Theophilos Kairis

Philosopher, Teacher of the Greek Nation, Scientist, Priest, Statesman, Hero of the Greek War of Independence (1784 – 1853)

He was born in Andros to a wealthy family. He studied philosophy and mathematics in the Academy of Cydonia and by the age of 18 he had already become a priest. He continued his studies in Italy, Switzerland and Paris, where he came in contact with the ideas of the Enlightenment. Under its influence, Kairis returned to Greece where he immediately began his monumental work of awakening the Greek nation to regain its freedom from the Turkish yoke, for which he would be passed to the pantheon of the heroes.

He taught sciences in the Academy of Cydonia, where his fame attracted even foreign students. Sensing the coming of the revolution, Kairis joined the Philiki Hetaireia (Society of Friends) and together with his students travelled throughout the islands of Greece to prompt the subjugated Greeks to rise against the Turkish yoke. His influence was so great that the people of the neighbouring countries also rose against the conqueror. During the Greek War of Independence, Kairis took an active role in numerous battles, fighting alongside famous Philhellenes. After the war, Kairis gained a role in politics, where he voted in favour of the arrival of Ioannis Kapodistrias as Governor of Greece. Kairis was appointed professor of the newly founded University of Athens but rejected the offer, preferring to stay in his homeland and founding an orphanage, which eventually became a school. There, he taught philosophy, higher mathematics, experimental physics, rhetoric, ethics, astronomy, logistics, metaphysics and religion not just to orphans, but also to students who came from all around Greece.

Unfortunately, after the death of Ioannis Kapodistrias, Kairis, akin to many heroes of the Greek War of Independence, was dismissed by the state. He was denounced by the Church as a heretic and was hunted down, sent to exile numerous times and ultimately sentenced to prison, where he left his last breath. Even after his death, the hatred against him had not ceased. His body was dug out, cut to pieces and washed with lime. Eight days after his death, the court withdrew the accusations and vindicated him.

According to Adamantios Korais, with whom Kairis exchanged mail, he was one of the invaluable protagonists of the spiritual awakening of the enslaved Greece. By the end of his life, he had attracted attention from all around Europe for his wisdom, patriotism, contribution to sciences and his efforts to imbue the enslaved peoples with freedom.

Bibliography

1. “Kairis, Theophilos”. Helios New Enclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.

Anaxagoras

Philosopher, Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer (c.510 BC – 428 BC)

Anaxagoras was a philosopher from Clazomenae, who lived and taught most of his life in Athens. A Pre-Socratic philosopher, who from a young age expressed an inclination toward science, he is regarded as one of the most important thinkers of his era, not solely for his philosophical views, most notably about nous (intellect), but also for his astronomical knowledge.

Anaxagoras wrote only one book, Περὶ Φύσεως (Peri Physeos) “On Nature”. It is said that it was so popular that one could buy it from the agora of Athens with 1 drachma. In it, Anaxagoras investigates the origin of the Cosmos, as well as the creation of Earth. In the very first sentence of his book, he asserts that the world was created as a result of union of pre-existing elements. That is, all things were together. His belief that everything that exists is composed of a mixture of all ingredients that there are came to be known as the “Everything-in-Everything principle”. Every ingredient is everywhere at all times and never ceases to exist. The simplest example is that of food. Anaxagoras claims that food and water are not simply that which we perceive in our reality, but they are composed of every ingredient that the body is made of, since the body is a mixture of all ingredients that are. By this way, Anaxagoras makes an analogy between the microcosm and the macrocosm. The interpretation of this theory has long troubled philosophers, both ancient and modern.

One of Anaxagoras’ key features in his philosophy was nous. Nous, which is the only thing that does not obey the principle of Everything-in-Everything, is responsible for setting into motion the ingredients that constitute the world and thus putting it in order. Nous can be roughly interpreted as mind or intellect and pictured as a mixer that constantly rotates the ingredients that form the world around a whirlpool.

Apart from philosophy, Anaxagoras was interested in physics and astronomy. He was the first to define the way by which eclipses of the sun and the moon occur as well as how winds are formed. Indeed, Aristotle marks how Anaxagoras could prove this experimentally. One of his most stunning assertions was the fact that distinguished him from the so-called Atomists. Anaxagoras believed that the atom could be divided as “matter can be divided into infinite” and can never be fully divided. This is exactly what modern science has shown, since the atom is composed of numerous other particles such as electrons and the nucleus, which in turn can be further divided into neutrons, positrons, protons, mesons etc.

Anaxagoras had many philosophical principles, including the most puzzling of all that there exist other, parallel worlds. His ideas influenced a number of prominent philosophers ranging from Aristotle to George Gamov.

