Pausanias of Lacaedemon

General (5^th century BC)

Pausanias of Lacedaemon was a Spartan general, son of Cleombrotus and nephew of King Leonidas. His name has been connected with the Battle of Plataeae, where he led the Greeks to victory against the Persians in 479 BC.

Pausanias was regent of King Pleistarchus, Leonidas’ adolescent son and Pausanias’ cousin when he was appointed leader of the Greeks against the Persians, led by Mardonius. He led a total of 110.000 Greek warriors from 36 different city-states against the Persian army, consisting of 300.000 warriors. The battle took place in Plataeae in 479 BC, 1 year after the Battle of Thermopylae and the Battle of Salamis and 10 years after the Battle of Marathon, in which the two latter the Persians had lost. After a fierce battle, the Persians were defeated, having suffered 270.000 casualties according to Herodotus while the Greeks 1360 according to Plutarch. Among the dead was Mardonius, the Persian general whose king, Xerxes, had cut the head of Leonidas in the Battle of Thermopylae and had impaled it as a trophy. When he was advised to do the same to Mardonius as a form of retribution, Pausanias refused, saying that these actions befall only to the hands of barbarians.

The outcome of the Battle of Plataeae meant the end of the Persians’ expeditions in Greece and ended the second Graeco-Persian War in favour of the Greeks. In order to secure their freedom, Pausanias ordered the destruction of all Persian fortifications in the area, so that no barbarians remained in the land of the Greeks.

The victory of the Battle of Plataeae granted enormous fame and glory to Pausanias’ name. He was appointed admiral of the Greek navy and sailed to the Greek seas where he confronted the Persian fleet and liberated the islands of the Aegean Sea with 50 ships. Additionally, he liberated Cyprus and Byzantium from the Persian rule. As a result, the Greeks reclaimed their dominance in the Aegean Sea and the Euxine Sea.

Unfortunately, Pausanias’ course after his accomplishments turned to corruption and betrayal. According to ancient sources, he bargained with Xerxes in order to impose himself as sole ruler of Sparta and conquer Greece. He was accused of treason and misdemeanor and sentenced to death. He escaped to a temple where he found sanctuary whereupon the Spartans sealed the temple and Pausanias died of starvation. The once glorious Spartan general who had granted the victory to the Greeks in the Battle of Plataeae had fallen victim to his own arrogance. Nevertheless, in spite of his downfall, his name remained in history next to those of Miltiades, Leonidas, Demophilus, Themistocles, Aristides and Cimon.

1. “Pausanias”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Volonakis, Ioannis. ΤΗΣ ΑΡΧΑΙΑΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ ΟΙ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΙ ΗΓΕΤΑΙ. Georgiades: Athens, 1997. Print.

Diades of Pella

Engineer, Inventor (4^th century BC)

Diades the Besieger, also known as Diades of Pella, was Alexander’s engineer in his expedition in Asia. Together with Charias they constructed some of the most impressive and powerful war machines used by Alexander’s army in his conquests, which proved decisive in his victories against the Persians. He chiefly designed battering rams, moving towers, catapults and cranes aimed at demolishing enemy walls.

Nothing is known about Diades, save for his inventions. These include the following:

