19th century. The Enlightenment has opened a wide window of fresh concepts about education, intellectual progress and social cohesion in the European world. It is the long period of changes, which historians will characterize as the "century of education", as, during its duration, the most important upheavals in the field of education occur. In Russia, after the defeat of Napoleon, the political and social changes taking place, with the most notable being the abolition of serfdom by Tsar Alexander II (to prevent a revolution against him), give the population a breather. In America, which is experiencing a golden age of reflection, letters and literature, a religious and political leader, Brigham Young, highlights the special position of women in the family and society, formulating "When you educate a man, you educate a man. When you educate a woman, you educate a generation"...
But in the East, the Ottoman period bequeaths a progressive differentiation from the West. In 1821, when Europe is marching at full speed towards its spiritual and economic take-off, the regions – including certainly the Greek territory – ruled by the Sublime Porte, prepare the revolution for their liberation and are slow to follow the flow of progress… Amidst the unprecedented scents of the global scene of upheaval and with deep faith in Brigham’s saying, a Greek woman from Constantinople fights to survive as almost… “persona non grata” in the male-dominated world of the once reigning city. With persistence, patience and above all with surgical mastery and precision, she methodically inoculates the society of the City - and not only - with her claim to be recognized - if nothing else - as a member of an educational community, which refuses to accept the "weaker sex" into its circles.
The women's magazine "Eurydice" was published for three years in Constantinople, from November 21, 1870 to May 30, 1873. A total of 76 issues are published, consisting of 878 pages. More specifically, the first year corresponds to the following dates: November 21, 1870 to March 24, 1871 (issues 1-19) and April 14, 1871 to October 30, 1871 (issues 20-50). The second year with 20 issues, published from January 15, 1872 to October 20, 1872. Finally, the third year was published from March 8, 1873 to May 30, 1873, and included 6 issues. There are five different titles that run through the issues of the magazine. Specifically, the first title, which appears in the first two issues, is “women's weekly review published by Emilias Ktena Leontiados”, the second, which covers the third to the nineteenth issue, is “women's weekly review with drawings by artists”. The third title is “Women's Inspection with Drawings by Craftsmen”, which appears from the twentieth to the fiftieth issue. The fourth title, which runs through all the issues of the second year, is “a women's magazine with drawings by artisans, published twice a month by Emilias Ktena of Leontias, with the kind cooperation of scholars from the diaspora”. Finally, the third year has the title “review published twice a month in Constantinople”. Furthermore, the magazine does not have a fixed periodicity or a fixed format. More specifically, in the first year, from the first to the nineteenth issue, it is two-column, its format is eighth and it is published once a week. From the twentieth to the forty-eighth issue, the magazine remains double-column, but the format and periodicity change. More specifically, the schedule becomes a fourth and from weekly it becomes a five-day schedule. Regarding the last two issues of the first year, the columns and format remain the same, however, the periodicity changes, being published every fifteen days. It is noteworthy that the second part of the first year, namely issues 1-19/20, have different page numbers. In the second year, it becomes three-column, from two-column, its format remains four-column, the numbering of pages and issues changes. The magazine is published every fifteen days. The third year is also three-column, fourth format and is published every fifteen days. Furthermore, the magazine's address changes twice. While it was initially located at Galata Moussourou Han 30, it was moved, as shown in issue 30, to a new address: Galata, Yorgancılar 37, where it remained only for a short time, since after the publication of 7 issues, in issue 38, the original address of the magazine was listed, namely Galata, Moussourou Han 30. Regarding the subscription, it is stated in the first issue of the first year that "The annual subscription of "Eurydice" is set at 6 silver mezitia in the capital, payable quarterly in advance; and abroad at 7 similarly, payable semi-annually in advance, with subscriptions calculated for one year." Accordingly, the three-month subscription is 1 1/2 silver mezze in Istanbul and 3 1/2 abroad. In a subsequent issue (issue 20, 1871, p. 8) it is stated that the annual subscription for the suburbs is 6,5 silver mezzetia. Also, in the 20th issue, the price of each gender is indicated, which is 2,5 groschen. As for the printing houses in which the magazine was printed, it belongs to K. Plethonidou, in which the first year was printed from the first to the nineteenth issue and issues 46 to 50 of the first year, and A[ntoniou] Zel[l]itz[s], in which issues 20 to 45 were printed. In the 2nd and 3rd years no printing house is listed. From 21-11-1870 to 9-1-1871, that is, from issues 1-8 of the first year, he belonged to a special committee. From 15-1-1871 to 20-10-1872, that is, from issue 9 to the end of the 2nd year (issue 