Geographia Neoteriki
Encyclopedia
Geographia Neoteriki is a geography
book written in Greek
by Daniel Philippidis
and Grigorios Konstantas
and printed in Vienna
in 1791. It focused on both the physical
and human geography
features of the European
continent and especially on Southeastern Europe, and is considered one of the most remarkable works of the modern Greek Enlightenment. The authors of the Geographia Neoteriki adopted new geographical methodologies for that time, which were primarily based on personal examination of the described areas and used as sources a number of contemporary European handbooks.
The work, written in a vernacular language, also described the contemporary social developments and expressed ideas that were considered revolutionary and anticlerical, and addressed the political and economic decay of the Ottoman Empire
. Geographia Neoteriki was welcomed with enthusiasm by western intellectual circles, especially in France
, but on the other hand, it was largely neglected by Greek scholars.
data with a conviction in geography's moral and religious purpose. Major representatives of this field were two scholars and clerics, Daniel Philippidis
and Grigorios Konstantas
. They came from the village of Milies
in Thessaly
, modern Greece
, and were nicknamed Dimitrieis, from the ancient name of their birthplace (Dimitrias). Both scholars were active members of the Greek diaspora in the Danubian Principalities
, in modern Romania
, where they studied and taught at the courts of the Greek Orthodox Phanariot
and the Princely Academies of Bucharest and Iaşi. This environment offered in general a special attraction for ambitious and educated Greek people from the Ottoman Empire
, contributing to the enlightenment of their nation. Philippidis' and Konstantas' work Geographia Neoteriki, published in Vienna
in 1791, belongs to a body of contemporary texts which strove to map out the European parts of the Ottoman Empire and Greece in particular.
(1821). According to their description this area would not only include present-day Greece
, but also Albania
, the Republic of Macedonia
and the southern half of Bulgaria
, an area that included all the areas ruled by the Macedonian Kings, in addition to those of classical Greece
incorporating most of the Orthodox populations of the Balkan peninsula, which was during that time under Ottoman
rule.
They concluded that the 'Greek lands' are located in a privileged geographic location at the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, however, as the Ottoman administration was incapable of reinforcing the rule of law
, economic activity couldn't flourish. Thus, they addressed the political and economic instability of the Ottoman Empire that struggled to maintain control over different ethnicities and huge territories. As a consequence of that lack of control, many Greeks were impelled to seek protection outside the Ottoman Empire, while the ones that had not abandoned their lands, suffered under a terrible Ottoman regime, and had no educational rights.
Reflecting a new revolutionary era in the European history after the outbreak of the French Revolution
, the authors expressed sharp social criticism, castigating the corruption of the church authorities, the idleness of the monasticism, and popular superstition. They also appealed for reform of the language, education, and change to the social mores as a way to overcome backwardness and to renew people's mentality with a more western view. They claimed that Greece is positioned within a Europe defined by the dynamics of political reforms from old and corrupt monarchical regimes to new republican communities. The modern innovative spirit of Geographia Neoteriki was also expressed in the use of a lively and malleable vernacular (Demotic) language with very few ties to the katharevousa
, a more archaich form of Greek, which was commonly used by most Greek scholars of that time.
The book introduced a number of new ideas in the field of human geography and social organization models, that had been developed in the western world during the 18th century. Among the sources that the authors used to compose Geographia Neoteriki, were the Géographie Moderne by Nicolle de La Croix, the Géographie Ancienne, and the Géographie Moderne, which were part of the Encyclopédie Méthodique
by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
. Additionally, the authors had personally examined the areas described in the work. This element served both as the work's primary organizing mode as well as the basis for their historical approach.
, professor of modern Greek in the Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes
, used it as a textbook for his students. French geographer Barbie du Bocage published a review after the book's publication along with a translated passage. Moreover, travellers who published accounts during the early 19th century, frequently cited the text. François Pouqueville
, William Martin Leake
, Henry Holland
, and Lord Byron mentioned this work, and used it as a source of information. The book also enjoyed some popularity in the non Greek regions of the Balkan peninsula, while 19th century Bulgarian
authors of geographic textbooks used it as a model.
On the other hand, especially due to the vernacular language used, this work was largely neglected among the Greek scholars, especially by Adamantios Korais
and Dimitrios Katartzis, and was never used as an academic work, or even as a school textbook. It was also negatively received by the Church hierarchy, as well as conservative Greek scholars, due to the vernacular language it used and the liberal views it expressed. It is worth noting that the work’s linguistic form disappointed even Dimitrios Katartzis, the intellectual mentor of the two authors, while Philippidis himself, never used such vernacular style language again in his future works. However, Geographia Neoteriki inspired a number of similar geographical works published in Greece during the 19th century.
