Konstantinos Asopios ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Ασώπιος) 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 ...

scholar and academic teacher of the 19th century from

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

Biography

Konstantinos Asopios was born in Grammeno near

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

around 1790. He was a child of a poor family and initially had the surname Dsolbas. After the death of his father, he followed his mother in Ioannina, where she had found work in the Melas family house. Thanks to his good performance at school he received a scholarship by the benefactor Zois Kaplanis. Later, he was given the surname “Asopios” by the school principal, Athanasios Psalidas, which he adopted. Alongside his studies, he worked as a private teacher and he use the amount of money he collected to go, along with Christoforos Filitas, in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

(

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

) to study medicine, but a health problem forced him to go to

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

in 1813 in order to regain health. After his recovery, he returned to Italy and specifically in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, where he worked as a translator. Later, he moved to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

where he worked for five years as a teacher in the Greek school of the city. After that, he studied at the universities of

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Lord Guilford Earl of Guilford is a title that has been created three times in history. The title was created for the first time in the Peerage of England in 1660 (as Countess of Guilford) for Elizabeth Boyle. She was a daughter of William Feilding, 1st ...

’s expenses, who knew him from Ioannina, in order to become a professor of the

Ionian Academy The Ionian Academy ( el, Ιόνιος Ακαδημία) was the first Greek academic institution established in modern times. It was located in Corfu. It was established by the French during their administration of the island as the ''département ...

that the English nobleman intended to found, which he did in 1824. After the death of Lord Guilford and the decline of the Ionian Academy that followed, Asopios accepted the proposal of the

Greek state Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and he got a job at the

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 ...

, where he served as a dean three times. He retired in 1866 due to a serious health problem and died a few years later, on 19 November 1872. A big crowd attended his funeral. He was married to Eleni Asimakopoulou, whom he met during his stay in Trieste. They had two children, Irinaios and Evridiki.Anastasios N. Goudas, 1874, p. 235 - 236.

References

Bibliography

Anastasios N. Goudas (1874). Βίοι Παράλληλοι των επί της Αναγεννήσεως της Ελλάδος Διαπρεψάντων Ανδρών, τ. Β'. Αθήνησι: Τύποις Χ. Ν. Φιλαδελφέως.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asopios, Konstantinos 1790 births 1872 deaths People from Ioannina (regional unit) Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Greek scholars Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens