Ioannis Sykoutris


Ioannis Sykoutris was a Greek classical philologist and professor at the University of Athens.

Early life and education

Sykoutris was born in 1901 in Smyrna to a very poor family of Chian origin. He graduated in 1918 from the Evangelical School of Smyrna and became a school teacher. In 1919, he went to Athens where he studied at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Athens, graduating in 1922. With the burning of Smyrna in 1922, his family came to Athens.
In 1925, he went to Leipzig and Berlin for further studies and returned to Greece in 1929.

Career

Between 1922 and 1924 he taught philosophy, ancient Greek and modern Greek at the Pancyprian Seminary of Larnaca. He was interested in Cypriot history and ethnography and he travelled across the island to collect material for his research. While in Cyprus, in January 1923, he founded with other literary figures of the time, such as Neoklis Kyriazis and Nikodimos Mylonas, the first Cypriot literary journal, Kypriaka Chronika.
In 1924, he returned to Greece, where he worked in the Philosophiko Spoudastirio. In 1929, he taught at the Arsakeio, subsequently he was employed at the Academy of Athens and finally as a lecturer of Ancient Greek literature at the University of Athens. Some of his favourite students were Antonis Moraitis, and Demetrios Capetanakis.
Together with Simos Menardos, he revived the series of Hellenike Bibliotheke of Adamantios Korais, under the auspices of the Academy of Athens.

Personal life and death

He died by suicide in Corinth in 1937 at the age of 36. It is believed that the reason for his suicide was the backlash of his publication of Plato's Symposium and Sykoutris treatment of homosexuality as a component of classical Greek culture.

Legacy

Sykoutris is considered among the founders of the field of Cyprological studies, together with Athanasios Sakellarios and Konstantinos Sathas. He contributed significantly to the subject of Hellenic and Byzantine studies. His gave his archive from his work in Cyprus to his friend Louis Loizou from Famagusta, and it was lost during the 1974 war.

Publications

  • Συκουτρής, Ιω. Α.. «Τζιυπριώτικα τραούδκια, Λευκοσία 1923 », Κυπριακά Χρονικά, 10, 305–308.
  • Συκουτρής, Ιω. Α.. «Ποιητικόν αίσθημα εν Κύπρω», εφ. Σάλπιγξ, αρ. 2077, 3.
  • Συκουτρής, Ιω. Α.. «Ποιητικόν αίσθημα εν Κύπρω», εφ. Σάλπιγξ, αρ. 2078.
  • Συκουτρής, Ι. . Επιστημονική Επετηρίς της Φιλοσοφικής Σχολής του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, Περίοδος Α΄ Τόμος 1, 109–145.
  • Sykutris, J.. Ein neues Papiaszitat, Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Älteren Kirche, 26, 210–212.
  • Sykutris, J.., Hermes, 62, 1, 24–53.
  • Sykutris, J.. Solon und Soloi, Philologus, 83, 1–4, 445–449.
  • Sykutris, J.. . Hermes, 63, 4, 110–111.
  • Sykutris, J.. . Hermes, 63, 2, 241–258.
  • Sykutris, J.. Zum Geschichtswerk des Psellos, Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 30, 1, 61–67.
  • Sykutris, J. Die Briefe des Sokrates und der Sokratiker.
  • . Πλάτωνος, Συμπόσιον, κείμενον, μετάφρασις και ερμηνεία υπό Ι. Συκουτρή, Ακαδημία Αθηνών, Ελληνική Βιβλιοθήκη, Αθήναι.
  • Συκουτρής, I.. . Νέα Εστία, 18, 99–1000.
  • Συκουτρής, I.. . Αθήναι.
  • . Αριστοτέλους περί ποιητικής / μετάφρασις υπό Σίμου Μενάρδου; εισαγωγή, κείμενον και ερμηνεία υπό Ι. Συκουτρή Αθήναι: Ιωάννης Δ. Κολλάρος Βιβλιοπωλείον της Εστίας,