• The “Moving Towers” was a siege engine made of towers that could be disassembled and reassembled on site by the warriors. They were used to siege cities.
• The “palintonos” catapult, a V-spring catapult that launched stones at distance.
• The demolition raven, a tall scaffold with wheels. It had a long beam extending on both sides, one of which was operated by the operators on the back, and the front one, which resembled a raven’s beak and was used to extract rocks from the enemy’s walls. This way, it could demolish walls of cities.
• The Wall Perforator, a sophisticated siege engine used for perforating walls.
• The lifting machine, which was used for helping warriors climb on walls. It resembled the climax of Magirus.
• The ditch-filling tortoise was an armoured, pyramid-shaped vehicle that literally resembled a turtle. It was used in sieges for the levelling of ground and for filling the defensive ditches around cities. This way, it was easier for war machines to approach their target. Its area spanned 120 square meters for the protection of the digging crew that hid under it. Its exposed walls were covered with iron sheets, wicker wood, clay mixed with hair and lambskins stuffed with seaweed soaked with vinegar in order to neutralize incoming fire arrows and to absorb the impact of stones. The machine could move in all directions. Another version of the machine, the digging tortoise, had a vertical front face, enabling better contact with the wall and a greater efficacy.
• The trypanon, or borer, was a war machine resembling an oversized drill, operated by warriors inside a platform, covered by a double-layered roof. The drill consisted of a wooden beam with a metal head at its tip, fastened with ropes that ran around a series of pulleys. By moving the ropes, the beam moved backward and forward, able to jam the enemy wall.
• The roofed ram, a cage on wheels with a double-layered roof and a three-storey tower equipped with catapults. Its lower storeys were used for water reservoir in case of fire. On its floor, there were a series of holders on which the battering ram moved. The operators on both sides moved the ram by pulling the ropes, causing it to strike the enemy wall with great force.
• The epivathra was a type of movable bridge that was used not only for bypassing enemy walls but also during sea battles.

Diades was also responsible for developing and improving some of the older war engines used by Philipp II, most notably the euthytonos catapult, or the scorpion, was it was called, which could launch arrows at a long range. He wrote a treatise on engineering and the descriptions of his machines have survived in Heron’s works.

Bibliography:

1. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades, Athens: 1995. Print.
2. Kotsanas, Kostas. Ancient Greek Technology The Inventions of the Ancient Greeks. Kostas Kotsanas: Pyrgos, 2013. Print.

Diophantus

Mathematician (c200 – c284)

Diophantus was one of the greatest mathematicians of antiquity. He is the father of algebra and the first to introduce the use of letters as quantitative symbols in mathematics. His treatise Arithmetics, considered by many as the first enchiridion of algebra, is a landmark in the history of mathematics and represents the dawning of algebra.

Very few things are known about his personal life. He flourished in Alexandria, the most prestigious spiritual centre of humanity at the time, where he worked as a researcher on mathematics and a pedagogue. He wrote numerous treatises, two of which survive to this day. The first, Arithmetics, is the first treatise on algebra ever to have been written. It consists of 13 books, 11 of which survive in different languages. The books contain subjects on first, second and polynomial equations, with one or two unknowns, calculation of powers etc. The second one is Polygonal Numbers and Geometric Elements, a book containing complex geometry and of which only a fragment survives. Other works include Porisms, possibly on the theory of numbers and Moriastics, a book on fractions.

Furthermore, Diophantus studied meticulously the polynomial equations where only the integer values are sought. These came to be known as Diophantine Equations and the study of them today is called Diophantine Analysis, in his honour. French mathematician Pier de Fermat’s last theorem, considered to be one of mathematics’ most difficult problems is such an equation, evidently showing that Fermat was inspired by the great algebraist.

Diophantus was recognized as a great mathematician and a highly respected geometrician even during his own lifetime. His works, primarily Arithmetics exerted a tremendous influence on the Arabic civilization when during the 10^th century they were translated to Arabic. In the Middle Ages, intellects such as Maximus Planoudes, Georgios Pachymeres and Wilhelm Xylander studied his works and disseminated them.

Bibliography

1. “Diophantos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. O’Connor, JJ, Robertson, E.F. Diophantus of Alexandria. History.mcs.st-andac.uk. Web.
3. Vlachou, Angeliki. Ο Διόφαντος και η Διδακτική της Άλγεβρας. National and Capodistrian University of Athens. Athens, 2014. Math.uoa.gr. Web.

Evgenios Voulgaris

Philosopher, Theologist, Scholar, Teacher of the Greek Nation (1716 – 1806)

Evgenios Voulgaris was one of the greatest Teachers of the Greek Nation. He was one of the pioneers of the Greek Enlightenment movement, a polyglot and polymath who played a pivotal role in the dissemination of the sciences from the West back to Greece and struggled for the awakening of the subjugated Greek Nation. His actions, together with the rest of the Teachers of the Greek Nation, led to the events of the Greek War of Independence in 1821.