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
book written in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
by Daniel Philippidis
Daniel Philippidis
Daniel Philippidis was a Greek scholar, figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment and member of the patriotic organization Filiki Etaireia. He was one of the most active scholars of the Greek diaspora in the Danubian Principalities and Western Europe...
and Grigorios Konstantas
Grigorios Konstantas
Grigorios Konstantas was a Greek scholar and figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment. He was actively involved in various educational issues as well as participated in the Greek War of Independence.-Life:...
and printed in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1791. It focused on both the physical
Physical geography
Physical geography is one of the two major subfields of geography. Physical geography is that branch of natural science which deals with the study of processes and patterns in the natural environment like the atmosphere, biosphere and geosphere, as opposed to the cultural or built environment, the...
and human geography
Human geography
Human geography is one of the two major sub-fields of the discipline of geography. Human geography is the study of the world, its people, communities, and cultures. Human geography differs from physical geography mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying human activities and is more...
features of the European
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
continent and especially on Southeastern Europe, and is considered one of the most remarkable works of the modern Greek Enlightenment. The authors of the Geographia Neoteriki adopted new geographical methodologies for that time, which were primarily based on personal examination of the described areas and used as sources a number of contemporary European handbooks.
The work, written in a vernacular language, also described the contemporary social developments and expressed ideas that were considered revolutionary and anticlerical, and addressed the political and economic decay of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Geographia Neoteriki was welcomed with enthusiasm by western intellectual circles, especially in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, but on the other hand, it was largely neglected by Greek scholars.
Background
A category of historical and geographical literature, focused on regional history and geography, emerged during the 18th century among Greek scholars. This kind of literature combined the collection of ethnographicEthnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
data with a conviction in geography's moral and religious purpose. Major representatives of this field were two scholars and clerics, Daniel Philippidis
Daniel Philippidis
Daniel Philippidis was a Greek scholar, figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment and member of the patriotic organization Filiki Etaireia. He was one of the most active scholars of the Greek diaspora in the Danubian Principalities and Western Europe...
and Grigorios Konstantas
Grigorios Konstantas
Grigorios Konstantas was a Greek scholar and figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment. He was actively involved in various educational issues as well as participated in the Greek War of Independence.-Life:...
. They came from the village of Milies
Milies
Milies is a village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality South Pelion, of which it is a municipal unit. It is a traditional Greek mountain village, at a height of 400 m on Mount Pelion. It is 28 km from...
in Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, modern Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, and were nicknamed Dimitrieis, from the ancient name of their birthplace (Dimitrias). Both scholars were active members of the Greek diaspora in the Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
, in modern Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where they studied and taught at the courts of the Greek Orthodox Phanariot
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
and the Princely Academies of Bucharest and Iaşi. This environment offered in general a special attraction for ambitious and educated Greek people from the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, contributing to the enlightenment of their nation. Philippidis' and Konstantas' work Geographia Neoteriki, published in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1791, belongs to a body of contemporary texts which strove to map out the European parts of the Ottoman Empire and Greece in particular.
Content
This work was the first and only volume by Daniel Philippidis and Grigorios Konstantas, and their intention was not only to define and describe the lands that were populated by Greeks, but also to describe the current social developments in the wider region. With this work they gave a precise delimitation of European Hellas (Greece) of that time, a few decades before the outbreak of the Greek War of IndependenceGreek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
(1821). According to their description this area would not only include present-day Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, but also Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
and the southern half of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, an area that included all the areas ruled by the Macedonian Kings, in addition to those of classical Greece
Classical Greece
Classical Greece was a 200 year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5th through 4th centuries BC. This classical period had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and greatly influenced the foundation of Western civilizations. Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought, such as...
incorporating most of the Orthodox populations of the Balkan peninsula, which was during that time under Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
rule.
They concluded that the 'Greek lands' are located in a privileged geographic location at the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, however, as the Ottoman administration was incapable of reinforcing the rule of law
Rule of law
The rule of law, sometimes called supremacy of law, is a legal maxim that says that governmental decisions should be made by applying known principles or laws with minimal discretion in their application...
