that was put into action in Operation Argus was named the Christofilos effect after him. He was awarded multiple prizes and recognition for his everlasting contributions to nuclear and particle physics. The fact that he could put his knowledge to effect in such terrifying nuclear experiments proved that he was two things in life: a visionary and a crazy Greek.

Bibliography

1. Δαγκλής, Ιωάννης. Νικόλαος Χριστόφιλος: ο τρελο-Έλληνας του πειράματος “Argus”. Secret Real Truth. Thesecretrealtruth.blogspot.com. Web. September 30, 2012.
2. Lahanas, Michael. Nicholas Constantine Christofilos. Mlahanas.de. Web.
3. Νικόλαος Χριστόφιλος, ο «ατομικός» Έλλην πίσω από τους διαστημικούς και πυρηνικούς θριάμβους των ΗΠΑ!. Triklopodia.gr. Web. August 14, 2016.

Theophrastus

Philosopher, Scholar, Mathematician, Agronomist, Naturalist (c.371 BC – c.287 BC)

Theophrastus was Aristotle’s greatest and most beloved student, as well as his successor as headmaster of the Lyceum. Together with his teacher, he is considered as the Father of Botanic and Mineralogy. An Aristotelian philosopher with profound knowledge on various scientific fields, he continued his teacher’s work, becoming one of the most influential philosophers of Greek history.

Theophrastus was originally a student of Plato, before studying next to Aristotle, who gave him the name Theophrastus for his eloquence. He became the first headmaster of the Botanical Garden, founded by Aristotle, next to the river Ilisos in Athens. There, Theophrastus taught botany and phytology. With the death of Aristotle, Theophrastus was appointed headmaster of the Peripatetic School and inherited Aristotle’s library. Furthermore, he undertook custody of Aristotle’s son and was offered to marry his daughter. He lived his whole life primarily in Athens, devoted himself to the Lyceum, where he made a great fortune and was highly respected.

Like Aristotle, he was a polymath and a prolific writer, having written about 250 books, most of which have seen lost. In general, Theophrastus did not decline much from Aristotle’s philosophy, let alone introduce something new to his philosophy. Nevertheless, he developed numerous sciences, most importantly Aristotelian logic and added some new concepts to philosophy. While he is mostly known for his advances in logic, Theophrastus’ contributions are found in a vast number of seemingly unrelated fields such as ethics, metaphysics, music, religion, rhetoric, physiology, geometry, biology, zoology, phytology, poetry and law.

Of note are his contributions in phytology, the science of plants. He wrote 9 books on the history of plants (Peri Phyton Historiae) and 6 books on the causes of plants (Peri Phyton Aetiae), which is a continuation of the former. In it, the philosopher attempts to interpret the causes of the difference of plants with each other. The treatise features over 550 different species of plants from the Mediterranean to the East, each with its own detailed description. Theophrastus also proceeds to an incredibly detailed classification of plants, trees and bushes. Moreover, the treatise contains phytogeography, information on the longevity and the diseases of plants, their fruits, their medicinal powers as well as poisons, making it concurrently a pharmacological treatise. He was the first to use botanical definitions and nomenclature and the first to describe that leaves were used in the nutrition of the plant. He was involved with the study of plants that were brought to Greece from Asia by Alexander the Great during his expeditions. Theophrastus compiled studies of significant value and planted many in his Botanical Garden. Numerous new plants were introduced in Greece thanks to him, namely prunus laurocerasus, rice and cotton.

Other works of importance were Peri Lithon (On Rocks), which was part of a treatise on mineralogy, books on fire, on smell, on wind, on water, on senses and on the colour of animals. Lastly, Theophrastus wrote Characters, a book consisting of 30 chapters, each describing a character, for instance the coward, the oligarch, the inappropriate, the ironic, the vanity, the insolent etc. He provides each one with a background, their social life and their spiritual consistency. It is Theophrastus’ most well-known book.

He had over 2000 students; among them most notably were Demetrius of Phaleron, the founder of the Library of Alexandria, Dicaearchus, a mathematician polymath and Aristarchus of Samos, the astronomer who supposedly founded the heliocentric theory. He died at the age of 85 without having married Aristotle’s daughter, complaining that he was leaving this world right at the time when he was starting to become wise. He had directed the Lyceum for 34 years.

Bibliography

1. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades, Athens: 1995. Print.
2. Pleures, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron Publications, 2014. Print.
3. “Theophrastus”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.

