Adamantios Korais - Life and Views

Life and Views

Korais was born in Smyrna, in 1748. He was exceptionally passionate about philosophy, literacy and linguistics and studied greatly throughout his youth. He initially studied in his home place, where he graduated from the Evangelical Greek School. As an adult Korais traveled to Paris where he would continue his enthusiasm for knowledge. He translated ancient Greek authors and produced thirty volumes of those translations.

Korais graduated from the famous school of medicine of the University of Montpellier in 1788 and was to spend most of his life as an expatriate in Paris. A classical scholar, Korais was repelled by the Byzantine influence in Greek society and was a fierce critic of the ignorance of the clergy and their subservience to the Ottoman Empire, although he conceded it was the Orthodox Church that preserved the national identity of Greeks.

While in Paris, he was witness to the French Revolution. He was influenced by the revolutionary and liberal sentiments of his age. He admired Thomas Jefferson; and exchanged political and philosophical thoughts with the American statesman. A typical man of the Enlightenment, Korais encouraged wealthy Greeks to open new libraries and schools throughout Greece. Korais believed that education would ensure not only the achievement of independence but also the establishment of a proper constitution for the new liberated Greek state. He envisioned a democratic Greece, recapturing the glory of the Golden Age of Pericles.

Korais died in Paris aged 84 soon after publishing the first volume of his autobiography. In 1877, his remains were sent to Greece, to be buried there.