Changing Greek realities: Athanasios Psalidas

Athanasios Psalidas through his archive

Thursday 21/02/2019 | 18:30-20:30
Eleni Kourmantzi: Visiting Professor of Neohellenic Literature, St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Stelios Mainas: Actor

Interpretive problems in the philosophical thought of Athanasios Psalidas

Wednesday 27/02/2019 | 18:30-20:30
Panayiotis Noutsos: Professor of Social and Political Philosophy, University of Ioannina

Athanasios Psalidas as “geographer.” Modernity and enlightenment in the schools of Ioannina

Wednesday 13/03/2019 | 18:30-20:30
Apostolos Katsikis: Emeritus Professor of Geography and the Environment, University of Ioannina

Pre-revolutionary sources in the General State Archives

Wednesday 20/03/2019 | 18:30-20:30
Amalia Pappa: Archivist, Deputy Director of the General State Archives, Supervisor of the Library and Reading Room Division

Drawing on primary sources and presenting a select number of items, this exhibit dedicated to the work of Athanasios Psalidas aspires to trace his travels, offer a sketch his personality, and demonstrate the importance of his work as a writer and educator. The archival material in the exhibit is organized into four sections.

Personal Life

This section outlines the relations—both personal and financial—between members of the Psalidas family, as well as their broader networks and journeys. It includes items of a legal nature, such as Psalidas’s passport, as well as dowry agreements, the deed for a house, hand-written accounts of earnings and expenditures, statements of loans Psalidas received, and a various other family records.

Public Life

This section records Psalidas’s travels from his place of birth, Ioannina, to Poltava in Ukraine, Vienna, Trieste, Tsepelovo in the Zagori region, Kerkyra, and finally Lefkada, where he spent the last years of life. The letters presented from his personal correspondence give a sense of his environment, revealing his contacts with important figures of the era, including men of letters, recording interventions and concerns regarding important issues of the day. At the same time, these items also show Psalidas’s patriotic activity during the years of the struggle for Greek independence.

Teaching

This section presents Athanasios Psalidas as an educator. Through the manuscripts presented here, we gain a sense of his breadth of knowledge and his ability to teach a number of subjects, as well as his facility in several foreign languages, which made it possible for him to approach, analyze, and translate important works. The catalogue of his library, which he started and which was continued by others after his death, complete this portrait of Psalidas as an intellectual. This section is framed by letters in his own hand, which outline his views on education and the organization of schools.

Publications of works by Athanasios Psalidas

Included here are the published works by Athanasios Psalidas held by the Onassis Library, publications he himself oversaw, as well as anonymously published works, which are attributed to him in part or in whole.

*Of the 77 original materials in the exhibit, 69 are drawn from archives and collections held in the General State Archives, most from the archive of Athanasios Psalidas, as well as the Yiannis Vlachogiannis Collection (Catalogue III) and the Ladas Collection (VI), while the eight published books by Athanasios Psalidas are drawn from the collection of the Onassis Library.

Saturday 23/3/2019 | 10:00-11:00, 11:00-12:00, 12:00-13:00

On the occasion of the celebration of March 25th (Greek War of Independence Day), we organize three guided tours on books and documents of the Neohellenic Enlightenment and on the material of Athanasios Psalidas that will be exhibited at the Onassis Library.