Bibliography

1. “Anaxagoras”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Kemiktsi Helene. Αναξαγόρας – http:www.projethomere.com. YouTube. July 17, 2012. Web. October 27, 2015.
3. Pleuris, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Hilektron Publications, Athens, 2013. Print.

Leo the Mathematician

Philosopher, Mathematician, Engineer, Inventor, Astronomer, Musician, Scholar (c.790 – unknown)

Leo the Mathematician, otherwise known as Leo the Philosopher, was a polymath from Thessaly, the greatest mathematical and philosophical mind to ever pass from Greece during the Byzantine era. Leo proved to be more than a theoretical mind, putting his mathematical knowledge into action by inventing some of the most extraordinary machines of his time.

In attempt to receive the best education as possible, Leo travelled to many monasteric libraries around the Byzantine Empire, where he studied the manuscripts. These manuscripts provided him with advanced knowledge on mathematics, philosophy, astronomy etc. He later studied formally in Constantinople until the Byzantine Emperor Theophilus invited him to become a teacher of private education.

Leo served numerous high rank positions due to his political influence. Most notably Leo served as archbishop of Thessalonica, Rector of the Pandidakterion school of Constantinople and head of the philosophical school of Magnaura Palace, where he taught philosophy, geometry, arithmetic, rhetoric and grammar. Cyril, who would later become a saint together with his brother Methodius, was one of his students.

In mathematics, he was the first to introduce numbers instead of letters in arithmetic and algebra. He transcribed and thus saved a plethora of Ancient Greek manuscripts, such as those of Plato, Apollonius of Perga, Euclid, Archimedes, Ptolemy and many others. Leo also made corrections on several astronomical errors and proposed his own ideas and models on the movement of planets.

Leo became well known for his groundbreaking inventions. He constructed a system of fire signal stations called Fryktories which enabled communication between these stations in less than an hour, considered as the first optic telegraph in history. These fire beacons stretched across Asia Minor, from Cilicia to Constantinople. Leo is mostly renowned and remembered in history for his automata, robots and machines that could function automatically. He built mechanical trees and birds, roaring lions, including an imperial throne which could levitate. According to Liutprand of Cremone, who witnessed his inventions 100 years after his death, the throne was decorated with bronze, mechanical trees filled with twittering birds. The throne was enormous, made of bronze and gold, guarded by mechanical lions that struck the ground with their tails and roared with open mouth. He describes how he witnessed the king, right before his eyes, being lifted as high as the ceiling of the hall in astonishment.

Unfortunately, most of Leo’s works have been lost. He is often overshadowed by other people named Leo, most notably Emperor Leo the Wise, who proved to be more popular in history. Nevertheless, Leo the Mathematician is acknowledged as one of the greatest medieval scientists in history.

Bibliography

1. “Leon o Mathimaticos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Ouranos11144. Leo the Mathematician. Youtube. April 27, 2013. Web. October 9, 2015.

Archytas

Philosopher, Mathematician, Physicist, Engineer, Inventor, Astronomer, Statesman, Strategist, Musician (428 BC – 347 BC)

Archytas was a Pythagorean philosopher and polymath, one of the brightest minds ever to pass from Greek history. He built and flew the first flying machine in recorded history.

His contributions are numerous and expand in many different fields. As a Pythagorean philosopher, he expressed innovative ideas concerning learning and education. He believed that learning derived from the methodology of transmitting knowledge to others and by means of creative discovery. Among his most notable students was Eudoxus of Cnidus and Plato, who later became one of his closest friends. He was head of the Pythagorean school of philosophy in Tarentum.

As a general, Archytas was elected 7 times consecutively, even though re-elections were prohibited and was never defeated in battle. This comes to show how skilful he was in politics and how he could apply his philosophical thinking in the governing of a city-state. Indeed, he was a very close friend of Plato, having rescued him when he was on a journey to Syracuse. It is believed that the idealized Philosopher-King whom Plato is referring to in the Republic is Archytas, or at least, a ruler with Archytas’ virtues.

As member of the Pythagorean brotherhood, Archytas was one of the most special philosophers of his times, considering the fact that only the most virtuous men and women were handed down the Pythagorean teachings. Archytas has the following prerequisites for someone to become wise. First, they must have been born with a spirit gifted with the capacities of understanding, memory and work. Second, they must have exercised their intelligence from a young age with mathematics. Third, they must meditate (Διαλογισμός) to reach the divine knowledge of the universal laws of nature and humanity. This undertaking requires the soul to be brave, persistent, prudent, mnemonic and to research everything.

