Kosmas Thesprotos or Kosmas o Thesprotos ( el, Κοσμάς ο Θεσπρωτός ''Kosmas the

Thesprotian The Thesprotians ( grc, Θεσπρωτοί, Thesprōtoí) were an ancient Greek tribe, akin to the Molossians, inhabiting the kingdom of Thesprotis in Epirus. Together with the Molossians and the Chaonians, they formed the main tribes of the nort ...

'', 1780 ��1852) 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, priest and theologian.

Life

Kosmas was born as ''Kyritsis Kotras'' ( el, Κυρίτσης (diminutive of Kyriakos) Κότρας) in the village of

Jorgucat Jorgucat ( sq-definite, Jorgucati; el, Γεωργουτσάτι/Γεωργουτσάτες; Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Georgoutsáti/Georgoutsátes'') is a village in Gjirokastër County, southern Albania. At the 2015 local government re ...

(Gr. ''Georgutsates'', ''Γεωργουτσάτες''),

Dropull Dropull ( sq-definite, Dropulli; el, Δρόπολη or Δερόπολη ''Dropoli'' or ''Deropoli'') is a municipality in Gjirokastër County, in southern Albania. The region stretches from south of the city of Gjirokastër to the Greek–Albani ...

region in modern southern

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, then

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) ...

. In 1805 he became a priest and changed his name to ''Kosmas''. The following years he became a student of Athanasios Psalidas, a major figure of the

modern Greek Enlightenment The Modern Greek Enlightenment ( el, Διαφωτισμός, ''Diafotismos'', "enlightenment," "illumination"; also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment) was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment. Origins The Greek Enlightenment w ...

and graduated from the

Kaplaneios School The Kaplaneios School ( el, Καπλάνειος Σχολή) was a Greek educational institution that operated in Ioannina from 1797 to 1820/1. The school evolved into the most significant intellectual center of the city through the work of Athan ...

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 ...

at 1815. He taught in several schools in

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 ...

region and after the successful

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

(1821–1830) he moved to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

were continued his educational activity. He died in

Karpenisi Karpenisi ( el, Καρπενήσι, ) is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Evrytania. Karpenisi is situated in the valley of the river Karpenisiotis (Καρπενησιώτης), a tributary of the Megdovas, in t ...

, at 1852.Kosmas Thesprotos
culture.ana.gr.

Works

One of his famous works was the ''Γεωγραφία Αλβανίας και Ηπείρου'' (Geography of Albania and Epirus), based on the teachings of his teacher Psalidas. It was composed around 1833. It is a geographical treatise which describes geographically

and

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 ...

. Kosmas in this work adopted the notion of Psalidas that placed the geographical border between Epirus and Albania along the river Vjose (Aoos). This work was completed after his graduation from the Kaplaneios, when he worked as a teacher in various Greek schools in Epirus.A.C. Papacharisis, 1964
Balkan studies: biannual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies
, Vol. 5-6, 1964, p. 413 He also wrote the following works: *Γεωγραφία Αλβανίας και Ηπείρου (Geography of Albania and Epirus) *Εγχειρίδιο φιλοσοφίας (Manual of Philosophy) *Ποιημάτιον (Poem). * Cosmas Thesprotos, ''La complainte d’Ali Pacha.'' Éd. critique avec trad. et glossaire par Yvon Tarabout. Publications Langues’O, Paris 1983.

Life

Works

References

Further reading