Hermes o Logios
Hermes o Logios, also known as Logios Ermis was a Greek periodical printed in Vienna, Austria, from 1811 to 1821. It is regarded as the most significant and longest running periodical of the period prior to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence, containing contributions by key scholars and intellectuals. Hermes o Logios aimed at creating intellectual contacts between the Greek communities of the Ottoman Empire and the Diaspora in Western Europe, as well as the preparing national awakening of the Greek people.
The periodical started its circulation after a proposal by Adamantios Korais, a leading figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, who had stressed the need of a printed medium, written in vernacular Greek. This initiative was supported by the Philological Society in Bucharest, an organization consisting of Greek intellectuals. Hermes o Logios reflected the style of other European periodicals of early 19th century and reviewed developments in arts and sciences, being an important channel for bringing contemporary intellectual movements to the attention of the Greeks that lived in the Ottoman Empire. It was closed down by the Austrian authorities when the Greek War of Independence broke out.
Background
During the 18th century the ideals of the Western European Enlightenment and the French Revolution became widely known to the Greek scholars. They soon realized the potential of these new ideals, and especially of popular freedom and sovereignty for their own national struggle against Ottoman rule. Adamantios Korais, a humanist scholar and leading figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment, had stressed the desirability of a printed medium, written in the vernacular language, in order to spread these ideas to the Greek people, that lived in the Ottoman Empire and the Diaspora in Western Europe as well. Korais explained about the necessity of a periodical that would gather material from political and philological newspapers of the enlightened peoples of Europe and contain reports from Ottoman-ruled Greece. He also stressed that this should be edited by a man of learning, and proposed that his friend Anthimos Gazis, scholar and Orthodox priest in Vienna, would be the most suitable person.Vienna became the right place for such an initiative, since it was already the most important publishing centre for the Greek diaspora. In 1783 the Austrian Emperor had authorized the free printing of Greek books in the city, while in 1790 the first Greek newspaper, named Ephimeris, was published there.
History
Establishment (1811–1813)
Hermes o Logios was established with the support of the Philological Society in Bucharest, an organization consisting of Greek intellectuals headed by the local Greek Orthodox Bishop, Ignatios II. The Society's goals, as published in the first issue of the periodical, were "the awakening to the progress of learning" and "the cultivation of the newer Greek language". Apart from Hermes o Logios, the Society supervised also a Greek-language school, financed translations of schoolbooks into modern Greek and provided scholarships for students to study abroad. Ignatios has already stated the need for a philological newspaper, in which each man of learning could publish his ideas, adding that "This is what the wise man Korais advises us to do and he has wisely chosen a worthy man, archimandrite Anthimos Gazis". The members of the Society then all agreed to cover part of the printing expenses.The first issue of Hermes o Logios was published on January 1, 1811, under the full title Ἑρμῆς ὁ Λόγιος, ἥ Φιλολογικαί Ἀγγελίαι. In the first three years of its existence, Hermes o Logios appeared twice a month and each issue usually consisted of 16 pages. In April 1813, Anthimos Gazis left Vienna and the editorship of the periodical was taken over by Theoklitos Farmakidis, another priest and an even more fanatical supporter of Korais.
Crisis and revival (1814–1820)
Hermes o Logios faced serious financial problems during this period. When the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812 ended, Ignatios was forced to resign and leave Bucharest and its main sponsor, the Philological Society, ceased to exist. In an announcement published as an appendix to the issues of 1813, Alexandros Vasileiou, a supporter of Korais and influential personality within the Greek community of Vienna, states this fact, as well as that the periodical had too few subscribers. He therefore called on all readers to canvass for new subscribers; moreover he called upon all scholars to send in their contributions.During the period 1814–1815, Hermes o Logios reached an absolute low, with seven issues in 1814 and only one in 1815, which consisted of 16 pages written by Korais and directed against his ideological adversary, the conservative scholar, Neophytos Doukas. On the other hand, Gazis returned. In the following years, however, the periodical was subsidized by the princes of Moldavia, Scarlat Callimachi and Michael Soutzos. Apart from the difficulties faced, 1816 was a turning point, as two scholars and adherents of Korais, Theoklitos Farmakidis and Konstantinos Kokkinakis, were placed in charge. Consequently, Hermes o Logios actually became an outlet for Korais and continued to appear without interruption until the Greek War of Independence.