Since at that time Music was considered as a branch of Mathematics, Archytas made numerous innovations in the field. As a Harmonic Theorist, he discovered that the fundamental intervals of music could be illustrated as ratios on a string length. According to Plato, he made enormous contributions to music, most than any other Pythagorean, to an extent where he took music as a science to a whole new level.

Archytas’ major contributions to humanity were in the field of mathematics. He solved the Delian Problem, the so-called Doubling of the Cube and founded Mechanics as a science in Physics. Many of his discoveries were later included in Euclid’s magnum opus Elements. He also made decisive contributions in Geometry, the Theory of Numbers, Optics and Logistics.

In addition to being a mathematician, Archytas was a prolific inventor. He invented the toy rattle, the pulley and the screw but his most magnificent invention of all was the world’s first flying machine. It was termed Peristera or Pigeon because of its shape. It was constructed by wood and an intricate system which utilized compressed air or steam to propel it into the air. The machine flew approximately 200 meters on its first flight, 179 meters more than the first flying machine of the Wright Bros. in 1903.

In a nutshell, Archytas was one of the leading mathematicians in the ancient world, equal to Euclid and Pythagoras. Even though most of his work has been lost, the one that remains today is still sufficient enough to be regarded as monumental and for him to be considered one of the greatest polymaths in world history. Without his inventions, there wouldn’t exist today anything from a steam engine to an entire factory.

Bibliography

1. “Archytas o Tarantinos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
2. Ayfantis, Georgios. Anthropos & Epistimi – Enimerosis: Prehistory and History of Man, Science & Civilization. Athens: Hellinikon Selas, 2009. Print.
3. Kotsanas, Kostas. Ancient Greek Technology: The Inventions of the Ancient Greeks.  Pyrgos: Kostas Kotsanas, 2013. Print
4. Sakellariou, Georgios. Pythagoras the Teacher of the Centuries. Ideotheatron: Athens, 1963. Print.
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ”Archytas” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. 3 Oct. 2015.

Unknown Soldier

“Such were these men, worthy of their country. And for you that remain, you may pray for a safer fortune, but you ought not to be less venturously minded against the enemy; not weighing the profit by an oration only, which any man amplifying, may recount, to you that know as well as he, the many commodities that arise by fighting valiantly against your enemies; but contemplating the power of the city in the actions of the same from day to day performed, and thereby becoming enamoured of it. And when this power of the city shall seem great to you, consider then, that the same was purchased by valiant men, and by men that knew their duty, and by men that were sensible of dishonour when they were in fight; and by such men, as though they failed of their attempt, yet would not be wanting to the city with their virtue, but made unto it a most honourable contribution. For having every one given his body to the commonwealth, they receive in place thereof an undecaying commendation and a most remarkable sepulchre; not wherein they are buried so much, as wherein their glory is laid up, upon all occasions both of speech and action to be remembered for ever. For to famous men all the earth is a sepulchre: and their virtues shall be testified, not only by the inscription in stone at home, but by an unwritten record of the mind, which more than of any monument will remain with every one for ever. In imitation therefore of these men, and placing happiness in liberty, and liberty in valour, be forward to encounter the dangers of war. For the miserable and desperate men, are not they that have the most reason to be prodigal of their lives; but rather such men, as if they live, may expect a change of fortune, and whose losses are greatest if they miscarry in aught. For to a man of any spirit, death, which is without sense, arriving whilst he is in vigour and common hope, is nothing so bitter as after a tender life to be brought into misery”.

Excerpt from Pericles’ Funeral Oration by Thucydides, Translated by Thomas Hobbes

Ioannis Kapodistrias

Physician, Diplomat, Statesman, First Governor of Greece (1776 – 1831)

Ioannis Kapodistrias, the Saint of Politics as he is known in Greece,  was a charismatic and illustrious statesman who, through his covert but decisive contribution to the Greek War of Independence and profound influence in the internal and external affairs of Greece led not only to the foundation of a strong, independent Greek nation, but also succeeded in transforming Greece to a country of European standards from the ground up in a time period of just 3 years. He is honoured in Switzerland and Russia for his contributions in their political and oeconomical system and is regarded undisbutedly as the greatest statesman in Greek history.

