Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Note on transliteration and other editorial practices
- List of figures
- Introduction: Greece in the European press in the second half of the nineteenth century: Language, culture, identity
- 1 Marinos Papadopoulos Vretos: ‘Le trait d’union entre Paris et Athènes, l’intermédiaire naturel entre la Grèce et les Philhellènes des bords de la Seine’ (Victor Fournel, L’Espérance, 1858)
- 2 Greek identities and French politics in the Revue des Deux Mondes (1846–1900)
- 3 The emergence of modern Greek studies in late-nineteenth century France and England: The yearbooks of the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877)
- 4 La Grèce moderne dans la Nouvelle Revue (1879-1899)
- 5 Medieval and modern Greece in the Academy
- 6 Modern Greek studies in Italy (1866–1897): Philhellenic revival and classical tradition through the lens of the Nuova Antologia
- 7 An interesting utopian undertaking: The Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam and the journal Eλλάς/Hellas (Leiden, 1889–1897)
- 8 Les études de grec moderne en Allemagne et la revue Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892–1909)
- 9 La Grèce et l’Europe à travers l’insurrection crétoise de 1895–1897, reflétées dans la presse de l’époque
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Newspapers and Periodicals
7 - An interesting utopian undertaking: The Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam and the journal Eλλάς/Hellas (Leiden, 1889–1897)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 January 2023
- Frontmatter
- Table of Contents
- Note on transliteration and other editorial practices
- List of figures
- Introduction: Greece in the European press in the second half of the nineteenth century: Language, culture, identity
- 1 Marinos Papadopoulos Vretos: ‘Le trait d’union entre Paris et Athènes, l’intermédiaire naturel entre la Grèce et les Philhellènes des bords de la Seine’ (Victor Fournel, L’Espérance, 1858)
- 2 Greek identities and French politics in the Revue des Deux Mondes (1846–1900)
- 3 The emergence of modern Greek studies in late-nineteenth century France and England: The yearbooks of the Association pour l’encouragement des études grecques en France (1867) and of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1877)
- 4 La Grèce moderne dans la Nouvelle Revue (1879-1899)
- 5 Medieval and modern Greece in the Academy
- 6 Modern Greek studies in Italy (1866–1897): Philhellenic revival and classical tradition through the lens of the Nuova Antologia
- 7 An interesting utopian undertaking: The Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam and the journal Eλλάς/Hellas (Leiden, 1889–1897)
- 8 Les études de grec moderne en Allemagne et la revue Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892–1909)
- 9 La Grèce et l’Europe à travers l’insurrection crétoise de 1895–1897, reflétées dans la presse de l’époque
- Index of Names
- Index of Places
- Index of Newspapers and Periodicals
Summary
Abstract
This chapter deals with the journal Ελλάς/Hellas (Leiden, Holland, 1889–1897). It examines the broader frame of the periodical's publication and the intentions of its editorial board. Ελλάς/Hellas was the organ of the Philhellenic Society in Amsterdam, which was founded in April 1888. The Society's basic aim was the support and promotion of the modern Greek language (katharevousa, an archaic, purified form of Greek used for official and literary purposes) as an international language, in opposition to the appearance and diffusion of invented languages such as Volapuk and Esperanto. The Society and its journal make also a special plea for substituting modern Greek, and the modern pronunciation with it, for the ancient Greek taught in elementary instruction in Europe. This chapter examines this experiment as a utopian effort in the late nineteenth century.
Keywords: H.C. Muller, Ελλάς/Hellas, Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam, Volapuk, Esperanto, Erasmian pronunciation
Holland geht uns urplötzlich voran! In such a celebratory tone regarding the leading role of the Netherlands did the then prominent, albeit now forgotten, German philologist and linguist August Boltz (1819–1907) complete his book Hellenisch die internationale Gelehrtensprache der Zukunft. The Netherlands had long been associated with the cultivation of classical studies, in which Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, better known as Erasmus (1466–1536), was a leading figure, while classical studies in the nineteenth century were dominated by Professor C.G. Cobet (1813–1889), who published the important journal Mnemosyne (Leiden, 1852 onwards) from 1856 and was a teacher of, inter alia, Konstantinos S. Kontos (1834–1909), a Greek philologist and professor at the University of Athens, with whom they jointly published the scholarly journal Λόγιος Ερμής (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1866–1867 and Athens, 1876).
Boltz by no means praises the Netherlands for these past endeavours, but rather for the initiative that led to the spring 1888 establishment of the Philhellenic Society of Amsterdam, which aspired to become the unifying association of philhellenes worldwide. The history of its foundation, its objectives and its initiatives will be presented in detail below. The journal Ελλάς/Hellas, which will also be examined in the present essay, was the printed expression of this Society's aims and aspirations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Languages, Identities and Cultural TransfersModern Greeks in the European Press (1850-1900), pp. 191 - 214Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2021