He originated from Corfu. Among his first teachers was Methodios Anthrakites, who influenced him significantly during his life. He continued his studies in Padua where he became acquainted with the works of ancient Greek and modern philosophers, such as John Locke and Gottfried von Leibnitz. In addition, he studied Greek, Latin and theology. By the end of his studies, Voulgaris spoke 10 different languages: Greek, Latin, Italian, German, French, Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, Russian and Chaldean.

In 1742 he returned to Greece where he became headmaster of the School of Maroutsis Bros in Ioannina. There, he taught philosophy, mathematics, geometry, logic, physics, cosmology and theology from his own textbooks, influenced by the Western European philosophy. He introduced the works of John Locke and Voltaire to Greece based on his own translations of their work. He continued his pedagogic work as headmaster in the School of Kozani and in the Athonite Ecclesiastical School, where he attracted hundreds of students, some of the most notable ones being St. Cosmas of Aetolia, Sergios Macraios and Josephus Mοisiodax. In 1761, he was called up by the Patriarchy of Constantinople, where he taught philosophy and mathematics in the Patriarchic School and was later appointed palatine.

Later, he settled in Leipzig, Germany for 8 years, where he published his original treatises on theology and philosophy. He befriended Catherine the Great and with her help, they published pamphlets to reawaken the Greeks during the Orlov Revolt. Voulgaris was appointed librarian of the Library of St. Petersburg, member of the Academy of St. Petersburg and Archbishop of Kherson.

Evgenios Voulgaris was a multifarious personality and represented one of the greatest intellectuals of Greece of his era. Philosopher, pedagogue and theologist, with profound knowledge in the natural sciences, he was recognized as a sage both inside and outside of Greece. He combated religious superstition and preached for freedom of religion. His massive bibliography includes valuable books on logic, mathematics, metaphysics, philosophy, ethics, music and Homer. Except these, he translated important works of European philosophers and poets, most notably Vergil’s Aeneid.

Like most representatives of the Greek Enlightenment, Voulgaris faced great opposition from the Church. He was accused of introducing dangerous ideas from the West, which forced him to constantly change schools. Nevertheless, his impact on the subjugated Greeks was enormous. He died at the age of 90, having opened the way to the Greek Enlightenment and the spiritual renaissance of the Greek Nation.

Bibliography

1. Christodoulou, Alexandros. Ευγένιος Βούλγαρης, ο γενάρχης του νεοελληνικού Διαφωτισμού. ΠΕΜΠΤΟΥΣΙΑ. Pemptousia.gr. Web. June 9, 2016. Retrieved on March 30, 2017.
2. “Evgenios Voulgaris”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
3. Papathanasopoulos, Georgios. Ευγένιος Βούλγαρης: Μέγας Διδάσκαλος του Γένους. Ινφογνώμων Πολιτικά. Infognomonpolitics.blogspot.bg. Web. November 16, 2016. Retrieved on March 30, 2017.

Aristophanes

Comic poet (c.446 BC – c.386 BC)

Aristophanes was the greatest comic poet of antiquity, who distinguished for his innovative role in comedy and his ingenuity in satirical poetry. He is the only representative of comedy from whom complete parts of his works have survived. He belongs to the great poets of the Classical Greek era, along with Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, him being the youngest of the four.

For 40 years, Aristophanes dominated the comical stage of Athens and became perhaps the most widely-known Athenian of his time. Nevertheless, almost nothing is known about his life, let alone the place he was born. He was an aristocrat but lived a simple life, indulged in his spiritual work, in spite of the fact that he was involved with the commons and with political satire.

The total number of his works is estimated to have been around 44. His major influences were Aeschylus, the greatest tragic poet of mankind, Orpheus, the founder of Orphism and Hesiod, the author of the divine Theogony. Aristophanes would frequently put his plays on stage under a different name or would pay others so that his name would be hidden behind those who would accept to take the responsibility of his plays.