Among Kapodistrias’ most notable contributions and reforms are the following:

• Kapodistrias gathered all the powers of the state to his hands and disregarded the constitution. This was necessary because of the political anarchy at the time of his arrival.
• He built schools because there weren’t any. Since there weren’t enough teachers, the students from the higher classes would teach the students of the lower classes.
• He founded universities. The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens is named after him, even though it was founded by King Otto in 1837.
• He built orphanages, nursing homes for the elderly, post offices.
• He built roads, bridges and houses since everything was destroyed by the war, all with his own money.
• Kapodistrias adopted strict austerity measures to stabilize the country’s economy.
• There were no banks. With the help of the Swiss philhellene Eynard, he founded the National Bank of Greece.
• There was no currency. He minted the Phoenix.
• He passed numerous laws for the betterment of justice. He founded appellate courts and Justice of the Peace courts.
• In 1828, Kapodistrias founded the Hellenic Military Academy and gave it the name Evelpides meaning Bearers of Hope. Having also enforced the military, he expanded the nation’s borders to include parts of west Steraeia Hellada.
• He fought against piracy in the Aigean with the help of Andreas Miaoulis.
• He introduced the potato. The ingenious way by which he did it is well-known.
• When serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia in Moscow in 1813, he was approached by his long time friend Athanasios Tsakalov and his brother, who persuaded him to found a secret organization for awakening of the ethic-religious consciousness of the Greeks. Kapodistrias, on the other hand, proposed that the organization had two scales. One called the “Mystiki Archi” (The Secret Principle), which would be based in Moscow, and another called “Philiki Hetairia” (Society of Friends) based in Odessa. Tsakalov would lead the first scale of the organization for safety reasons so that Kapodistrias would not put his position in danger. The three of them would be the only members of the first scale. Therefore, on March 1813, Athanasios Tsakalov, his brother and Ioannis Kapodistrias found the three organizations and take an oath that they will fight for independence of Greece to the death. Through Athanasios Tsakalov, Mystiki Arche would command the Society of Friends. Hence, the actual reason why the Filiki Hetairia surpassed all the other secret organizations in terms of success was not only because of Kapodistrias’ huge sums of money that were poured in the organization to support it, but also because of his patriotism and genius political intellect. Kapodistrias had managed to remain undercover so well throughout the years, that even to this day, many historians are not aware of his involvement in the secret societies for the Greek War of Independence.
• Kapodistrias clashed with Metternich and successfully managed to keep Greece away from the clutches of the Holy Alliance, whose aim was to hinder any revolutionary acts in Europe.
• Kapodistrias had envisioned the revival of the Byzantine Empire. For this reason, he and his friend Petrobeis Mavromichalis searched for a suitable descendent of the Palaiologos lineage to place as a king. Unfortunately, this never came to pass.
• Kapodistrias’ work expanded to Switzerland, where he is responsible for making the country’s banking system to what it is today. He divided the country to 19 counties and contributed significantly to the creation of their constitution. He is also responsible for the neutrality of Switzerland.
• In June 8, 1828, Kapodistrias published circular number 2953 and in August 26, 1831 circular number 4286 according to which every form of secret societies that were based in Greece, such as Freemasonry, were declared illegal by the state. Members of secret societies were prohibited from holding public positions and those who would not declare their membership would be persecuted. 48 days later, Kapodistrias is assassinated. The witnesses at the time of the event suggest that Kapodistrias was most likely assassinated by his guard Kozonis and a man disguised as a beggar just outside the church.

Kapodistrias devoted his entire life in reviving the Greek nation. He never married nor had any children. He would always pay the expenses from his own money and preferred living his life as a poor. It is well known that he insisted the money he was paid during his career as Governor of Greece to be given to the poor and that he get nothing. He fulfilled his oath and ultimately sacrificed his life for his ideas. Today, numerous statues of him can be seen throughout Greece, Switzerland and Russia commemorating the quintessence of a virtuous political figure.

Bibliography

1. Ayfantis, Georgios. Anthropos & Epistimi – Aphypnisis. Athens: Hellinikon Selas, 2009. Print.
2. Barbis, Kostas. Jackals and Hyenas of the Greek Politics. Thessaloniki: Kadmos, 2012. Print.
3. Konstantaras, Konstantinos. Ioannis Kapodistrias. Athens: Hilektron, 2016. Print.

4. Ιωάννης Καποδίστριας. Ευεργέτης και ήρωας στην Ελβετία, την οποία οργάνωσε σε σύγχρονο, ουδέτερο και λειτουργικό κράτος. Θύμα δολοφονίας στην Ελλάδα. mixanitouxronou.gr. Web. Retreived on October 12, 2015.

Plato

Philosopher, Mathematician, Astronomer, Scholar, Psychologist (427 BC – 348 BC)

Plato, the therapist of the souls, the eternal Teacher of mankind is a cosmohistorical figure of world history whose work exerted a huge influence on the human thought and spirit. Platonic philosophy is what guided humanity throughout the ages from ancient times to this day and what still determines its course in history. Together with his teacher, the immortal Socrates, and his student, the wise Aristotle, they form the holy trinity of philosophy. Plato’s life, work and legacy unveil to the human soul insuperable wisdom from a higher world co-existing with the human world which Beings from a Higher Plane inhabit. His wise predecessors Orpheus, Hesiod, Homer, Socrates and Pythagoras opened the gates of philosophy. Plato walked through them.

Plato was born in Athens. His first contact with philosophy was Socrates. Without him, there would not have been nor Plato, nor Aristotle, nor Western philosophy. Prior to that, Plato was a poet. Even though he abandoned poetry and turned to philosophy, his works contain several poetic elements, namely the Platonic myths. From Socrates, Plato discovered himself («γνῶθι σαυτόν») and his inner virtues. From that point onward, he was to continue the path of his spiritual development alone.

His spiritual journey began when he travelled to Magna Graecia to study Pythagorean philosophy and mathematics. There he became acquainted with Archytas of Tarentum, the chief Pythagorean representative at the time with whom Plato formed a strong bond of friendship. Archytas initiated Plato to the Orphic and Pythagorean mysteries. From there, Plato travelled to Egypt and Cyrene.

Upon returning to Athens, he founded the Academy, the world’s greatest spiritual center and University ever built by mankind (the first University of mankind was founded by Pythagoras and Archytas). Its goal was to attract all intellectuals from the Greek world in an effort to promote sciences and philosophy and to cultivate mathematics, a true “Pan-epistemion” (universal science). With its enormous library, it served as a storehouse of knowledge that was to be disseminated to the entire world by the Acdemy’s students. Other activites of the Academy included the development of geometry, geography, astronomy, ethics, social and political sciences, art and the classification of all animals and plants. The Academy was open to all men and women of any ethnicity who wished to carry on the torch of Platonic philosophy, provided that thet knew geometry («μηδεὶς ἀγεωμέτρητος εἰσίτω»). Most of Greece’s greatest philosophic and scientific minds of the 4^th century BC were students in the Academy, namely Aristotle, Eudoxus and Xenocrates. The Academy shined as the sky’s brightest star of knowledge from the time of its foundation till 83 BC and then again from 410 until 529, when it was closed by the Emperor Justinian.

Plato is the Patriarch of Greek Meditation (Ἑλληνικὸς ΔΙΑ –Λογισμός), together with Pythagoras. He is the one who continued Pythagoras and Socrates’ work and took it farther. Plato’s books contain all the knowledge that he found after years of meditation. His masterpieces are an eternal consignment to humanity containing all the information given to him by the Divine Beings during his endoscopic flights. This information which Plato received was carefully coded inside the Platonic myths and speaks to the reader’s soul. Their demythification provides the basis of the therapy of the soul. With his philosophy, Plato aimed at the equilibrium of the mind and soul. Through the catharsis of the human soul, following careful and critical self-examination, without external intervening forces, the soul becomes awakened and healed from its monsters and traumas. Man’s soul ultimately comes into contact and unifies with the Divine, the same way as his Teachers Pythagoras, Socrates, Orpheus, Heraclitus, Democritus, Archytas and Hippocrates did. This was the way Plato approached the issues of the soul which he left to humanity to heal itself.

Plato’s books have been traditionally compiled as tetralogies. These are the following, in order by which they were originally written by Plato: Ephthyphron – Apology of Socrates – Criton – Phaedon, Cratylus – Theaetetus – Sophist – Politicus, Parmenides – Philebus – Symposium – Phaedros, Alcibiades – Alcibiades second – Hipparchus – Erastae, Theages – Harmides – Laches – Lysis, Eythydemus – Protagoras – Gorgias – Menon, Hippias major – Hippias minor – Ion – Menexenus, Cleitophon – Republic – Timaeus – Critias, Minos – Laws – Epinomis – Epistoles.

The issues which he approached regarding the soul were the following: He explored the world of ideas, the world of the souls, where do they come from, how they are born. How do they incarnate and where do they go after “death”. What are the soul’s parts and characteristics, what are the types of souls and how do they heal. His magnum opus Timaeus – Critias is the Holy Bible of Humanity. It is the main book in which Plato unravels most of his metaphysical findings including the gigantic Platonic cosmology and God and provides the first scientific explanation on the creation of the universe and the creation of the beings. In addition, it is the book in which he speaks about Atlantis, the Athenian-Atlantean war, its downfall and the rise of Athens about 11.000 years ago.

Justice is a quality of the Divine. It is the main topic of Plato’s Republic. In it, Plato describes the ideal Republic, the one that is governed by the virtuous philosopher-kings and which if ever implemented, humanity will be salvaged from its passions. This shows that Plato was involved with political philosophy but chose not to be involved with them on a practical level. It also contains metaphysical topics such as the nature and the situations of the soul. For spiritualism and politics go together in Plato’s Republic. Phaedros is the golden book of psychology. Among some of its topics include the stimulation of the soul by the Muses, rendering it able to educate other souls with hymns and myths (Hesiod, Homer) and the entire process of Greek Meditation by which the soul comes into contact with the Divine. Phaedon is yet another metaphysical book on the soul’s immortality and reincarnation. Like in the book Phaedros, the repeating symbols of the horse and the Charioteer play a central role. The critical self-examination and the definition of the Greek Meditation are the key points of Plato’s Sophist and Plato’s Theaetetus. In the latter he also presents the mathematical work of mathematician Theaetetus. Laws is the book in which Plato dwells in the depths of human nature. He discovers the divine essence of man’s soul and explains the importance of virtue. The significance of virtue is also a big topic in Plato’s Republic and Timaeus. Cratylus explains the connection between the Greek language and symbolism.

Plato got involved with mathematics later in his life. He was the one who divided the world into noetic (eternal) and aesthetic (changing) and established that one could only interpret the celestial phenomena of the noetic world using a ruler and a compass. Geometry, therefore, according to Plato was the most sacred tool to research the Divine world as geometric shapes represent shapes from the world of ideas. Plato suggested that ideas are numbers. Plato highly advanced mathematics, founded Platonic stereometry (Theaetetus, Menon, Timaeus), made innovations in the fields of sequences, theory of numbers and mathematical physics (Timaeus). Except from being a philosopher and mathematician, Plato was an important theologic reformer. He used mathematics to interpret God and the creation of the world. He explained that the aesthetic world was created by the Creator God by geometry and stereometry in the image of the world of ideas. Finally, Plato was involved with ethics, epistemology, theology and of course astronomy. The theory of the World of Ideas and the Kinetic theory of the soul belong to him.

Platonic philosophy never ceased to be in the epicenter of world philosophy. During thr 2^nd century BC its main representatives were Panaetius and Poseidonius of Rhodes. During the Roman era Platonic philosophy was further disseminated to the Western civilization thanks to the Roman philosophers, primarily Cicero. In the 3^rd century Platonists included Plutarch, Porphyrius, Proclus, Iamblichus, Hypatia, Damascius, Plotine and the physician Galen. Even in the dark years of the Middle Ages, Platonic philosophy never stopped flourishing and inspiring. With the chief representatives of that era being Cardinal Bessarion and Georgios Gemistus – Pletho, humanity stepped out of the darkness of religion and into the light of the Renaissance thanks to their contribution, was well as the contribution of significant Greek and Italian scholars like Michael Psellos, Cozimo de Medici, Manuel Chrysoloras, Marsilio Ficino, Aldus Manutius etc., who further disseminated Plato’s philosophy to the world where it reached the hands of modern generation.

The soul of the seekers of the truth, who indulge on Plato’s wisdom will grow golden wings and will fly to the Divine Beings where it will unite with them. Πᾶσα γὰρ (ἡ ψυχὴ) τὸ πάλαι πτερωτή – Πλάτωνος Φαῖδρος (Because the entire soul is winged – Plato’s Phaedros).

Bibliography

1. Altani. Arritoi Logoi: Hellenikos Dia-logismos, Vol 1 and 2. Athens: Georgiades, 2012. Print.
2. Altani. Arritoi Logoi Kentauroi, Amazones, Medousa. Georgiades: Athens, 2005. Print.
3. Altani. Arritoi Logoi: Odysseus – Socrates. Georgiades. Athens, 2015. Print.
4. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Athens: Georgiades, 1995. Print.
5. Gravigger, Petros. Pythagoras and the Mystic Teachings of Pythagoreanism. Athens: Ideotheatron Dimeli, 1998. Print.
6. Koutoulas, Diamantis. The Ancient Greek Religion and the Mathematics. Thessaloniki: Psaras, 2001. Print.
7. “Platon”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
8. Pleures, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron Publications, 2014. Print.

Simonides of Ceos

Lyric Poet (c556 BC – c469 BC)

Simonides was a figure whose work was recognized during his own lifetime as a poet. As a connoisseur of the Greek language, he gained widespread popularity for his monumental poems commemorating a heroic death, a victory or other deeds worth remaining in history. Among them are the elegiac verses written for the heroes that died triumphantly at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, a poem written as a reminiscent of the glorious victory of the Greeks in the Battle of Plateae in 479 BC against the Persian army and his most famous verse on the 300 Spartans that fell in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.

