Athanasios Christopoulos

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Athanasios Christopoulos (Greek: Αθανάσιος Χριστόπουλος; 2 May 1772 – 19 January 1847) was a celebrated Greek poet, playwright, a distinguished scholar and jurist. He has been proclaimed a champion of the modern Greek demotic and the forerunner of the national poet Dionysios Solomos. More importantly he is the first modern Greek poet to have his works - the Lyrika - published and read across a broad section of the European continent.

Biography

Athanasios Christopoulos
A statue in Kastoria

Christopoulos was born in

Prince of Wallachia
. While in the court of Mourouzis, Christopoulos discovered that his patron was an accomplished man of learning. His deep love for education and the arts was apparent. He had established several libraries in the provinces and across the empire. With Mourouzis’ encouragement, Christopoulos began to translate Homer's Iliad into demotic Greek by 1803, and in 1804, after Mourouzis transferred his court to Jassy, in Moldavia, Christopoulos penned his drama Achilles, also in the demotic.

In 1805, Christopoulos penned a very influential work entitled “The Aeolo-Doric Grammar” and it marks a revolution in Greek linguistics and literature. Its central premise is that no single Greek author succeeded in giving the Greek people of the Turkish occupation its very own grammar. He blames this on the antiquity-worshipping Greek intellectuals: men who demonstrated that their love for the ancient Greek world was greater than the educational needs of the Greek peasant, merchant, cleric and landlord. Though written in two months, the controversy it provoked went on for many years. Among his many critics, one stands out: Adamantios Korais, the famous patriot and intellectual whose crusade for a purified Greek tongue led to the artificialities of the katharevousa. Christopoulos continued the offensive by declaring that the genuine dialect of the common people and folk tradition – not that proposed by Korais – should be the national language of the Greeks. In an even more fascinating theory, Christopoulos proclaimed that the Aeolo-Doric dialect of the Macedonians, Epirots and Thessalians - not the Attic dialect of Pericles’ Athens - was the true foundation of modern Greek. In response to building criticism he wrote: "Let us not become, O Greeks, ungrateful to it. We must not kick it about. Let us honor it, in our speech, and even in our writing."

In 1806, Mourouzis relocated once again and this time it was to his palace in Constantinople. Christopoulos, who was given the honorific title of “kaminaris” (the official who received the taxes imposed on alcohol and tobacco) accompanied his patron and was rewarded with access to his astonishing personal library. Christopoulos also managed to spend his summers in Halki with his close friend and colleague Iakovos Rizos Neroulos, who was to become a well-known dramatist. During these years Christopoulos’ many poems were collected and finally published. In 1811, in Vienna, the “Lyrika” were published to great acclaim. The poems became well-known and distributed throughout most of Europe, particularly Germany, France and Italy. His peers proclaimed him the New Anacreon.

After the fall of Prince Mourouzis in 1811, Christopoulos departed Constantinople and returned to his home. Fortunately for him, the new hospodar John Caradja was well-disposed and eager to invite the poet to his court. Recognizing his legal education, Caradja elevated Christopoulos to the position of Logothete of Foreign Affairs. If it was thought that the title was purely ceremonial, the belief was proven to be incorrect: Christopoulos was called upon to draft a code of law for his new patron. The code was set down with the expressed purpose of bettering the plight of the masses. Thus, by 1818, the Wallachian Code of Law made its appearance. From the onset it was opposed by the nobility, who based their arguments on the premise that the Code sought to eradicate feudal rights. Caradja requested that the logothete issue a new edition. The first edition, however, remained in the record and evidenced clear influences from the French, particularly the political writings of François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy and Baron Montesquieu. Perhaps the most compelling comparison was to the Napoleonic Code.

In 1817, Christopoulos had met and courted a younger woman of whom so little is known. Not even her name is known. She accepted his offer of marriage and soon thereafter became his wife. His wife shared no interest in the great talents of her famous poet husband, and oftentimes sought escape in the company of salon society. In time, the couple welcomed a son, Ioannis. His wife seemed unconcerned with the proper upbringing of her child, and Christopoulos hired a wet nurse. For a period of time, the marriage seemed to be on shaky ground. Added to this, the publication of the Code led to demonstrations against Caradja, who was eventually ousted from power by the Porte. Christopoulos, sharing his patron’s disappointments while at the same time devastated by the state of his marriage, chose to escort the prince to Italy with his infant son and the wet nurse. His wife could not be persuaded to join him at any time.

