From republican patriotism to national sentiment: A reading of Hellenic Nomarchy

European Journal of Political Theory

Volumn 5, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 50-60

  Kitromilides, Paschalis M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS   (Greece)

Author keywords

'Anonymous Hellene'; Anticlericalism; Enlightenment; Greece; Nomarchy; Patriotism; Religious criticism; Republicanism; Social criticism; South eastern Europe

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646106565     PISSN: 14748851     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1474885106059064     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. On Moisiodax see P.M. Kitromilides (1992) The Enlightenment as Social Criticism: Iosipos Moisiodax and Greek Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
2. Iosipos Moisiodax (1780) Apologia, pp. 181-2. Vienna: Trattner.
3. For details see P.M. Kitromilides (2003) 'An Enlightenment Perspective on Balkan Cultural Pluralism: The Republican Vision of Rhigas Velestinlis', History of Political Thought 24: 465-79.
4. The book appeared under the title Elliniki Nomarchia by an 'Anonymous Hellene' with the title page giving the publication details simply as Italy 1806. It is a small book in octavo format, very densely printed and runs to 266 pages. The text runs continuously without any internal subdivisions and without changing paragraphs. Although some literary evidence on its circulation has survived, only five copies are known to exist in libraries in Greece. See Ph. Iliou (1997) Elliniki Vivliographia 1801-1818, p.176. Athens: ELIA. It was not reissued until the mid-20th century. A 2nd edn was published in Athens by N.B. Tomadakis in 1948 (Elliniki Nomarchia [1948]) and another one in Athens with extensive introductory and supplementary material by G. Valetas in 1957 (Elliniki Nomarchia [1957]). A facsimile reprint of the original was published in Athens in 1976 by the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. For a concise and well informed discussion of the work see G.P. Henderson (1970) The Revival of Greek Thought 1620-1830, pp. 159-69. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press; and for a selection of representative excerpts translated into English see Richard Clogg (1976) The Movement for Greek Independence 1770-1821, pp. 106-17. London and Basingstoke: Macmillan. On the question of authorship the latest and most cogent contribution is by C. Papachristou (1987) Poios egrapse tin Elliniki Nomarchia. Athens: Estia. This surveys and appraises critically earlier literature on the subject.
5. Elliniki Nomarchia (1806), pp. 5-6.
6. Ibid. pp. 48-53, 244-50.
7. Ibid. p. 85. On the definition of 'nomarchy' see pp. 13-21.
8. Ibid. p. 196.
9. Ibid. pp. 93-6; see also pp. 146-95. The quoted passage is from an unpublished translation by Loukis Theocharides and Paschalis Kitromilides.
10. The evidence of Elliniki Nomarchia is appraised by Th. H. Papadopoullos (1952) Studies and Documents relating to the History of the Greek Church and People under Turkish Domination, pp. 133-6. Brussels: Bibliotheca Graeca Aevi Posterioris-I. N.B. Tomadakis in Elliniki Nomarchia (1948), pp. xiv-xvi subjects the arguments of the author to historical criticism.
11. For a survey of pertinent source material see Richard Clogg (1976) 'Anticlericalism in Pre-Independence Greece 1750-1821', in Derek Baker (ed.) The Orthodox Churches and the West, pp. 257-76. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12. Elliniki Nomarchia, pp. 11-13, on the origins of inequality and tyranny.
13. Elliniki Nomarchia (1957), pp. 365-71.
14. Papachristou (n. 4), pp. 67-105.
15. See Eluggero Pii (2002) 'Republicanism and Commercial Society in Eighteenth-Century Italy', in Martin Van Gelderen and Quentin Skinner (eds) Republicanism. A Shared European Heritage, vol. 2, pp. 252-7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
16. Ibid. pp. 265-7. Cf. Elliniki Nomarchia (1806), pp. 9-10.
17. Pii (n. 15), p. 271. On Pilati's theory of social and cultural reform see Franco Venturi (1976) Settecento riformatore: La chiesa e la repubblica dentro i loro limiti, pp. 250-325. Turin: Einoudi.
18. This understanding of Beccaria prevails in Korais's commentary on the text in his Greek translation of Dei delitti e delle pene (Paris, 1802). Korais's work was known and admired by the anonymous author of Hellenic Nomarchy and it would be reasonable to assume that his own reading of Beccaria was informed by the views of the 'new Hippocrates', as he called Korais on account of the latter's medical training. On the impact of Beccaria's ideas on the aspirations of reform movements beyond Italy see Franco Venturi (1972) Italy and the Enlightenment. Studies in a Cosmopolitan Century, pp. 154-64. New York: New York University Press.
19. Elliniki Nomarchia (1806), p. 156.
20. Vittorio Alfieri (1996) Della tirannide, ed. Ezio Falcomer, pp. 74-6. Milan: Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli. Cf. Elliniki Nomarchia, pp. 22-32. The influence of Della Tirannide is traced systematically by G. Valetas in Elliniki Nomarchia (1957), pp. 371-8.
21. Elliniki Nomarchia (1806), p. 136.
22. Alfieri (n. 20), pp. 86-99.
23. Montesquieu, De l'esprit des lois, book III, ch. 9, book V, ch. 14.
24. Ugo Foscolo (1970) Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis, ed. Giovanni Gambarin, p. 241. Florence: Felice Le Monnier.
25. Elliniki Nomarchia (1806), pp. 219-20. It is quite revealing that the Anonymous Hellene invokes explicitly in this connection Italy's misfortunes which show 'what it means to be liberated by foreigners' (p. 221).
26. Ibid. pp. 35-7. See also pp. 82-3.
27. Ibid. pp. 110-29 and passim.
28. Ibid. pp. 248-9. See also pp. 43-4, 46-7, 232-42.
29. Ibid. pp. 246, 253.