19/20), the editor of the magazine was Themistoklis Ktenas. Finally, from 8-3-1873 to 30-5-1873, the dates on which the third year was published, the director was Emilia Ktena Leontias. The magazine does not stay within the borders of the Ottoman Empire but reaches beyond them. In more detail, it is stated that registrations are made in Constantinople at the management office, in Chrysoupoli at Minas Brassoglou, in Chalkidona at the pharmacist Antonis Stavridis, in Athens at Professor N. Saripolo, in Alexandria at I. Ognyanovitz, in Varna to I. Aspriotis, in Rhodes to Konstantinos Nikolaidis, in Galazi to Professor Dakopoulos, in Giougervos to Aikaterini Solomonidis, in Gythio to N. Th. Exarchakos, in Ioannina from Xanthopoulos, in Thessaloniki to the N. Pappazoglou, in Gallipoli in the North. Drosiasis, in Chania in N. Mitziotakis, in Heraklion N. Stavrakis Efendis, in Kidonies in G. Makridis, in Larissa to Hieroklis Archdeacon and Dorothea Christidis, in Mytilene to Sappho Lailou, in Molyvos to Zafirakis Ypandremevo, in Nicomedia to Pappadopoulos, in Samos to Pel. Lekati, in Smyrna to F. K. Sarika in Plovdiv at G. Kallisthenis and in Chios in the Municipality. Faiarogianidis. The magazine's content primarily refers to the analysis of the nature and destiny of the female gender. At the same time, articles are published regarding the education and upbringing (physical and moral) of the female gender. Included are historical and scientific studies related to women's lives, popular studies on ancient authors, customs and manners, historical and geographical narratives. There are articles about women's actions abroad. The magazine contains no shortage of articles on Home Economics as well as on health. There are also book reviews, literature (short stories, novels, poetry), news, practical advice, and information on bibliography. The publication of the magazine Eurydice is a very important effort, as it is the first magazine that is the result of collective collaboration of women from all regions where Greeks live. It is written, in Greek katharevousa, by women and refers to women as mothers, wives, young women, mainly from the middle-class strata. Indicative names of female collaborators of the magazine are Spafo Leontias, Eleni Ghika/Dora Istrias, Julia Ward Howe, Clarisse Bader. However, there are also many male personalities who collaborate with the magazine, such as Zafirakis Ypandryvemonos, Io. Kambouroglous, Kleanthis N. Triantafyllos, A. In. Lyvathinopoulos, A. Spathakis et al.
Η Sappho Clerides – who will remain in the history of letters with the literary pseudonym Leontias, "the teacher of the nation"– she is a worthy child of a family of scholars and, whether the male members of society like it or not, she will continue the tradition left to her by her father, a Greek language teacher and founder of Greek schools in Cyprus, Leontios Clerides, a man of deep culture and contribution to letters.
Sappho was born in 1830 in Mega Rema, Constantinople. With the intellectual cultivation of her Hellenistic father and the kind personality of her also literate mother, Sophia, she grew up in a home where education does not discriminate between races and genders, in contrast to the mores of the time, which wanted the role of women to be entrenched in the dual character of hostess and mother. She graduated from the Arsakeio School and has been fluent in English and French since she was very young.She is a woman of study and dedication to the goal, which is none other than to prove that, for the benefit of the nation, women must receive a more complete and substantial education than that allowed by social stereotypes.
"FITNESS IN WOMEN'S WORK" IS ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE FOR WOMEN...
Sure, in Otto's Greece, During the Regency period, the education of women was provided for by a decree of 6/18 February 1834 "on public teachers in general and public schools", but is limited to the absolutely necessary and essential: in "training in women's manual labor", in religious education and in knowledge of hygiene and home economics. But even this elementary education is lacking in its implementation, as it must be provided by women and the state does not have enough money for their own education. In 1837, the penetration of the education network among the female population barely reached 9%. The dysfunction in the issue of women's education is clear, but the newly formed Greek state does not deal with it. After all, according to the beliefs of the time, on the path to adequately fulfilling her dual role, a woman is guided primarily by her nature. The contribution of external education to her home is small and her education is even useless in what concerns things outside it. The boundaries of each gender are distinct and there is no reason for them to change... Broad education is for men only. However, in Ionia, for decades, the rigid views on women's education, which keep the field of education of the "weaker sex" unexploited by the Greeks, are "exploited" very nicely by foreign businessmen, usually French and German, who rush to establish their own educational institutions, for religious and political conversion. The response of girls from the upper social class is impressive, where female education is intertwined more with show and display than with the emancipation of women themselves. It is important that the influx of Greek women into foreign schools is such that in the years 1875-1880 they reached 80% of all female students, paying 8.000 gold pounds annually for tuition!
Sappho, however, has clear demands. She wants the woman to be educated, cultured, and dynamic. She certainly wants to have a family, but she doesn't intend to sacrifice her thirst for learning for this. She meets the Chian merchant Konstantinos Kalvokoresis and falls in love with him. Their dreams of a large household, grounded in the unwavering values of kindness and intellectual cultivation are common. Her Kostis, as she calls him, will not put a brake on her desires and, moreover, she has convinced him of the obvious. The greater the education of her mind and spirit, the more resources she will be able to bequeath to their children. But times are also difficult for the survival of sickly newborns. Medicine has not yet entered the path of miracles and three of the four children they have do not manage to survive. Corina is the only child who survives, but she will not have time, however, to make her parents or her life happy. Her father will fall ill and at 50 he will leave. Her mother will die as soon as she turns 60 and she herself will leave two years after her mother, having previously married and had two daughters, Sappho and Anna. The testimonies about Corina's premature death differ. Many claim that the girl - according to the majority of information, at the age of just 25 - became seriously ill and despite the efforts of her doctor husband, Stefanos Narlis, she was unable to stay alive. Other sources speak of the young woman's suicide after her mother's death. However Corina has left, what is certain is that she has had enough of her mother's exuberant personality... Sappho Leontias is a strong woman with gifts, which no matter how much some try to ignore, cannot be hidden. She passionately serves everything Greek, from the ancient language and history, to the composition of the family and the social structures of the newly formed Greece, she teaches and assumes positions of responsibility in schools here and in Ionia. She is a strong personality, who wins points with her sword. Armed with her education, knowledge and manners, she does not hesitate to publicly confront learned men, when they formulate positions, which she assesses as offensive to common values. She kills injustice with cotton wool... In contrast to the expressed views on the superiority of the "modern language" of the founder of the Greek Pedagogy of Smyrna and publisher of the newspaper "Amaltheia", Antonios Isigonis, Sappho signs an article - in this same publication, in fact! - in which she praises ancient Greek: "... it is necessary for the venerable and noble mother of this (language), ancient Greek, to bathe and comb it for a sufficient time in these sacred springs of its clearest and crystalline waters"! Later, in her own publication, "Eurydice", referring to the positions of her colleagues regarding the replacement, in the teachings, of ancient texts with simplified ones, will emphasize: "... I do not accept that they (the ancient writers) be stripped, that they be stripped of their royal purple and clothed in a slave's garment...".
"RAISING A DAUGHTER IS RAISING A SOCIETY"...
During the years of her life, she "plows" the Greek schools, which with the liberation spring up one after the other, gives speeches, confronts with dignity the opponents of women's emancipation and, like another Kontorevithoulis, wherever she passes, she leaves behind fertile seeds of knowledge and cultivation of the mind and soul, but most of all she adds points to the position and role of women both in the family and in society. Her student, Polyxeni Loizias, testifies that in 1838 Sappho is in her father's homeland, Cyprus, where he has been called to direct a new school. But she too, now a teenager, seems to be training young girls, providing them with the first lights of knowledge. At the age of 25, she is invited to Samos by the wife of Prince John Ghika of Wallachia, Alexandra, a lover of letters and fine arts. Alexandra asks her to take over the responsibility of running the Girls' Institute, which has just been inaugurated on the island. She accepts and travels to Samos, where she will remain for three years until she accepts another invitation, this time from Smyrna, to take over the direction of the girls' school, founded by the professor and priest - local Metropolitan of Mytilene - Methodios Aronis. Her abilities would lead her to management positions in educational institutions in Smyrna, Leros, again in Samos, in Syros and again in Smyrna, in Constantinople and again in Smyrna, at the Girls' School of Agia Fotini, where, in fact, during her term as director the first regulations of the Institution were drawn up. According to them, "the purpose of the Girls' School is the lower and, if possible, higher education of girls". The teaching lasts six years and includes the subjects of Greek Language, Religious Studies, Ethics, Mathematics, General History, Geography, Greek and French Calligraphy and Handicrafts. In the operating regulations of the Girls' School, Leontias states precisely how students should behave within the Institution - not to comment, to be quiet, clean, modest, and talkative - but also introduces prohibitory lines for teachers: "The brutal use of spanking or beating or insults or offensive words against any student, regardless of what mistake they make, is strictly prohibited."". In 1877 she will find herself in the position of director of the school "for the middle class and for the education of kindergarten teachers", the Central Higher Girls' School of the Philomousou Society "Pallas".
In the meantime, she is regularly invited to speak at social events. In one of them, on the topic of "The contribution of women to the education of men," she will emphasize: "The upbringing of a daughter is the upbringing of this society; society is born from the family, whose harmony is the woman. She is the phlox of love, she is also the phlox of the hearth."
In addition to being extremely cultured, Leontias is a particularly intelligent female. She knows that battles are won gently and methodically. Under the guise of inferior or different nature, the perceptions of the time highlight the need for a different education for men, from that which is considered necessary for fulfilling the dual role of women. Sappho, however, sees behind this theory a gendered racism, a desire to perpetuate gender inequality, a fear of overthrowing the established social structure. She knows well that in order to win the war, small battles must first be fought in the struggle to upgrade the position of women in the home. And this will not be achieved by shouting and sloganeering. “God created woman to accompany man, to help him and to cooperate with him"It is a violation of the divine command for a woman to deviate from this and limit herself to pleasing him, because in this way her complacency is cultivated and instead of developing her helpful quality, she becomes a lowly object," she states in a speech entitled "On Woman." She is constantly educating herself, teaching, writing, traveling, translating foreign writers and philosophers (her translation of Racine's "Esther", in 1869, is considered the best of all time!)...
The foreign press of the time characterized her as "one of the most learned and intelligent Greek women" and "a distinguished, cultured Greek woman who, in an enslaved country, honors the female gender and Greek letters."
K. PARREN: LEONTIAS WAS THE WISDOMEST EDUCATOR OF THIS CENTURY
In 1870, with her sister, Emilia Ktena, she launched the "women's weekly magazine Eurydice". In the identity of the publication, the founders introduce themselves to their audience: "The goal of Eurydice is to give equal destiny to all spiritual advances of both sexes, without distinction of nation or race, and to advance one step the articulation of women's public discourse."". It is the time when Sappho begins to write an encyclopedia for girls in English, entitled "Chrestomathy for the use of Young Girls». She is now 40 years old, mature, settled, full of experience and wisdom, which she wants to bequeath to the next generation. She aims to publish ten volumes. She manages to publish only three (the 1st volume is published in 1876, the 2nd in 1877 and the 3rd in 1881)…
The 19th century historian Spyridon Deviazis describes Sappho as a workaholic. "Work is for that almost obsession," he notes in his albums, in an observation that oscillates between admiration and envy. In her articles, Leontias always signs with her middle name, taking responsibility for the opinions she expresses and often coming into conflict with defenders of the supremacy of the "stronger sex." Only once does she sign as Sappho Leontias – Kalvokoresis. It is the text with which she bids farewell to her beloved husband.
She is once asked about the emancipation of her gender. “I do not accept the word ‘emancipation’,” she replies and explains: “This word implies the emancipation of a slave, and a woman is by nature equal to a man. She has the same value as him. She is not a slave, she is not submissive.”…»!
In the mid-19th century, the founder of the Hellenic American Lyceum in Syros, Christos Evangelidis, would write about Leontiada in his diary: “Wherever she goes, she captivates everyone with her talent as a speaker. She is gifted with excellent education and admirable beliefs!” In 1883, her love for Greece and her thirst for knowledge and study of the country’s precious ancient treasures would bring her to the sacred rock of Athens. Up here, next to the marble columns of the Parthenon, he will address the "Ode to the glorious city of Athens". On this same trip, she asks to visit the Medrese prison. In an article in "Nea Ephemeris", she notes that the great Sappho Leontias donated a considerable sum of money to the prison foundation for the needs of the needy prisoners.
The "teacher of the nation" will leave in 1890 at the age of 60, having left behind pedagogical manuals, translations, poems and important articles in both "Eurydice" and the publication "The Ladies' Journal". In the obituary that Calliroe Parren will dedicate to her, she will note: "Sappho Leontias was undoubtedly the wisest and most cultured educator of this century"!
Among the works she wrote were: Dramatic Performances Responsible for the Girls' Schools or the Epirus Congress and a Dialogue on the Choir of the Muses, Choral Literacy, Teaching Compositions by Lessons with Examples and Instructions, The Man and the Woman. Three Lectures. Five Poems, etc. One of the important works she translated was Esther by Racine. Many of her works are either dormant or were not published, although their publication had been announced.
Sources:
RES - EAP
https://kypseli.fks.uoc.gr/index.php/pub/view?id=20
https://eliaserver.elia.org.gr/elia/site/content.php?sel=33&showimg=true&firstDt=0&present=343284)
Great Cypriot Encyclopedia
Romantic and Antipositivist Echoes in the Poetic Work of Sappho Leontiada: A First Approach – Louiza Christodoulou. University of the Aegean
Man and Woman, three lectures read at the Hellenic Literary Society and five poems
