For the Epithets of God Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

, see: Epithets of Hermes

Hermes o Logios, also known as Logios Ermis ' onMouseout='HidePop("32100")' href="/topics/Hermes">Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

 the Scholar") was a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 periodical 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...

, Austria

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

, from 1811 to 1821. It is regarded as the most significant and longest running periodical of the period prior to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence

Greek 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...

, containing contributions by key scholars and intellectuals. Hermes o Logios aimed at creating intellectual contacts between the Greek communities 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...

 and the Diaspora

Greek diaspora

The Greek diaspora, also known as Hellenic Diaspora or Diaspora of Hellenism, is a term used to refer to the communities of Greek people living outside the traditional Greek homelands, but more commonly in southeast Europe and Asia Minor...

 in Western Europe, as well as the preparing national awakening of the Greek people.

The periodical started its circulation after a proposal 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...

, a leading figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, who had stressed the need of a printed medium, written in vernacular Greek. This initiative was supported by the Philological Society in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, an organization consisting of Greek intellectuals. Hermes o Logios
reflected the style of other European periodicals of early 19th century and reviewed developments in arts and sciences, being an important channel for bringing contemporary intellectual movements to the attention of the Greeks that lived in the Ottoman Empire. It was closed down by the Austrian authorities the time the Greek War of Independence broke out.

Background

During the 18th century the ideals of the Western European Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

 and 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...

 became widely known to the Greek scholars. They soon realized the potential of these new ideals, and especially of popular freedom and sovereignty for their own national struggle against Ottoman rule. 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...

, a humanist scholar and leading figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, had stressed the desirability of a printed medium, written in the vernacular language, in order to spread these ideas to the Greek people, that lived in the Ottoman Empire and the Diaspora in Western Europe as well. Korais explained about the necessity of a periodical that would gather material from political and philological newspapers of the enlightened peoples of Europe and contain reports from Ottoman-ruled Greece

Ottoman Greece

Most of Greece gradually became part of the Ottoman Empire from the 15th century until its declaration of independence in 1821, a historical period also known as Tourkokratia ....

. He also stressed that this should be edited by a man of learning, and proposed that his friend Anthimos Gazis

Anthimos Gazis

Anthimos Gazis was a scholar, a philosopher during the Greek Enlightenment, a cartographer and one of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. He was born in Milies in Ottoman Greece in 1758 and died in 1828...

, scholar and Orthodox priest 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...

, would be the most suitable person.

Vienna became the right place for such an initiative, since it was already the most important publishing centre for the Greek diaspora. In 1783 the Austrian Emperor had authorized the free printing of Greek books in the city, while in 1790 the first Greek newspaper, named Ephimeris

Ephimeris

Efimeris was a Greek language newspaper published in Vienna from 1790 to 1797. It is the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today.-History:...

, was published there.

Establishment (1811–1813)

Hermes o Logios was established with the support of the Philological Society in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, an organization consisting of Greek intellectuals headed by the local Greek Orthodox Bishop, Ignatios II. The Society’s goals, as published in the first issue of the periodical, were "the awakening to the progress of learning" and "the cultivation of the newer Greek language". Apart from Hermes o Logios, the Society supervised also a Greek-language school, financed translations of schoolbooks into modern Greek and provided scholarships for students to study abroad. Ignatios has already stated the need for a philological newspaper, in which each man of learning could publish his ideas, adding that "This is what the wise man Korais advises us to do and he has wisely chosen a worthy man, archimandrite

Archimandrite

The title Archimandrite , primarily used in the Eastern Orthodox and the Eastern Catholic churches, originally referred to a superior abbot whom a bishop appointed to supervise...

 Anthimos Gazis". The members of the Society then all agreed to cover part of the printing expenses.

The first issue of Hermes o Logios was published on January 1, 1811, under the full title (Hermes the Scholar, or Philological Reports). In the first three years of its existence (1811–1813), Hermes o Logios appeared twice a month and each issue usually consisted of 16 pages. In April 1813, Anthimos Gazis left Vienna and the editorship of the periodical was taken over by Theoklitos Farmakidis, another priest and an even more fanatical supporter of Korais.

Crisis and revival (1814–1820)

Hermes o Logios faced serious financial problems during this period. When the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812 ended, Ignatios was forced to resign and leave Bucharest and its main sponsor, the Philological Society, ceased to exist. In an announcement published as an appendix to the issues of 1813 (dated April 1, 1813), Alexandros Vasileiou

Alexandros Vasileiou

Alexandros Vasileiou was a Greek merchant and scholar. He was born in Ottoman occupied Gjirokastër, in modern Albania.He was one of many Greek merchants in the 18th-19th centuries that were involved in the fields of education and literature. A. Vasileiou played an essential role in the Greek...

, a supporter of Korais and influential personality within the Greek community of Vienna, states this fact, as well as that the periodical had too few subscribers. He therefore called on all readers to canvass for new subscribers; moreover he called upon all scholars to send in their contributions.

During the period 1814–1815, Hermes o Logios reached an absolute low, with seven issues in 1814 and only one in 1815, which consisted of 16 pages written by Korais and directed against his ideological adversary, the conservative scholar, Neophytos Doukas

Neophytos Doukas

Neophytos Doukas was a Greek priest and scholar, author of a large number of books and translations from ancient Greek works, and one of the most important personalities of modern Greek Enlightenment during the Ottoman occupation of Greece...