A total of 11 plays have survived in their full form. They are the following: Acharnians, the first in chronological order, takes place during the Peloponnesian War. The protagonist Dicaeopolis secures a private peace treaty with the Spartans but is confronted by his fellow citizens, the Acharnians, who wish for the war to continue. It is a play of war and justice. Hippeis (Knights) is a satire about a statesman named Cleon and about the people’s compliance on flattery. Both Acharnians and Hippeis won him the first prize in the Lenaian festival. Nephelae (Clouds) won him the 3^rd prize on the Megala Dionysia and is a play where he criticizes the Sophists. Socrates is a key figure in this play. The Wasps satirizes the Athenian legal system and corruption while Peace, as its name suggests, conveys a message of peace. His two most renowned plays are The Birds and Lysistrata. The Birds is a play about two Athenians who decide to build their own imaginary city with the help of the bird king between Heaven and Earth. It satirizes the Athenian politics and its irresponsibility. It won him the 2^nd prize in the Megala Dionysia. Lysistrata is a powerful play in which women from all over Greece go on a sex strike in order the men to make peace. Thesmophoriazusae is about a group of women who plot Euripides’ death for defemating them in his plays. In The Frogs, Dionysus descends to Hades to bring back to life one of the three great tragedians because the people on Earth are writing dumb plays. He eventually becomes a judge in a poetry competition between the three. This also won first prize in the Lenaian festival. The Ecclisiazousae is a play about women who, after disguising into men, they organize a coup to take over Athens and establish community-property for everything. Wealth, the final one to have survived, deals with the unjust distribution of goods to people.

Aristophanes draws themes from the political, social and spiritual life of Athens. He portrays the mentality of the peoples, their traditions and actions in a comical and philosophical way. His works were original, imaginative and very daring for their time. He was greatly admired by Plato because of his critical stance against aristocracy and his radical art.

He was highly critical of democracy and would often be a subject of denouncement and resentment in his plays. He struggled against the demagogues of Athens whom he accused of philopolemy, and the sophists, whom he satirized greatly in his play Clouds (Nephelae). Through his plays, he fought for righteousness (Wealth), peace (Lysistrata, Peace, Acharnians) and the search for the ideal republic (Clouds), as his friend Plato did. His works were extensively studied by the philologists of the Byzantine Empire and the Renaissance, particularly by Erasmus, who considered them very important. To this day, his plays continue to educate the peoples of the 21^st century worldwide.

Bibliography:

1. “Aristophanes”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Platnauer Maurice, Taplin Oliver. Aristophanes Greek Dramatist. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica.com. Web. September 24, 2015. Retrieved on March 27, 2017.
3. Stefos, Stergioulis, Charitidou. History of the Ancient Greek Literature. Οργανισμός Εκδόσεως Διδακτικών Βιβλίων: Athens, 1999. Print.

Ioannis Kottounios

Philosopher, Theologist, Scholar (1572 – 1658)

Ioannis Kottounios (also spelled Johannes Cottunius) was an eminent humanist and scholar of the Renaissance. He occupied high academic positions in the Italian academia and was responsible, together with other great Greek humanists, for disseminating the Hellenism to the West that had fallen after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.

He was called the “Macedonian Sage”, because of origin from Beroia. He studied in the Greek College of Rome, where he was appointed professor of philosophy in 1613 and in the University of Padua, where he received his doctorate on philosophy and medicine. Kottounios taught Greek philosophy in the University of Bologna and University of Padua. In addition, he taught poetry, rhetoric, politics, theology and most importantly Plato and Aristotle, including Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics.

Kottounios was a neo-Aristotelian philosopher and a prolific writer, who wrote many treatises on the works of Aristotle. His original work Greek Epigrams is a commentary on the works of Aristotle, which was used to introduce the West with Aristotelian philosophy. It is the only book that was written in Greek. The rest of the books, written in Latin, are also commentaries based on the works of Aristotle, such as Lectiones in Primum Aristotelis de Meteoris,Commentarii lucidissimi in tres Aristotelis libros De Anima, Expositio Universale Logicae and many others. Other books written by Kottounios concern Greek history and mythology.

In 1653 he founded the Cottounian College, a school that provided free food and shelter to Greek immigrants who sought for scholarship. The Hellenomuseum, as it came to be known, would also provide Greeks with Greek and Orthodox education.

Kottounios’ work had tremendous influence on West thought. A polymath and polyglot, he is recognized today for his contributions to the Renaissance and his efforts to help the subjugated Greeks. Today, a bust of him is found in the campus of the University of Bologna.

