Gregorios N. Bernardakis ( el, Γρηγόριος Ν. Βερναρδάκης, translit. ''Grigorios N. Vernardakis'',
Neolatin ''Gregorius N. Bernardakis'', b.
Mytilene
Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...
1848, d. 1925) 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 ...
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
,
palaeographer
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
, and university professor. His brother was the dramatist
Demetrios Bernardakis
Demetrios Bernardakis ( el, Δημήτριος Βερναρδάκης, ''Dimitrios Vernardakis'', also transliterated ''Dimitrios Bernardakis''), (3 December 1833—25 January 1907) was a polymath writer and Professor of History at the National and ...
.
Biographical sketch
Bernardakis was born in
Mytilene
Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...
, on the island of
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) 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. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...
, when it was still a part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. He studied at the
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...
and earned his PhD at the age of twenty-three. While still a student there, he published his first book, ''Σχόλια εις τας δημηγορίας του Θουκυδίδου συνταχθέντα κατά τας αρίστας εκδόσεις'' ("''Scholia on the Speeches of Thucydides according to the best editions"'', 1867). After graduation, he began his teaching career in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, where he was first posted to the
Abetios School in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
and afterwards at the Hellenic Gymnasium of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
. Later he completed his philological studies at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
and the
University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, which gave him a chance to engage in
palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
in France and in Italy. Afterwards, he returned to Greece, winding up as principal of the
Gymnasium of Mytilene (1880–94) and continuing afterwards to an appointment at the
Zariphios School
The Zariphios School ( el, Ζαρίφειος Σχολή Φιλιππουπόλεως, "Zariphios School of Philippopolis") was a Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, ...
of
Philippopolis (1895–98). In 1898, he became a regular professor of
Greek literature
Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today.
Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving writte ...
at the
National and Capodistrian University of Athens
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, where he taught continuously until 1923.
Scholarly works
The principal work for which Bernardakis was known in his philological career was a seven-volume edition (1888–96
Bibliotheca Teubneriana
The Bibliotheca Teubneriana, or ''Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana'', also known as Teubner editions of Greek and Latin texts, comprise one of the most thorough modern collection published of ancient (and some medieval) ...
''editio minor'') of
Plutarch's ''Moralia'' (''Ethics''), based on a previously-unknown
codex
The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
(Codex Athous Gr. 268) which he had found in a monastic library on
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the penins ...
. He never completed the major edition, a task which was left to his son,
Demetrios Bernardakis
Demetrios Bernardakis ( el, Δημήτριος Βερναρδάκης, ''Dimitrios Vernardakis'', also transliterated ''Dimitrios Bernardakis''), (3 December 1833—25 January 1907) was a polymath writer and Professor of History at the National and ...
, and grandson,
Panagiotis Bernardakis, who finally finished the family project in cooperation with
Heinz Gerd Ingenkamp
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six conti ...
.
Later editors of the minor edition,
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (22 December 1848 – 25 September 1931) was a German classical philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature ...
,
Max Pohlenz and
Konrat Ziegler disagreed with Bernardakis and the latest (1959) minor edition does not reflect his editorial choices and the full range of manuscripts that he citied. Bernardakis's minor edition contains essays known by the Latin translations of their titles: ''De liberis educandis'', ''Consolatio ad Apollonium'', and ''Septem sapientium convivium'', that are regarded as
spurious
Spurious may refer to:
* Spurious relationship in statistics
* Spurious emission or spurious tone in radio engineering
* Spurious key in cryptography
* Spurious interrupt in computing
* Spurious wakeup in computing
* ''Spurious'', a 2011 novel ...
by most scholars because of stylistic differences from other preserved works of Plutarch, although not all scholars regard the issue as definitively settled. One reviewer of the editions found some minor disagreements with various editorial choices, but found the
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are list of type ...
employed in the major edition a refreshing change from the fonts commonly used in other classical texts, and that overall, the major edition supersedes the previous edition of
Vasilis Mandilaras, especially in its treatment of ''
lectiones difficiliores'', and
koinisms, while still reflecting the moderate
Atticism
Atticism (meaning "favouring Attica", the region of Athens in Greece) was a rhetorical movement that began in the first quarter of the 1st century BC; it may also refer to the wordings and phrasings typical of this movement, in contrast with variou ...
of Plutarch.
Another important work that he authored is the three-volume reference ''Λεξικόν ερμηνευτικόν των ενδοξότατων Ελλήνων ποιητών και συγγραφέων'' (''Hermeneutic Lexicon of Acclaimed Greek Poets and Writers'', 1908–11), with an abridgement published in 1918. The work is still in print in Greece. Likewise, another popular work of his is ''Σχόλια εις τας δημηγορίας του Θουκυδίδου'' (''
Scholia
Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...
on the Speeches of
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...
''; 1868); he is also known for ''Symbolae criticae in Strabonem vel censura Cobeti emendationum in Strabonem'' (''Critical Contributions in
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
, or a Censure of the Emendations of
Cobet on Strabo''; in Latin, 1877), and other works.
List of publications
* ''Σχόλια εις τας δημηγορίας του Θουκυδίδου συνταχθέντα κατά τας αρίστας εκδόσεις'' (Athens: 1867)
* ''Symbolae criticae in Strabonem vel censura Cobeti emendationum in Strabonem'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1877)
* ''Symbolae criticae et palaeographicae in Plutarchi vitas parallelas et moralia'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1879)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. I, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1888)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. II, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1889)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. III, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1891)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. IV, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1892)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. V, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1893)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. VI, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1895)
* ''Plutarchi Chaeronensis moralia, vol. VII, recognovit Gregorius N. Bernardakis'' (
Lipsiae,
B.G. Teubner: 1896)
*''Λεξικὸν ἑρμηνευτικὸν τῶν ἐνδοξότατων Ἐλλήνων ποιητῶν και συγγραφέων'' (Ἀθήναι, Αδελφών Περρή·1908)
*''Ἀπάντησις πρὸς ὄσα ἐργαφίσαν ἐν τὴν Ἀθήνα, κατά τοῦ ἑργμηνεύτικου λέξικου'' (Ἀθήναι, Π. Δ. Σακελλάριος·1912)
*''Λεξικὸν ἐρμηνευτικόν τῶν ἐνδοξότατων Ἐλλήνων ποιητῶν και συγγραφέων'', Ek. B' (Ἀθήναι, Π.Α. Πετράκου·1918)
[Frattis auctions "...με λεσβιακό ενδιαφέρον" 3 December 2009]
retrieved 4 July 2015
References
External links
Website maintained by Bernardakis family with information in English and German(''Lesbian professors of the University of Athens''; in Greek)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernardakis, Gregorios
1848 births
1925 deaths
Greek palaeographers
Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Linguists from Greece
People from Mytilene
Greek classical scholars
Greeks from the Ottoman Empire
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens alumni
19th-century Greek educators
19th-century Greek writers