. On the other hand Gazis returned. In the following years, however, the periodical was subsidized by the princes of Moldavia, Scarlat Callimachi

Scarlat Callimachi (hospodar)

Scarlat Callimachi was Grand Dragoman of the Sublime Porte 1801–1806, Prince of Moldavia between August 24 1806 – October 26 1806, August 4 1807 – June 13 1810, September 17 1812 – June 1819 and Prince of Wallachia between February 1821 – June 1821.A member of the Callimachi family, he was the son...

 and Michael Soutzos

Michael Soutzos

Michael Soutzos , was a member of the Soutzos family of Phanariotes, he was the nephew of Mihai Suţu; he was in turn a Prince of Moldavia, between 12 June 1819 and 29 March 1821....

. Apart from the difficulties faced, 1816 was a turning point, as two scholars and adherents of Korais, Theoklitos Farmakidis and Konstantinos Kokkinakis, were placed in charge. Consequently, Hermes o Logios actually became an outlet for Korais and continued to appear without interruption until the Greek War of Independence.

Outbreak of the Greek War of Independence (1821)

In 1821, the year that the War of Independence broke out, nine issues appeared between January and May. There is a special appendix to the issue of April 1, 1821, containing a Greek translation of an article dated March 29, taken from the Wiener Zeitung

Wiener Zeitung

Wiener Zeitung is an Austrian newspaper. It is one of the most famous newspapers in Europe and one of the oldest, still published newspapers in the world. It is the official publication used by the Government of the Republic of Austria for its formal announcements. It was founded in 1703 under the...

, which reports on the uprising of Alexandros Ypsilantis and Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...

 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...

, that marked the beginning of the Greek War of Independence

Greek 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...

, and also states the official Austrian standpoint. In the issue of May 1, while Ypsilantis’ campaign was in full swing, the Austrian authorities required the editors to publish the excommunication

Excommunication

Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 issued by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

, Gregory V

Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople

Gregory V was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1797 to 1798, from 1806 to 1808 and from 1818 to 1821. He was responsible for much restoration work to the Patriarchal Cathedral of St George, which had been badly damaged by fire in 1738...

, against the architects of this uprising. This was the last issue of Hermes o Logios which then was closed down by the local authorities and Kokkinakis was arrested as a member of the patriotic organization Filiki Etaireia.

Contents

Hermes o Logios is regarded as the most important Greek periodical of the era of modern Greek Enlightenment, also known as Diafotismos. It appeared regularly over a period of ten and a half years and was the longest-running periodical prior to the outbreak of the Revolution. All volumes cover a total of 5131 pages, with texts on various subjects written by 918 contributors.

Arts and sciences

Its primary goal was to inform the Greek-speaking public within the Ottoman Empire and in the diaspora. Moreover, in favouring the views of Adamantios Korais it reflected the style of other European periodicals of that era. It reviewed developments in arts and sciences and was an important channel for bringing contemporary intellectual movements to the attention of the Ottoman-ruled Greeks. Additionally, it reproduced catalogues of European scientific books, and exhorted Greek scholars to translate and publish them, like those of Louis Jacques Thénard

Louis Jacques Thénard

Louis Jacques Thénard , was a French chemist.His father, a poor peasant, managed to have him educated at the academy of Sens, and sent him at the age of sixteen to study pharmacy in Paris. There he attended the lectures of Antoine François Fourcroy and Louis Nicolas Vauquelin...

. The journal also published comments on astronomical observations, experiments and various articles on natural philosophy, which alternated with articles on history and philosophy. Greek scholars used as sources German or French educational books on physics, or translated and published texts on natural philosophy with large circulations in Europe, like the works of Antoine Fourcroy

Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy

Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy was a French chemist and a contemporary of Antoine Lavoisier. Fourcroy collaborated with Lavoisier, Guyton de Morveau, and Claude Berthollet on the Méthode de nomenclature chimique, a work that helped standardize chemical nomenclature.-Life and work:Fourcroy...

, René Just Haüy

René Just Haüy

René Just Haüy – 3 June 1822 in Paris) was a French mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Crystallography." -Biography:...

, and Jérôme Lalande

Jérôme Lalande

Joseph Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande was a French astronomer and writer.-Biography:Lalande was born at Bourg-en-Bresse...

.

Possible revolutionary background

Although Hermes o Logios was the most important publication for the transmission of progressive ideas to the Greek people, which should ultimately lead to the emancipation and independence, there was hardly any information of signs of an ongoing revolution, at least on the surface. There was the Austrian censure to be reckoned with, as the reactionary minister Klemens von Metternich and his secret police kept a very close eye on the activities of the local Greek community. The lack of items on politics, polity, law and social structures does not indicate an immanent revolution. Several editors were also members of the patriotic organization Filiki Etaireia and staunch supporters of the struggle for independence, but one can hardly maintain that this fervent patriotism is reflected in the subjects treated inside the periodical. Even in the last years, on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, in the fields of philology, sciences, philanthropy, etc., nothing out of the ordinary was published. On the other hand, there is no doubt that the contributors of Hermes o Logios dreamed of the liberation of the Greek nation and of an independent state.

Positions in the Greek language question

In respect to the Greek language question

Greek language question

The Greek language question was a dispute discussing the question whether the language of the Greek people or a cultivated imitation of Ancient Greek should be the official language of the Greek nation. It was a highly controversial topic in the 19th and 20th centuries and was finally resolved...

, it becomes obvious that from the very beginning Hermes o Logios adhered to Korais’ views. Korais claimed that the appropriate language for the Greek nation should be a vernacular (Demotic) language without foreign words and accepted some views by conservative scholars to retain a tincure of archaism. On the other hand some of Korais' opponents, both coservatives and vernacularists, published their own magazines in which they attacked his linguistic views.

External links

• Issues of Hermes o Logios, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek