page_title: Geographia Neoteriki
section_title: Popularity
hierarchical_section_title: Geographia Neoteriki / Popularity
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover of Ch. 1 of Geograpghia Neoteriki by D. Philippidis, G. Konstantas, 1791 Ελληνικά: Εξώφυλλο του Βιβλίου 1 της Νεωτερικής Γεωγραφίας, Δ. Φιλιππίδη, Γρ. Κωνσταντά, 1791
context_page_description: Geographia Neoteriki is a geography book written in Greek by Daniel Philippidis and Grigorios Konstantas and printed in Vienna in 1791. It focused on both the physical and human geography features of the European continent and especially on Southeastern Europe, and is considered one of the most remarkable works of the modern Greek Enlightenment. The authors of the Geographia Neoteriki adopted new geographical methodologies for that time, which were primarily based on personal examination of the described areas and used as sources a number of contemporary European handbooks.
  The work, written in a vernacular language, also described the contemporary social developments and expressed ideas that were considered revolutionary and anticlerical, and addressed the political and economic decay of the Ottoman Empire. Geographia Neoteriki was welcomed with enthusiasm by western intellectual circles, especially in France, but on the other hand, it was largely neglected by Greek scholars.
context_section_description: In general, Geographia Neoteriki, was welcomed with enthusiasm by western intellectual circles. Jean-Baptiste-Gaspard d'Ansse de Villoison, professor of modern Greek in the Ecole des Langues Orientales Vivantes, used it as a textbook for his students. French geographer Barbie du Bocage published a review after the book's publication along with a translated passage. Moreover, travellers who published accounts during the early 19th century, frequently cited the text. François Pouqueville, William Martin Leake, Henry Holland, and Lord Byron mentioned this work, and used it as a source of information. The book also enjoyed some popularity in the non Greek regions of the Balkan peninsula, while 19th century Bulgarian authors of geographic textbooks used it as a model.
  On the other hand, especially due to the vernacular language used, this work was largely neglected among the Greek scholars, especially by Adamantios Korais and Dimitrios Katartzis, and was never used as an academic work, or even as a school textbook. It was also negatively received by the Church hierarchy, as well as conservative Greek scholars, due to the vernacular language it used and the liberal views it expressed. It is worth noting that the work's linguistic form disappointed even Dimitrios Katartzis, the intellectual mentor of the two authors, while Philippidis himself, never used such vernacular style language again in his future works. However, Geographia Neoteriki inspired a number of similar geographical works published in Greece during the 19th century.
caption: Chapter 1: Earth
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