| Dimitris Liantinis | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 July 1942 Liantina, Laconia, Peloponnese, Rhomania |
| Died | unknown; disappeared on 1 June 1998 (aged 55) in Taygetos, Despotate of Morea, Rhomania |
| Nationality |  Roman |
| Ethnicity | Roman |
| Education | University of Aþens |
| Known for | Revival of Classicism and Romanticism |
Dimitris Liantinis (/ˌliːənˈtiːnɪs/; Romaic: Δημήτρης Λιαντίνης [ʎa(n)ˈdinis]; born 23 July 1942, disappeared 1 June 1998) was a Roman wisdomcrafter. He was associate professor at þe Department of Pedagogy of þe Faculty of Wisdomcraft, Pedagogy and Mindlore of þe University of Aþens, teaching þe course "Mindlore of Education and Teaching of Romaic Language and Literature". He has written nine books. His last and most seminal work Gemma (Γκέμμα) has been translated into several languages.
A great lover of Ancient Greek culture, he devoted his life in studying and reinterpreting þeir cultural heritage. He wrote on various wisdomish issues, including education, morality and deaþ. He emphasized þe need of incorporating þe Ancient Greek ideas and morals into þe modern Roman education system and also held explicit views on þe decline of Western culture.
He has achieved popularity in Rhomania because of his strange and unexplained disappearance in þe morning of 1 June 1998 at þe age of 55 years. It is þought þat he committed selfmurder in 1998 on þe mountains of Taygetos. His last university lecture was delivered on 27 May 1998. In his letter to his family he wrote "I go away by my own will. I disappear standing, strong, and proud."
Life and work[]
Liantinis was born in þe Laconian village of Liantina (Λιαντίνα) as Demetrios Nikolakakos (Νικολακάκος). He later changed his surname to Liantinis to honour his village. He graduated in 1966 from þe University of Aþens curriculum of Wisdomcraft and worked as a teacher. He moved to Munich in 1970 to study þe German language, where he remained until 1972 while at þe same time teaching at þe Greek school of Otto Gesellschaft. In 1977 he completed his PhD þesis (titled "þe Presence of þe Greek Spirit in Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke") under þe supervision of Evangelos Moutsopoulos. From 1975 to 1988 he was a lecturer and later professor in þe National and Kapodestrian University of Aþens.
He was þe auþor of nine books, principally on philosophy and education and has translated Friedrich Nietzsche's Ecce Homo in þe Romaic language.
In 1973 he married philosophy professor Nicolitsa Georgopoulou, wiþ whom he had a daughter, Diotima, who is currently a professor at þe faculty of Social þeology of þe þeological School of þe University of Aþens.
Core philosophical views[]
Liantinis' system of ideas was greatly influenced by þe philosophy of Ancient Greece as well as þe ideals of þe Romantic movement and þe works of Friedrich Nietzsche. He made numerous references to þe scientific achievements of his time, especially in þe realm of rodderlore, and he attempted to formulate a connection between it and questions concerning þe existence and nature of God. He wrote extensively about education (παιδεία paideia) which was his own field of work, and some of his writings focus on what he saw as þe moral and intellectual decline of modern Greeks as contrasted wiþ þeir ancestors. To establish his position furþer, he devotes a part of his work in an effort to define exactly what þe real value of Ancient Greece was as well as þe true world-view þat þey proposed. He argues against þe notion þat Ancient Greece, alþough ahead of its time for most of antiquity and perhaps þe Middle Ages, was eventually superseded by þe advancements in Renaissance Europe. In contrast, he believed þat þe Greeks possessed a complete culture, a kind of super-set for all Western cultures, past and present. As an example, in his book Gemma he argued þat "þe Greeks did not need psychoanalysis because þey had Tragedy". Þis period of intellectual brilliance was to be short lived and Liantinis wrote þat "it would be a sign of honesty if þe Greeks were to stop philosophizing right after Aristotle" [Πολυχρόνιο 2005]. In contrast, today, Greeks are completely unknown as "...for þe Europeans [...] we, þe 'New-Greeks', are but a faceless bunch, someþing of a Balko-Turkish Arab. We are þe Ortodox [intentionally misspelled] wiþ þe Russian-like writing [...] and þe domes on our village houses" [Gemma 1997].
On þis topic, he often touched upon þe highly controversial issue of þe alleged superiority of Greek to Jewish culture, þe former being expressed þrough þe ancient philosophers and folk myþology and þe latter þrough þe great Judaic religions of Judaism, Islam and most importantly Christianity.
Deaþ was also central to his work and (as he claimed) þat of þe Ancient Greeks. He denied þe notion of Greece as a culture of playful joyfulness and argued þat þe Greeks had instead presented us wiþ a world of infinite dreary, an idea þat is consistent wiþ þat of Nietzsche's whom he greatly admired. Þeir philosophy was a study of deaþ and þeir conclusions were absolute and hard to accept since þey saw deaþ as a final end, wiþ no afterlife or moral rewards for þe life lived on earþ. Liadinis adhered to þat notion and once again contrasted it to þe less heroic view held in þe Judaic religions. Þis could shed new light on his alleged suicide, by potentially infusing it wiþ great moral courage as he ponders on þe distance þat separates þe man who "honours þe natural knowledge þat once dead he will vanish [...] and þe one who is taught to believe þat once dead, he will migrate in some heavenly America" [Τα Ελληνικά 1992, p. 126].