Diasporas Circulations, migrations, histoire

29 | 2017 Mobilités créatrices

Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century: Shifting Identities and the Production of Knowledge across Borders Voyageurs grecs en Europe orientale à la fin du XVIIIe siècle : glissements d’identité et production de savoir par-delà les frontières

Manolis Patiniotis and Sakis Gekas

Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/diasporas/697 DOI: 10.4000/diasporas.697 ISSN: 2431-1472

Publisher Presses universitaires du Midi

Printed version Date of publication: 7 September 2017 Number of pages: 17-32 ISBN: 978-2-8107-0524-5 ISSN: 1637-5823

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Electronic reference Manolis Patiniotis and Sakis Gekas, « Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century: Shifting Identities and the Production of Knowledge across Borders », Diasporas [Online], 29 | 2017, Online since 14 December 2017, connection on 10 May 2018. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/ diasporas/697 ; DOI : 10.4000/diasporas.697

Diasporas – Circulations, migrations, histoire est mis à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution - Pas d'Utilisation Commerciale - Pas de Modification 4.0 International. Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century: Shifting Identities and the Production of Knowledge across Borders

Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas

his paper will follow and contextualize of the many diverging epistemic endea- the itineraries of two Greek-speaking in- vors that marked the early life of modern dividuals of the Eastern Mediterranean. . What gave this discourse its parti- Eugenios Voulgaris (1716-1806) and cular character was that it epitomized the Μarinos Harbouris (1729-1782) both came life and career expectations of a man who from the Ionian Islands and followed sim- was continuously on the move. In trying ilar paths in their search for social accom- to bridge diferent philosophical, religious plishment, a search that brought them to and political visions, Voulgaris crossed a the court of . In an era variety of intellectual environments, and of vivid intellectual activity, the two men’s his travels point to the importance of knowledge quests played signiicant roles circulation as a condition of knowledge in their mobility patterns: both present- production. ed themselves to the Empress as agents of Marinos Harbouris’ intellectual trajectory useful and reliable knowledge. At the same was diferent. He achieved Europe-wide time, however, they represented radically fame when in 1769 he published his report diferent perceptions of what such knowl- on how he had engineered and executed a edge would be about. plan to transport a 2,000-ton stone to serve Eugenios Voulgaris was a man of let- as the base for a statue of Peter the Great ters, and he paved his way to Catherine’s in . he achievement ear- court by literary work, translations and ned Harbouris international acclaim and an intricate git exchange. In Greek his- Russian titles but small inancial gain, so toriography he is known for renovating he put his entrepreneurial mind to other philosophy and as the author of treatises ventures. His ambitious plans involved in , logic, literature, religious transplanting crops and colonial plants studies and , which such as indigo, sugar cane and cofee to shaped 18th-century Greek intellectual his native Cephalonia. He proceeded with life. His work brought together the at- the implementation of his plan under the tainment of the Enlightenment with the auspices of the Russian Empress and with neo-Aristotelian philosophy that had do- the approval of the Venetian authorities. minated Greek intellectual life since the Together with a French entrepreneur, he early 17th century. he scientiic discourse elaborated cultivation and manufacturing resulting from this synthesis formed one methods for the transplanted colonial

