Demetrios Bernardakis (, ''Dimitrios Vernardakis'', also transliterated ''Dimitrios Bernardakis''), (3 December 1833—25 January 1907) was a polymath writer and Professor of History at the

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

Biographical sketch

He was born at Agia Marina,

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

(just south of Mytilene).Βερναρδάκης Δημήτριος
, ΕΚΕΒΙ His father was Nikolaos Vernardakis, originally from Crete, while his mother was Melissini, of the Trantalis family. His brothers were the learned Athanasios Bernardakis and Gregorios Bernardakis. He studied on a scholarship given to him by Patriarch Alexandros Kallinikos from present-day Skotina, Pieria. A prolific writer, he translated and annotated the tragedies of

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

(''

The Phoenician Women ''The Phoenician Women'' (, ''Phoinissai'') is a tragedy by Euripides, based on the same story as Aeschylus' play ''Seven Against Thebes''. It was presented along with the tragedies '' Hypsipyle'' and '' Antiope.'' With this trilogy, Euripides wo ...

Hecuba Hecuba (; also Hecabe; , ) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War. Description Hecuba was described by the chronicler John Malalas, Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "dark, good eyes ...

, Hippolytus'', and '' Medea)'', but he became known chiefly for the sake of his own verse dramas, with which he wanted to create a romantic Greek theatre, taking as his example

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, and Greek history. His works had success in his own era, but were quickly forgotten, chiefly by reason of their archaizing language. His university career ended on 27 August 1869 when Bernardakis was compelled to resign by reason of continuing student reactions (the so-called ''Vernardakeia''), which he attributed to collusion with his university rivals and their political power at the time. His brother, Athansios Bernardakis, nominated Demetrios twice — in 1904 and 1905The Nomination Database for the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1901–1950
nobelprize.org — for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Selected works

Theatrical

* Μαρία Δοξαπατρή (''Maria Doxapatri'' 1857) * Κυψελίδαι (''The Beehive'', 1858) * Μερόπη (''Merope'', 1865) * Ευφροσύνη (''Euphrosyne'', 1876) * Φαύστα (''Fausta'', 1893) * Αντιόπη (''Antiope'', 1895) * Νικηφόρος Φωκάς (''Nicephorus Phocas'', 1905)

Linguistic

* Ελληνική Γραμματική εις χρήσιν των Ελληνικών σχολείων (''Greek Grammar for use in Greek schools'', 1864–1865) * Ψευδαττικισμού έλεγχος (''The control of illusion'', 1884)

Historical

* Γενική Ιστορία (''General History'', 1867)

Theological

* Ιερά Κατήχησις (''Sacred Catechisis'', endorsed in 1872 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople as the best available biblical catechesis recommended for schooldchildren)

References

External links

Vernardakis Dimitrios
– ''Pandektis'' profile from the Institute for Neohellenic Research
Η αποκατάσταση του Αριστοτέλη του Κώστα Γεωργουσόπουλου (mention in "The Restoration of Aristotle" by Kostas Yorgopoulos
'' Ta Nea'', 20/10/07, preview only, subscription required)
List of quotes listed in the Lexicon of Quotes and Aphorisms under Dimitrios Vernardakis (in Greek)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardakis, Demetrios 1833 births 1907 deaths Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to Greece Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens People from Mytilene 19th-century Greek educators 19th-century Greek writers 19th-century Greek dramatists and playwrights