Constantine Sathas | |
|---|---|
 Photo in Hestia magazine, 1894 | |
| Born | 1842 Athens |
| Died | May 25, 1914 (aged 71–72) Paris |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Occupation(s) | Historian, researcher |
Constantine Sathas (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Σάθας; Athens, 1842 – Paris, 25 May 1914)[1] was a Greek historian and researcher.
Sathas spent his life unearthing hitherto unknown material pertaining to the history of late medieval and early modern Greece that he later published. He researched archives in Greece, Constantinople (now Istanbul), Venice and Florence. In 1900, he moved to Paris, where he lived until his death.
Many of the numerous documents he brought to light still remain primary sources of information. It can be argued that his work was never fully appreciated and some of his views are regarded eccentric nowadays.[2] Yet, he carried out groundbreaking work and has been considered as the best historian of Greece in the 19th century.[3] He published the first editions of the Cypriot Medieval chronicles of Leontios Machairas and Georgios Boustronios.
- ^ R., S. (1914). "Constantin Sathas". Revue Archéologique. 23: 429–430. ISSN 0035-0737. JSTOR 41033737.
- ^ Siniossoglou, Niketas (2011). Radical Platonism in Byzantium. Cambridge University Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 9781107013032.
It is worth evoking here the pioneering theory of Konstantinos Sathas regarding the survival of pagan Hellenism within Byzantium. Sathas did not maintain that paganism ultimately shaped the Christian mysteries from inside, as Protestant and deist philosophers had done. Rather, Sathas, nowadays considered eccentric and very rarely (if at all) remembered by modern Byzantinists, argued in favour of a covert pagan movement operating within the Christian Empire and bowing to clerical hegemony while maintaining its own distinct identity.
- ^ Thompson, James Westfall; Holm, Bernard J. (1942). A History of Historical Writing. New York: Macmillan. p. 643.
The best historian of Greece in the last century was Constantine Sathas