Altani

Writer, Researcher (1933 – 2020)

During the Renaissance, Greek scholars that fled to the West struggled to keep the candle of Hellenism flaming so that the eternal wisdom of the Ancient Greek philosophers be disseminated to the peoples of tomorrow. Altani was one of today’s such people, one of the most erudite Hellenists, who continued to pass on the hidden knowledge of the Ancient Greek thought in a deciphered way, so that it resonates with the readers’ souls.

She studied philology and foreign languages, then continued her studies in music in Conservatio di Santa Cecilia di Roma and in the Royal School of Music in London. Thereafter, she got involved in studying the Ancient Greek philosophy and mythology.

The writer’s first book that started it all was Epidauros Tholou Apocalypsis. It was the beginning of a series of books of mythological-philosophical-psychological content called Arrhetoi Logoi, and which bridged mythology with philosophy, proving the former’s profound meaning on man’s soul. In it, Altani first made a worldwide discovery about the heliocentric system and the precession of the equinoxes exactly displayed on the pavement of the Tholos of Epidaurus, 40 years before its discovery by Aristarchus and 170 years before the birth of Hipparchus, respectively. The analogic relationship between the microscopic human being and the macroscopic celestial universe has been realized.

In the following books were introduced or decoded key concepts of understanding the Greek philosophy, such as symbols, Gods and deities, archetypes, Pythagoras’ arithmosophy and the Pythagorean theorem, anagrammatisms of the Greek language based on Plato’s Cratylus and the “monsters of the soul”. In the fourth book, Altani managed to reconstruct the ancient system of Greek Meditation (Ἑλληνικὸς Διαλογισμὸς) by putting together the lost pieces of the puzzle based on the surviving works of Orpheus, Hesiod, Homer, Plato and Pythagoras. Its enormous success attracted the interest of academia, where Greek psychiatrists confirmed the practical importance and the beneficial effects of the Greek Meditation. From 1997, she delivered over 242 lectures on television on philosophy as well as held workshops on Greek Meditation (Ἑλληνικὸς Διαλογισμὸς) on a regular basis. All of her works were products of the Greek Meditation.

The cultivation of the ancient Greek inheritance and the promotion of the Greek philosophy and thought are but a result of Altani’s hard work. The greatness of her work lied in her ability to decipher what eminent scholars cannot, provide us with a clear understanding of the profound wisdom of the Ancient Greeks and most importantly, her achievement to rebuild an incredibly ancient and complicated method that was lost thousands of years ago, making her a pioneer of the Hellenikos Dialogismos. (Greek Meditation). That method’s purpose is not only to give valuable fruits to the meditationist but also to aid humanity’s soul to become one with the Divine. Such work can only be undertaken by people with virtue, memory and discipline.

Bibliography

1. Altani. Άρρητοι Λόγοι Θαύμας Ἔναντι Ἐξουσιαστῶν Τιτάνων. Kaktos: Athens, 2017. Print.
2. Altani. Άρρητοι Λόγοι Ἑλληνικὸς ΔΙΑ-ΛΟΓΙΣΜΟΣ. Georgiades: Athens, 2006. Print.

Nikitaras

General, Statesman, Hero of the Greek War of Independence (1787 – 1849)

Nikitas Stamatelopoulos was known by many different names; he was called Tourkophagos (Turk-eater) and Nikitaras, his name meaning “victory”. He was one of the greatest heroes and protagonists of the Greek War of Independence, next to his uncle, Theodore Kolokotronis. He fought in all of the major battles of the Greek War of Independence, proving his decisive role in its outcome.

From a young age he was introduced to the harsh way of life of the harmatoles. After losing his father from the Ottomans, Nikitaras followed Theodore Kolokotronis throughout all his operations. His devotion to his uncle was recorded in the people’s saying “The head was of Kolokotronis, the arm was of Nikitaras”. In 1818, 3 years before the outbreak of the War, Nikitaras was initiated in the Society of Friends, whereupon he became an active member, travelling to Peloponnesus in attempt to initiate others and join the war that was slowly coming.

On March 23, 1821, Nikitaras joined Kolokotronis and entered in Kalamata. On May 12^th of the same year, Nikitaras led an army of 800 troops victoriously against the Ottomans in the Battle of Valtetsi, thus granting the Greeks a victory in one of the most important battles during the war. Soon thereafter, he proved his military skills and valour in the Battle of Doliana, where he defeated 6000 Ottomans with an army of 200 Greek men. These two battles rendered him one of the most heroic fighters of the war. He continued in the Battle of Vervena, where he won the battles one after the other. Finally, on September 23^rd of the same year, Nikitaras, together with Theodore Kolokotronis, Demetrios Plapoutas, Anagnostaras, Petrobey Mavromichalis and Demetrios Hypsilantis fought in the siege of Tripolitsa, ultimately reclaiming the capitol of Moria and decimating the Turkish and Jewish population. In 1822, along with 700 of his men he fought in the Battles of Stylis and Hagias Marinas, alongside Odysseus Androutsos.

