Marios Hatzopoulos & Johannes Preiser-Kapeller

Two Onassis Foundation Scholars – Dr. Marios Hatzopoulos from the Research Center for Modern History (KENI) at Panteion University, and Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) – have undertaken an original piece of non-profit research that seeks to help celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Greek Revolution (1821–2021). Their project – titled “The Philike Etaireia as Spatial and Social Network (1814–1821)” – falls under the digital humanities, and aims to digitally reconstruct the Philike Etaireia (PE) as a spatial and social network through the use of advanced software and the application of network theory.

Their aim is to: a) digitally reconstruct the geographic reach of the PE as a spatial network; and b) digitally reformulate the PE as a social network of interdependent members based mainly on published, but also unpublished archival sources. Through the steps outlined above, they hope to shed light on the ethnic configuration of a large swathe of the PE, and to identify individuals active within the organization whose contributions have not been adequately recognized in the historiographical literature. The realization of this aim is not limited to a simple visualization of the material offered up by sources. The software they use allows them to undertake not just quantitative analyses, but also relational analyses of Philike Etaireia members as a spatial and social network.

In the firm belief that the analysis of the PE as a spatial and social network will provide new information on the early history of the Greek Revolution, they hope to create a digital model of the Philike Etaireia that will serve as a model for other research projects in the new academic field of digital history. The added value of this project is measured not solely in research terms, but also in educational terms, since they intend to create a user-friendly open-access online platform where everyone – from history buffs to students and specialist scholars – can explore the spatial reach and relational interdependence of Philike Etareia members at a level of precision not achieved by previous studies.

THE PHILIKE ETAIREIA AS SPATIAL AND SOCIAL NETWORK (1814–1821)

Academic Lead: Marios Hatzopoulos, Research Center for Modern History (KENI), Department of Political Science & History, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences.

Academic Associate: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Institute for Medieval Research (IMAFO), Division of Byzantine Research (ABF).