, economic activity couldn't flourish. Thus, they addressed the political and economic instability of the Ottoman Empire that struggled to maintain control over different ethnicities and huge territories. As a consequence of that lack of control, many Greeks were impelled to seek protection outside the Ottoman Empire, while the ones that had not abandoned their lands, suffered under a terrible Ottoman regime, and had no educational rights.
Reflecting a new revolutionary era in the European history after the outbreak of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, the authors expressed sharp social criticism, castigating the corruption of the church authorities, the idleness of the monasticism, and popular superstition. They also appealed for reform of the language, education, and change to the social mores as a way to overcome backwardness and to renew people's mentality with a more western view. They claimed that Greece is positioned within a Europe defined by the dynamics of political reforms from old and corrupt monarchical regimes to new republican communities. The modern innovative spirit of Geographia Neoteriki was also expressed in the use of a lively and malleable vernacular (Demotic) language with very few ties to the katharevousa
Katharevousa
Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century as a compromise between Ancient Greek and the Modern Greek of the time, with a vocabulary largely based on ancient forms, but a much-simplified grammar. Originally, it was widely used both for literary and official...
, a more archaich form of Greek, which was commonly used by most Greek scholars of that time.
The book introduced a number of new ideas in the field of human geography and social organization models, that had been developed in the western world during the 18th century. Among the sources that the authors used to compose Geographia Neoteriki, were the Géographie Moderne by Nicolle de La Croix, the Géographie Ancienne, and the Géographie Moderne, which were part of the Encyclopédie Méthodique
Encyclopédie Méthodique
The Encyclopédie méthodique par ordre des matières is a roughly 210 to 216 volumes encyclopedia that was published between 1782 and 1832 by the French publisher Charles Joseph Panckoucke, his son-in-law Henri Agasse, and the latter´s wife, Thérèse-Charlotte Agasse...
by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke was a French writer and publisher. He was responsible for numerous influential publications of the era, including the literary journal Mercure de France and the Encyclopédie Méthodique, a successor to the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot.Panckoucke was born in the city of...
. Additionally, the authors had personally examined the areas described in the work. This element served both as the work's primary organizing mode as well as the basis for their historical approach.
Popularity
In general, Geographia Neoteriki, was welcomed with enthusiasm by western intellectual circles. Jean-Baptiste d'Ansse de VilloisonJean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison
Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison was a classical scholar born at Corbeil-sur-Seine, France....
, professor of modern Greek in the Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
The Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales is located in Paris, France. It was founded in 1795 after the French Revolution and is now one of the country's Grands établissements with a specialization in African, Asian, East European, Oceanian languages and civilisations...
, used it as a textbook for his students. French geographer Barbie du Bocage published a review after the book's publication along with a translated passage. Moreover, travellers who published accounts during the early 19th century, frequently cited the text. François Pouqueville
Francois Pouqueville
François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, member of the ....
, William Martin Leake
William Martin Leake
William Martin Leake, FRS , British antiquarian and topographer, was born in London.After completing his education at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and spending four years in the West Indies as lieutenant of marine artillery, he was sent by the government to Constantinople to instruct the...
, Henry Holland
Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet
Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet FRS, DCL , was a British physician and travel writer.-Private Life:Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, Holland was the son of the physician Peter Holland and his wife Mary Willets. Peter's sister Elizabeth was the mother of the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, and Mary was the...
, and Lord Byron mentioned this work, and used it as a source of information. The book also enjoyed some popularity in the non Greek regions of the Balkan peninsula, while 19th century Bulgarian
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...
authors of geographic textbooks used it as a model.
On the other hand, especially due to the vernacular language used, this work was largely neglected among the Greek scholars, especially by Adamantios Korais
Adamantios Korais
Adamantios Korais or Coraïs was a humanist scholar credited with laying the foundations of Modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War of Independence and emergence of a purified form of the Greek language, known as...
and Dimitrios Katartzis, and was never used as an academic work, or even as a school textbook. It was also negatively received by the Church hierarchy, as well as conservative Greek scholars, due to the vernacular language it used and the liberal views it expressed. It is worth noting that the work’s linguistic form disappointed even Dimitrios Katartzis, the intellectual mentor of the two authors, while Philippidis himself, never used such vernacular style language again in his future works. However, Geographia Neoteriki inspired a number of similar geographical works published in Greece during the 19th century.
External links
- Γεωγραφία Νεωτερική. Φιλιππίδη Δανιήλ, Γρηγορίου Κωνσταντά. Original version of the book.