The apex of his heroic virtue was in the Battle of Dervenakia, the most important battle of the Greek War of Independence. The Greeks, led by Theodore Kolokotronis put an end to Dramali’s descent to Peloponnesus by facing 3000 Turks in the small mountain pass of Dervenakia. Nikitaras was also present here, alongside Demetrios Plapoutas, Demetrios Hypsilantis, Papaflessas and Panos Kolokotronis. It was in this battle that Nikitaras earned the nickname “Turk-eater” because during the battle he broke 3 of his swords from the force he was striking.

Nikitaras was never absent from any of the major battles of the war. After the Battle of Dervenakia, Nikitaras continued fighting in a numerous battles, including the second siege of Mesolonghi, the victorious Battle of Arachova, on the side of Georgios Karaiskakis and his 800 men and the Battle of Phaleron, again together with Karaiskakis, who died in battle.

Nikitaras lived long enough to see his homeland free and to live the ingratitude of the nation. He was an avid supporter of John Kapodistrias, who appointed him to various positions of power including President of the Hellenic Parliament. He attempted to open a paper manufacturing company but with the arrival of King Otto, the plans were abandoned. He was sentenced, imprisoned and beaten repeatedly while in jail until he was proven innocent and freed. The government granted him with a permission to “beg” outside the Church of Evangelistria every Friday, where he would go beg, almost blind. One day, when the Russian ambassador came to visit him while he was begging and asked him what he was doing, Nikitaras replied “I am enjoying my free homeland”. “You’re enjoying it here, sitting on the streets?” said the Russian ambassador. Nikitaras then said “My homeland has granted me with a pension, to live well, but I come here to take a glimpse of how the people are doing”. The ambassador realized and let a small pouch of golden coins to fall from his pocket was he was leaving. Nikitaras saw it and told the ambassador: “Your pouch fell down; Take it, so that you don’t lose it and nobody else finds it”. He died in utter poverty at the age of 68 from diabetes.

Nikitaras remained in history as the most virtuous soul of the Greek War of Independence and one of the greatest heroic figures in Greek history, together with Theodore Kolokotronis, the old man of Morea, his most beloved uncle, whose tomb lies next to Nikitaras’.

Bibliography

1. “Nikitaras”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
2. Konstantaras, Konstantinos. The Inglorious End of the Heroes of 21’. Hilektron Publications: Athens, 2016. Print.

Hecataeus of Miletus

Historian, Geographer (c.549 BC – c.476 BC)

Before Herodotus, there was Hecataeus of Miletus, considered as the first and most renowned historiographer of Greece. Hecataeus was also the prodrome of scientific geography and chartography, considered by many as the Father of Geography.

He was a student of Anaximander. He travelled from southern Russia to Egypt where he learned historiography and wrote down his experiences from the places he visited. Hecataeus was an active statesman in Miletus and the only one from his homeland to oppose a revolution against the Persians foreseeing its failure. He succeeded in persuading the Persian satrap Artaphernes to restore the constitution of the Ionian cities when he was sent as an ambassador of his homeland.

He wrote numerous books. His most famous one, Periodos Ges (Tour Round the World) consists of two books, one on Europe and one on Asia, the latter also containing Africa. It provides ethnologic descriptions on the peoples found around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in a clockwise manner, from Gibraltar to Morocco such as about their civilization, their origins and their history. He developed Anaximander’s map of the globe and attempted to define the distances on the geographic map based on the constellations of the sky. He was the one who introduced geometric shapes and zones on geographic maps that are used to this day. His other, non-surviving works include Aeolics, Map of the Persian State, Historiae, Heroologia, Map of the Globe and Genealogia.

Hecataeus’s work exerted massive influence on his forerunners. Strabo and especially Herodotus cite him numerous times in their books, while the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles which contain geographic knowledge support the fact that Hecataeus’ works were very popular among the spiritual world of ancient Greece.

Bibliography

1. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades, Athens: 1995. Print.
2. “Haecateus of Miletus”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Brittanica. ”Hecataeus of Miletus” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. March 6, 2008. Retrieved on April 19, 2017.