In 1819, Christopoulos resided in the Caradja villa in Pisa. It was here that he probably met two literary giants of Romantic literature,

Philike Hetaireia [Society of Friends] and became an initiate. While he passed the time in Corfu, he was also secretly corresponding with Alexander Ypsilantis
, the man who was destined to proclaim the Greek War of Independence in the Danubian principalities in 1821. At some point in 1823, his correspondence with Ypsilantis was discovered by the British authorities. Fearing that he may be detained and arrested, Christopoulos immediately left the island and made haste for the solitude of the Transylvanian Alps.

Upon his return to Wallachia, Christopoulos settled in a house in the village of

Louis-Philippe
. It so happened that at this time Christopoulos’ rival, Korais, was busily promoting a fully democratic system based on the ancient Athenian model.

With the assassination of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first Greek head of state, in 1831, and the coming of the Bavarian king Othon (Otto of Greece) to Greece, Christopoulos decided to break his silence and embark on another trip to his native land. One odd reason for the journey was a report originating from friends in Greece that he had been proclaimed deceased. He arrived in Piraeus in 1836, hoping to put the story of his death to rest. Having barely settled in his lodgings, Christopoulos was inundated with cheers and well-wishes from hundreds, including the poets Alexandros Soutsos, Alexandros Rizos Rangavis and his friend Iakovos Neroulos. He made his way to Athens, the capital of the Greek state, and visited the ancient sites, taking particular satisfaction in a tour of the Acropolis. At the same, disappointment with the images of poverty, political and social disorganization, corruption and violence left him in a state of displeasure. He discovered that the government had put newspaper reporters and intellectuals on trial; he learned how famous warriors, like Theodoros Kolokotronis, were despised by the royal court; thieves would break into houses while police remained idle; the king’s Bavarians were exercising unchecked authority and pillaging the country; and all the young king was concerned with was his search for a queen. His friends and acquaintances even seemed distant to him and looked only for their own promotions. This was a disappointment he never anticipated. He abruptly cancelled his stay and decided to return home.

Christopoulos spent the remaining years of his life serving the new hospodar Alexandru II Ghica and putting his literary affairs in order. He died in his bed with his family at his side on January 19, 1847.

His Hellenika Archaiologemata (Athens, 1853) contains an account of his life.[1] Thomas K. Papathomas (1872-1936), a poet from Kastoria himself, published Christopoulos's "Complete Works" ("Χριστοποὐλου Ἀπαντα" in Greek) in 1931-1932 in Thessaloniki (Spyros Syros Press).

Work

  • ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΠΟΛΟΥ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΕ. ΤΗΣ ΑΙΟΛΟΔΟΡΙΚΕΣ ΗΤΟΙ ΤΗΣ ΟΜΙΛΟΥΜΕΝΗΣ ΤΩΡΙΝΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΓΛΟΣΣΑΣ. Vienna, 1805 (google)
  • ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΠΟΛΟΥ ΛΥΡΙΚΑ ΕΡΩΤΙΚΑ ΚΑΙ ΒΑΚΧΙΚΑ. Β' Ἔχδοσις τοῦ Ἐθνικοῦ Ἡμερολογίου. Paris, 1864 (google)
  • Collection de monuments pour servir a l'étude de la lengue néo-hellénique. N° 11. Le premier chant de l'Iliade traduit en vers grecs vulgaires par Ath. Khristopoulos. – IΛIΑΔΟΣ ΡΑΨΩΔΙΑ Α. Μεταφρασθεῖσα εἰς δημοτικοὺς στίχους ὙΠΟ ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ ΕΚΔΙΔΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΙΜΥΛΙΟΥ ΛΕΓΡΑΝΔΙΟΥ. Paris, 1870 (google)
  • Poésies lyriques de l'Anacréon moderne, Athanase Christopoulos, publiées et corrigées par G. Théocharopoulos, de patras. Avec la traduction française en regard. Strasbourg (google)

See also

References

  1. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Christopoulos, Athanasios". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 295.

External links