Lambros Photiadis ( el, Λάμπρος Φωτιάδης, 1752-1805) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

scholar, director of the

Princely Academy of Bucharest The Princely Academy of Bucharest (Romanian: Academia Domnească din București, el, Αυθεντική Ακαδημία Βουκουρεστίου) was an institution of higher education, active from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of ...

and representative of the

modern Greek Enlightenment The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment. Origins The Greek Enlightenment w ...

Life

Photiadis was born in Ioannina (

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

), northwestern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

, when the region was under Ottoman rule. After finishing ground level studies in his home town he went to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. There he was a member of the court of the local lord, Alexander Mourousis. Moreover, he became a teacher at the

, a notable educational institution focused on Greek language and culture. In 1792 he was appointed director of the institution, position he kept for 13 years, until his death in 1805. During this period the Academy reached its peak of popularity. During the same period Photiadis held the office of the inspector of the Greek schools of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

Work

Photiadis introduced progressive teaching methods at the Greek schools in

and especially in the teaching of

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

, in order to become easily understood by his students. He attracted a large number of Greek students, from all over the Ottoman Empire and as a result Bucharest became one of the leading centers of culture for the Greek people that time. However, Photiadis was the teacher of various personalities that latter played a prominent role in the political and cultural renaissance of their nations: Greeks (

Neophytos Doukas Neophytos Doukas or Dukas ( el, Νεόφυτος Δούκας; 1760 – 1 January 1845) was a Greek priest and scholar, author of many books and translations from ancient Greek works, and one of the most important personalities of the modern Greek ...

Athanasios Christopoulos Athanasios Christopoulos ( el, Αθανάσιος Χριστόπουλος; 2 May 177219 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 th ...

, Michael Christaris), Romanians (

Dinicu Golescu Dinicu Golescu (usual rendition of Constantin Radovici Golescu; 7 February 1777 – 5 October 1830), a member of the Golescu family of boyars, was a Wallachian Romanian man of letters, mostly noted for his travel writings and journalism. Bor ...

) and Bulgarians ( Nikola Pikolo). Although a progressive teacher, Photiades adopted a conservative approach in the

Greek language question The Greek language question ( el, το γλωσσικό ζήτημα, ''to glossikó zítima'') was a dispute about whether the language of the Greek people (Demotic Greek) or a cultivated imitation of Ancient Greek ('' Katharevousa'') should be ...

. He insisted in the use of archaic instead of vernacular Greek in education, but without rejecting the use of vernacular entirely.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Photiadis, Lambros 1752 births 1805 deaths People of the Modern Greek Enlightenment Writers from Ioannina