The reason that Simonides distinguished from other poets of his time lies in the mathematical structure of the Greek language. We know that in Ancient Greece, the letters of the alphabet also served as numbers and that each word was represented by an arithmetic value. Bellow is an examination of his most famous verse on the Battle of Thermopylae:

“Ω ΞΕΙΝ, ΑΓΓΕΛΕΙΝ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΟΙΣ ΟΤΙ ΤΗΔΕ ΚΕΙΜΕΘΑ, ΤΟΙΣ ΚΕΙΝΩΝ ΡΗΜΑΣΙ ΠΕΙΘΟΜΕΝΟΙ”

(Oh friend passing by, go tell the Spartans that here, obedient to their laws we lie).

Now assuming that:

A=1, B=2, Γ=3, Δ=4, Ε=5, F=6, Ζ=7, Η=8, Θ=9, Ι=10, Κ=20, Λ=30, Μ=40, Ν=50, Ξ=60, Ο=70, Π=80, Q=90, Ρ=100, Σ=200, Τ=300, Υ=400, Φ=500, Χ=600, Ψ=700, Ω=800, =900

Ω ΞΕΙΝ, ΑΓΓΕΛΕΙΝ ΛΑΚΕΔΑΙΜΟΝΙΟΙΣ = 1583 = 600π – (1+300) (α)

(Oh friend passing by, go tell the Spartans)

ΟΤΙ ΤΗΔΕ ΚΕΙΜΕΘΑ, ΤΟΙΣ ΚΕΙΝΩΝ ΡΗΜΑΣΙ ΠΕΙΘΟΜΕΝΟΙ = 3010 = 10 x (1+300) (β)

(that here, obedient to their laws we lie)

We can understand from equation (a) that Leonidas (symbolized with the number 1) and the 300 Spartans by their death leave the World (600=ΚΟΣΜΟΣ=WORLD) of the mortals,  or from eternal life (600π), and enter the World of immortality, symbolized by 10 x (1+300).

Therefore, it is evident from the mathematical deciphering of the sentences that the actual reason behind the popularity of the encomium during antiquity was because not only of the poetic expression of the highest degree of sacrifice in the name of duty, but also because, mathematically, it expressed the essence of the glorious event.

It is indeed remarkable the degree by which Simonides could handle the language. Unfortunately, most of his work has been lost, with only mere fragments of some of his poems remaining. He is also credited as being the one to have introduced the letters Η, Ω, Ξ, Ψ in the Greek Alphabet in the 4th century BC.

Bibliography

1. Manias, Theophanes. The Unknown Masterpieces of the Ancient Greeks. Athens: Pyrinos Kosmos, 2006. Print.

Constantine P. Cavafy

Poet (1863 – 1933)

Constantine Cavafy was a poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest of his time. Born in Alexandria to a Greek family of Constantinopolitan descent, Cavafy influenced modern Greek literature enormously, and is hailed to this day as a literary genius. With a collection spanning 154 poems, essays and proses, he remains the most translated modern Greek writer, with his works translated in over 15 languages.

As a youth, Cavafy lived in Constantinople and England before settling in Alexandria, where he remained for the rest of his life. He worked in the public sector, lived an unusually closed life with small social interactions and refused to publish his works openly on magazines or book forms, instead distributing them privately among friends and relatives. Nevertheless, this did not hinder him from becoming the greatest spiritual figure of Alexandria of his time. Throughout his lifetime, he garnered significant attention as a pioneer poet and was visited in his home in Alexandria by several fans, most notably Nikos Kazantzakis, who called him “one of the last flowers of a civilization”.

Traditionally, Cavafy’s works are divided into 3 groups according to the maturity of his age at which they were written. They are also classified into philosophic, erotic and historic. Hellenism and Hellenic history is a recurring theme in all of his poems. He expresses a Hellenism that is oecomenical in space and unscathed in time. Some of his most notable ones include Waiting for the Barbarians, Ithaca, The God Abandons Anthony, In Alexandria 31 B.C., Epitaph of Antiochos King of Comagene, Come O King of the Lacedaemonians, In the Boring Village, Thermopylae, Caesarion etc.

His work covers a vast array of philosophical and historical context closely associated with ancient Greek philosophy and history, blending facts with fiction in an effort to create a philosophical allegory of the present. What distinguished Cavafy from other laureates was his ability to articulate deep and most often philosophical meaning into his work without focusing primarily on the structure of the poem, such as in his acclaimed work The Windows.

Cavafy gave prominence to the Greek language as a whole by writing in an idiosyncratic style which aimed not at impressing the reader with his choice of verbs and adjectives but by challenging the reader to think and find the true meaning of the words. Therefore, his poetry focused on being didactic and exploring the Greek thought rather than impressing or evoking an emotional response. He was nominated a couple of times for the Nobel Prize of Literature and was a recipient of the Order of the Phoenix in 1926 by general Pangalos, the only form of recognition he ever received from his homeland. He died on the day of his birthday in 1933, aged 70.

