1. Birth – Studies – Teaching

Daniil (lay name Dimitrios) Filippidis was born possibly between 1750-1755 in Milies, Pilion. His family was eminent and the scholars Anthimos Gazis and Grigorios Konstantas were his cousins. He was initially taught by the local teacher, the priest-monk Anthimos papa-Pantazis.¹

Dimitrios was ordained a priest-monk in 1779 and embarked on a series of wanderings in order to gain a broader education. He initially attended the School of Athos (Athonias) but the poor quality of teaching there after the departure of Evgenios Voulgaris frustrated him and already by 1779 he was on Chios, at the School of Agios Minas. A year later he was attending lessons at the Principality Academy in Bucharest under notable professors and scholars such as Neophytos Kausokalyvitis. Filippidis remained in Bucharest until 1784 while he later taught at the Principality Academy in Iaşi, possibly for a short period (1784-1786).²

Filippidis’ meeting with Dimitrios Katartzis, “patriarch” of scholars in Wallachia and a particularly competent thinker with a multifaceted European and eastern education,³ was hugely important for his intellectual development, his innovative linguistic ideas and his interest in French thinking, during his stay in Wallachia.

An even more important turning point for the development of Filippidis’ philosophical and scientific thinking was his stay in Paris (1790-1794). While in the French capital he had the opportunity to attend lessons presented by important scientists such as the astronomer Lalande while he also became closely connected to the geographer Barbié du Bocage, who remained a close friend for many years.⁴

Filippidis abandoned Paris in 1794, possibly because of the violent developments following the French Revolution, which had disappointed him, and arrived in Milies in the summer of the same year.⁵ After a series of moves he settled anew in Iaşi in 1796, at the house of the great boyar Gheorghe Balş, where he had been appointed tutor to his sons and where he also continued to write and translate.⁶ For a short period (1803-1806) he taught, despite the objections of conservative sections in Iaşi, at the Principality Academy, thanks also to the support of the prince Alexandros Mourouzis who wished to re-organize the Academy and improve its standards.⁷

In 1810 he travelled for a second time to Paris where he remained until 1812. During his stay in the French capital his relations with Adamantios Korais became tense, possibly because of differences on linguistic and philosophical issues. Over the following years (1812-1815) he lived in Chişinău as assistant to the scholar bishop Bănulescu-Bodoni, and later (1815-1818) in Leipzig in order to oversee the publication of his books. He returned to Iaşi in 1818 and lived in the Balş house.

Little in known about the last years of Filippidis’ life, during which he seems to have not kept in contact with his old friends and collegues. He did, however, become a member of the Society of Friends (Filiki Etaireia) in 1819, but did not return to Greece despite the invitation of the scholar Neophytos Doukas. He died forgotten by all in Bălţi, a small town in Bessarabia, at the beginning of November 1832.⁸

2. Works

Writing was undoubtedly the area in which Daniil Filippidis distinguished himself. His work is characterized by variety as it included both original geographical and historical essays, and translations of important European texts of science and philosophy.

2.1. Modern Geography (Geographia Neoteriki)

In 1791, Daniil Filippidis and Grigorios Konstantas published in Vienna the first volume of the Modern Geography (Geographia Neoteriki), which included a description of Europe. The Geography was one of the most innovative texts of the Greek Enlightenment, thanks to the inventive application of new geographical methodologies which placed emphasis on autopsy and the use of the best European handbooks. The ideas expressed within it were often critical, even anticlerical.⁹

The modern innovative spirit of the Geography was also expressed clearly in the use of a lively and malleable “popular” language with very few ties to the "purified" speech (katharevousa) commonly used by most scholars. It is worth noting that the work’s linguistic form disappointed even Dimitrios Katartzis, the intellectual “father” of the two scholars (who became known as Dimitrieis), while Filippidis himself, while never denouncing the text’s language, never used such “popular” speech again.¹⁰

2.2. Translations

As a typical representative of the Enlightenment, Filippidis placed great emphasis on the translation of European books on the physical sciences. He thus translated the Physics by Brisson, which remained unpublished and the Astronomy by Lalande whih was published in two volumes in Vienna in 1803.¹¹

Apart from scientific textbooks, Filippidis was also systematically involved with the translation of philosophical texts. The texts he translated display his extensive knowledge on the course of philosophical thinking in Europe. In 1801 he published in Vienna a classic text of French Enlightenment, the Logic by Condillac, while during the last years of his life the scholar from Milies translated numerous extracts of Kant's works, as he was one of the first Greek scholars of the Enlightenment together with Koumas to approach the thought of the great German philosopher.¹²

2.3. Filippidis’ historical works

Filippidis became systematically involved with history writing during the last decades of his life. Specifically in 1816 he published in Leipzig his History of Romania (Istoria tis Roumounias) and Geography of Romania (Geografikon ths Roumounias).

In the works dedicated to the history of Romania, the scholar seems to have adopted the thoughts of various Romanian scholars from both the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia / Moldavia and Transylvania, regarding the origin and historical past of Romanians, and adopted the protonatioalistic ideas of these thinkers. He thus examined the history of all three principalities through an acceptance of their historical unity while he defended Romanian “rights” against German historians.¹³ It is also worth noting that he was the first to use the term “Romania”, a fact which was repeatedly noted in Romanian historiography.¹⁴

It is notable that Greek intellectuals, mainly those involved with the journal Logios Ermis, adopted a clearly negative attitude toward Filippidis’ historical studies as they believed that the “nation” (genos) needed different compositions, mainly regarding its national history, and because they believed that the scholar’s language was “technical and pretentious”.¹⁵

3. Evaluation

Filippidis was a distinguished personality among Greek Enlightenment scholars. He was undoubtedly endued and exceptionally gifted both in the positive sciences and the humanities, while he was also a “difficult” personality who did not have any close friends.

Although Greek scholarshad been positive in their critique of Filippidis’ Geography,they had an entirely negative attitude toward the scholar’s historical writings and believed that he did not assist as much as he could the promotion of Greek education. On the contrary, Romanian researchers, at least from the beginning of the 20th century, have underlined the originality of his thought and the early use of the term “Romania” used by the Greek scholar.