Bibliography

1. Leontsini, Eleni G. Η ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟ 16^Ο ΚΑΙ 17^Ο ΑΙΩΝΑ:ΧΡΙΣΤΟΦΟΡΟΣ ΚΟΝΤΟΛΕΩΝ, ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ ΚΩΤΤΟΥΝΙΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ ΚΥΘΗΡΩΝ ΜΑΞΙΜΟΣ ΜΑΡΓΟΥΝΙΟΣ. ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΟΝΙΚΗ ΕΡΕΥΝΑ ΣΤΑ ΚΥΘΗΡΑ. ΑΝΟΙΚΤΟ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΔΗΜΟΥ ΚΥΘΗΡΩΝ.academia.edu. Web. Retrieved on March 21, 2017.
2. Το ήξερες; Ποιος σπουδαίος Βεροιώτης είναι ο εικονιζόμενος;. veriotis.gr. Web. Retrieved on March 21, 2017

Manolis Kalomiris

Composer (1883 – 1962)

Musician and composer Manolis Kalomiris is heralded as one of the most important composers in modern Greek history. He is the founder of the Greek National School of Music and one of the musicians who helped create the identity of the Greek music.

Kalomiris made his debut in 1908 as a composer in one of the most renowned concerts of the Odeon of Athens. He wrote a total of 222 works, including operas, orchestral music, symphonies, songs, chorals, room music etc. His most famous ones, The Mother’s Ring (1917) and Symphony of Leventia (1929) have received significant attention outside Greece. Other important works include The Protomastoras (1915) and Magivotana (1912-1913), a series of poems by Kostis Palamas set to music. His music was influenced by a multitude of factors, namely Wagner, national Russian music, the Greek demotic songs and by Greek poets such as Angelos Sikelianos and Nikos Kazantzakis.

Apart from the Greek National School of Music, Kalomiris also founded the Greek Odeon and co-founded the Union of Greek Composers. He served for the first time as Director of the National Opera in 1945, was elected member of the Academy of Athens, the first musician to achieve such a distinction and served as Inspector Archmusician of the army. Kalomiris was a pedagogue of music and scholar; he wrote numerous children’s books on the theory of music and taught in the University of Athens. In this way, he became the founder of the Greek pedagogic system of music.

His influence on the Greek music in the first half of the 20^th century was enormous not only as a musician and a composer, but also as a pedagogue, a music critic, an author and a manager, the main representative who shaped the national Greek music.

Bibliography

1. Μανώλης Καλομοίρης. Σαν σήμερα. Sansimera.gr. Web. Retrieved on March 19, 2017.
2. Politopoulos, H. The Composer. Manolis Kalomiris. Kalomiris.gr. Web. December, 1999. Retrieved on March, 19, 2017.
3. Tsetsos, Markos. Ο ΜΑΝΩΛΗΣ ΚΑΛΟΜΟΙΡΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟΙ ΘΕΣΜΟΙ. Tar.gr. Web. Retrieved on March 19, 2017.

Xenophanes

Philosopher, Theologist, Poet (c.570 BC – c.475 BC)

Xenophanes was a Pythagorean philosopher from Colophon. He lived and worked primarily in Elea, Magna Graecia, where he founded of the Eleatic School of Philosophy together with Zenon of Elea. His philosophy is mostly metaphysical, deals with religious issues such as the nature of God and the Divine, and encompasses a broad spectrum of philosophy of civilization. He is chiefly remembered for his strong criticism on the common misconceptions of God.

Thales of Miletus and Anaximander were his teachers and while in Syracuse, he met Aeschylus, Pindar and Simonides. Xenophanes was a skilled poet. He wrote numerous epic poems, elegies and hexameter verses and with those he earned his living. In one of his epic poems, he narrates the foundation of Colophon while in another he praises the value of wisdom over physical strength.

Xenophanes fought against the public’s perception of God, the anthropomorphism of God and the human characteristics attributed to God. Xenophanes spoke about a God that serves his own purpose, was not born and cannot be destroyed. God is the soul of the sphaerical universe that spreads towards every direction, giving life to everything there is. At the same time, God is motionless and eternal. Xenophanes’s monotheism speaks of one God, whose body and mind is completely different from that of mortals. He is all eye, all spirit and all ear. Everything is one and is one with God. He rejects the idea that God has the appearance, the clothes and the voice of man with his famous saying: “But if cattle or horses or lions had hands, or were able to draw with their hands and do the work that men can do, horses would draw the forms of the gods like horses, and cattle like cattle, and they would make their bodies such as they each had themselves”. He also criticized Homer and Hesiod for attributing human characteristics and weaknesses to God such as thievery, adultery and deceit, nevertheless recognized that “All men begin their learning from Homer”. In addition, Xenophanes rejects God’s intervention to the human affairs, stating that each one must take responsibility of their own actions. According to Xenophanes, God did not designate everything from the start to man. Part of the benevolent things of civilization was designated by God; the rest of the comforts of civilization were discovered by man, following his continual quest for betterment.

He was involved with the natural sciences and cosmology but his work has been largely obscured due to the influence of Aristotle. He considered the earth and water as the two primordial elements of creation. Everything is a product of alleloconversion of earth and water. This is summed in his saying that all things come from earth and all things end by becoming earth. He wrote the book On Nature, which dealt with cosmological issues. He explained about the celestial bodies and meteorological phenomena, supported the geocentric model, studied the fossils and made important geological and paleontological discoveries and proposed that the sea creates the clouds and the wind.

Xenophanes’s philosophical views were very daring for his time. He is a pure representative of the Greek spirit that doubts almost everything, even if it means going against the world he lives. A great pre-Socratic philosopher, who acted as an adviser to humanity with his poems and as a corrector with his theology, it is unfortunate that little of his work survives today to have a broader glimpse of his work.

Bibliography

1. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades: Athens, 1995. Print.
2. Pan, Sarantos. Xenophanes (575 – 480 BC). ΔΑΥΛΟΣ. Issue 185, May, 1997. pages 11395-11394. Print.
3. Patzia, Michael. Xenophanes. Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Iep.utm.edu. Web. Retrieved on March 17, 2017.
4. Pleures, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron Publications, 2014. Print.
5. “Xenophanes”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.

Anagnostaras

Hero of the Greek War of Independence (1860 – 1825)

Christos Anagnostaras was one of the protagonists of the holy war of freedom of the Greek Nation of 1821. He was a member of the Society of Friends (Philiki Hetaereia), a freedom fighter, a harmatolos, a statesman and above all, a flaming patriot. He remained in history for his heroic sacrifice in the Battle of Sphacteria in 1825.

The name Anagnostaras he earned when, as a child he was helping his father in the church. His name means “reader” because he was a church reader. In 1785, he joined the Federation of the Peloponnesians, founded by Theodore Kolokotronis and Petmezas. Before the outbreak of the War of Independence, he worked for the Russians when, as Major, he was responsible for the military recruitment of the Peloponnesians and for the French until 1816. Shortly before the outbreak, Anagnostaras was initiated into the Society of Friends and in turn departed to Constantinople and other parts of Greece to successfully initiate other fellow freedom fighters.

On the 23^rd of March 1821, Anagnostaras, together with Petrobey Mavromichalis and Theodore Kolokotronis, liberated Kalamata from the Ottomans. His main contribution to the war was in the Battle of Valtetsi, one of the more victorious battles during the war, together with Theodore Kolokotronis, Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis and Milopetrova, and in the Siege of Tripolitsa, later in the same year, on the side of Theodore Kolokotronis, Demetrios Plapoutas and Panos Kephalas.

Anagnostaras got involved with politics, assumed various positions and got into conflict with his compatriots during the Civil War. He washed out his political misdeeds in the Battle of Sphacteria on April 26, 1825 where he sacrificed himself in the name of freedom. Sphacteria was under the rule of Ibrahim and his Egyptian army. Anagnostaras, together with Anastasios Tsamados, Alexander Mavrokordatos, Count Santarosa and Andreas Miaoulis and his armada, alongside a small army battled against 3000 Turko-Egyptians and Ibrahim’s fleet in an effort to liberate the city. The Greeks and the philhellenes showed extraordinary valor but ultimately lost the battle. Anagnostaras, together with Anastasios Tsamados and Count Santarosa fell heroically in battle and passed to immortality, to the Pantheon of Heroes, the Elysian Fields, where all fallen heroes go.