Today, he is regarded unanimously as a master poet, a sage of the Greek letters with his work taught in universities all around the world, bringing the Greek language to the foreground once again.

Bibliography

1. C.P. Cavafy – The Official Website of the Cavafy Archive. cavafy.com.Web.
2. ”Kavafis, Konstantinos.” Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
3. ”Konstantinos Kavafis.” San Simera, (n.d.). Web. 7 Oct. 2015.

Ioannis Metaxas

General, Dictator, Prime Minister of Greece (1871-1941)

The sheer brilliance of Ioannis Metaxas undoubtedly left its mark in Greek history when on October 28th, 1940, he refused to surrender the country to the Italian forces. With his strategic knowledge and bravery, Ioannis Metaxas seized power on August 4th, 1936 and led the country through a series of political and social reformations into the second World War to defend the country, its people and its glorious history from the enemy.

Responsible for the Metaxas Line, one of the largest fortification complexes at the time, Metaxas led the country to a victorious battle against the Italian invasion on March 1941 and a strong defence against the German forces during the Battle of Greece in 1941, raising the country’s national morale and determination to succeed.

While in office, Metaxas was responsible for some of the most important and innovative restructurings of the state in every field from agriculture to education and culture. Most notably:

• Founded E.O.N., a non-political youth organization in attempt to imbue the youth with the ethnic ideas and values of Hellenism, which had been subjected to years of political propaganda.
•  He established the Social Insurance Institute therefore implementing the 8-hour working schedule, the official days off-work and pension organization.
• He established hospitals and medical offices for the treatment of many diseases such as malaria, kindergartens, schools, organizations for the promotion of Greek culture (Ergatiki Hestia), food rationing for millions of children and unemployed people.
• Created airports in Thessaloniki and Crete, performed anti-flooding constructions, created aqueducts, roads, tunnels, pavements, erected schools, offices and other buildings.
• Built homes and districts for refugees.
• Established National Forests and hired guards for the protection of the wildlife and enforced the agriculture. By 1938, the cultivable acres of Greece had increased to 25.841.400 from 12.452.980 that was since 1922.
• Enforced the Greek culture by establishing organizations, institutions and cultural centres, most notably Stegi Grammaton kai Technon, organized theatrical  presentations for the first time in ancient theatres, founded the national organization for publishing school books.
• Built 1739 new schools and hired 3288 teachers.
• Developed tourism in Greece and organized promotion of the country.
• Cancelled the Greek national debt.
• Implemented the Price Control Code, by which he could control the prices of all products in the country. This way there was a regulation in the profit  between the merchant and the intermediary.
• Established protection and restoration of every archaeological artefact and monument in the country. It is interesting to note that during wartime, Metaxas ordered the protection of as much archaeological artefacts and monuments as possible by hiding them underground.
• Fought against communism, which had begun expressing anti-Hellenic ideologies.
• Fought against crime and drugs. He deployed units which uncovered drug dealing companies and confiscated huge amounts of imported drug substances. In just 5 years robberies had dropped from 82 to 13 and  assassinations had dropped from 360 to 67.
• He organized, educated and armed the Greek Army so well that in 1940 everybody in Europe was amazed from its thriumphant victories in the mountains of Epirus to such an extent that the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill proclaimed “From now on, we will not say that Greeks fight like Heroes, but that Heroes fight like Greeks”.

As the greatest political and military figure in the history of modern Greece, he encompassed every ideals that ought to encompass a political leader, taking place in battles, organizing the country’s army and defences and reforming every single field of the country, always to the benefit of the peoples and country. His act of refusing to surrender the country to the enemy, Metaxas’ OXI, is alone an act that characterizes a Great Greek. Harold Nicolson, a member of the British government said about Metaxas: “John Metaxas, who assumed in 1936 the governance of his divided country, managed in just a few years to imbue it with determination and to make it strong and capable to confront, with the nation united behind him, the greatest challenge that Greece had ever faced in its course. We the British bow in respect before the memory of this great man…”

Bibliography

1. Barbis, Kostas. “Ioannis Metaxas and Eleutherios Venizelos”. Athens: Logothetis, 2004. Print.
2. ”Metaxas, Ioannis.” Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens: 1946. Print.
3. Phoca, Ioanna. ”Works of 4th of August.” Ioannis Metaxas. Web. 1 Oct. 2015.
4. Pleuris, Konstantinos. Ioannis Metaxas biography. Athens: Hilektron, 2013. Print.