Bibliography

1. “Anagnostaras’. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Ο ελληνικός λαός, καλός και γενναίος που έζησε αιώνες δουλείας είναι δικός μας αδελφός». Ο ιταλός κόμης Σανταρόζα που πολέμησε με τους Έλληνες στη μάχη της Σφακτηρίας και σκοτώθηκε από τους άνδρες του Ιμπραήμ. Μηχανή του Χρόνου. Mixanitouxronou.gr. Web. November 20, 2015. Retrieved on March 11, 2017.

Damascius

Philosopher, Physicist (c.458 – c.538)

The last of the Neoplatonists and the last headmaster of the Academy of Athens before its closure by Emperor Justinian in 529. Damascius of Damascus was primarily involved with Platonic philosophy, physics, metaphysics and astronomy and had significant influence in the Neoplatonic movement of philosophy during an era when the Ancient Greek flame was slowly dwindling and the Byzantine Empire was undergoing its first steps.

Damascius studied philosophy and astronomy 3 years in Egypt under his tutor, Theon. He was also a student of Isidore and Ammonius Saccas and served as director of the rhetoric school of Alexandria for 9 years. He continued his studies in Athens, under the guidance of Marinus, Proclus’ biographer and Zenodotus. He then became a scholar in the Academy of Athens and assumed its directory. There, he taught philosophy, rhetoric and astronomy at the time when Proclus was alive, until the Academy was closed and its property seized by Emperor Justinian. Damascius departed from Athens together with 6 of his colleagues and settled in the courtyard of King Chosroes. He remained there for 2 years until departing again for Greece due to the low level of intellectuality there. Simplicius was one of his students.

Damascius wrote commentaries on the works of Plato. These were based on their interpretation by Proclus. These include commentaries on Plato’s Phaedon, Parmenides, Philebus, Timaeus – Critias as well as commentaries on some of Aristotle’s works such as De Coelo, Physica etc. He did not limit himself on writing solely commentaries. His chief original treatise Difficulties and Solutions of First Principle deals with the nature of God and the soul. It is influenced by the Neoplatonic wave of Plotinus and Proclus. Damascius continues in this flow and asserts that the One (God) is connected with the Being and Nous (Mind). He attempts to discover the first principle of the world, the One of Plotinus and concludes that there exists a principle beyond the nature of reality that man cannot perceive with his senses and that it cannot be expressed. It is holy, divine, inconceivable and indescribable. For Damascius, the One creates the Being. Furthermore, he wrote books on astronomy, most importantly Paradoxa, which deals with the heat of the sun, the solar system and the galaxy.

Damascius’ influence on philosophy was significant. However, his treatises were and still remain very difficult for philosophers and scientists to understand. Few have been able to grasp the true meaning of his philosophical system, which is involved with metaphysics. Only recently was it revealed from Stelios Giannoulis, Professor of Theoretical Physics and assistant of Nobel-prize laureate Werner Heizenberg that, according to the latter’s own accounts, Werner Heizenberg’s teachings on the existence of multiple universes, one existing inside the other, with varying temperatures and velocities were borrowed from Damascius. Today, Damascius has been recognized as one of the greatest philosophic thinkers of humanity during the downfall of Ancient Greece.

Bibliography

1. ΕΛΛΑΣ-ΑΦΥΠΝΙΣΗ-ΤΩΡΑ. «ΕΠΑΝΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΙΣ» με τον Κωνσταντίνο Πλεύρη 21/02/2017. Youtube. February 21, 2017. Web. Retrieved on March 10, 2017.
2. Δαμάσκιος. Η Εγκυκλοπαίδεια του Πλάτωνα. Xtek.gr. Web. Retrieved on March 10, 2017.
3. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Georgiades: Athens, 1995. Print.
4. Pleures, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron Publications, 2014. Print.