Diasporas 29 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas species – a very diferent kind of useful and I actually owe the few lights I currently reliable knowledge than that produced by possess1.” Voulgaris. Voulgaris’ fame remained intact for more he paper aims to show that, although the than a century. He authored books on kind of knowledge produced arose from metaphysics and logic, literature and the- diferent pursuits and ields, in both cases it ology, history and politics, and, most was the result of the simultaneous circula- importantly, some of the most inluen- tion of people, local intellectual traditions tial scientiic treatises of his time. hese and material objects and that the extended treatises attempted to merge the attain- patronage and commercial networks of ments of modern European thought with the time enabled individuals to re-invent the neo-Aristotelian philosophy that had themselves as agents of a new ethos that dominated Greek intellectual life since foreshadowed an equally multifaceted the early 17th century2. In the late 1940s, modernity. however, when historian Constantinos Dimaras (1904-1992) coined the idea of the Crossing borders, mediating “Neohellenic Enlightenment” as a period that marked the linking of 18th-century cultures Greek society with the European (partic- ularly French) Enlightenment, Voulgaris’ Eugenios Voulgaris was one of the most place on the intellectual map changed erudite 18th-century Greek-speaking scho- drastically. For Dimaras, Voulgaris was a lars. According to contemporary evidence, progressive scholar who grew conserva- he was the person who decisively contribu- tive as he got older and more established3; ted to the revival of Greek philosophy and for other historians, he was a transition- its synchronization with the new currents al igure who could not fully appreciate of thought arriving from Europe. In 1803, (1748-1833), a scholar who is considered by most Greek historians 1. Αδαμάντιος Κοραής, Υπόμνημα περί της παρούσης the most representative igure of the Greek καταστάσεως του πολιτισμού εν Ελλάδι, συνταχθέν Enlightenment, commented on Voulgaris’ μεν Γαλλιστί και αναγνωσθέν εις την εταιρίαν των inluence: ανθρωποτηρητών (τη 6 Ιανουαρίου 1803), μεταφρασθέν δε υπό Αναστασίου Κωνσταντινίδου [Mémoire sur l’état “his most honorable prelate is today actuel de la civilisation en Grèce, lu à la Société des the foremost igure among the learned Observateurs de l’homme, le 16 Nivôse, an XI (6 janvier people of the nation. He is one of the irst 1803)], Athens, 1833, p. 18. Another author who testiies who actively contributed to the moral to Voulgaris’ importance is Constantinos Koumas (1777- 1836), who is also considered a major representative of the transformation, which is still in pro- Enlightenment in the Greek intellectual life of the time. gress among the Greeks. And I wish to See: Κωνσταντίνος Μ. Κούμας, Ιστορία των Ανθρωπίνων emphasize the debt of the nation to him πράξεων [History of human afairs], v. 12, , 1832, as eagerly as I wish to eternally remem- p. 559-564. ber the excitement caused by the publi- 2. Γεώργιος Αινιάν, Συλλογή ανεκδότων συγγραμμάτων cation of his logic in my soul when I was του αοιδήμου Ευγενίου του Βουλγάρεως καί τινων άλλων still young; and it is to this excitement μετατυπωθέντων [A collection of unpublished writings of the most unforgettable Eugenios Voulgaris and some more of his writings reprinted], 2 vols., Athens, 1838. 3. Κωνσταντίνος Θ. Δημαράς, Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός [Neohellenic Enlightenment] (6th edition), Athens, Ερμής, 1993, p. 15.

18 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century

European scientiic progress because of his his eforts to establish himself in a variety inability to distance himself from the phil- of social, intellectual and political environ- osophical and theological commitments of ments across a changing Europe. In this re- his native cultural context4. Voulgaris was spect, his travels may serve as an example the hero of an unfulilled modernization. of how the circulation of people contribut- On closer examination, however, Voulgaris ed to the production of new knowledge and turns out to be quite typical of an era char- the institutionalization of modern science. acterized by “multiple engagements” and We can divide his travels into three phases. the agency of “polycentric communication During the irst phase, he traveled to Italy networks5”. His work epitomizes the life and within the Balkans, keeping an eye and career expectations of a man who was on the latest developments in natural phi- not a narrowly trained and acutely oriented losophy. Intellectually, he clearly moved “scientist”, but who instead moved in a va- westward. Ater a much disputed stay in riety of intellectual environments and tried the University of Padua, Voulgaris estab- to bridge diferent philosophical and polit- lished himself as a renowned teacher of ical visions. Like many scholars of his time, higher philosophical courses in schools Voulgaris was a “go-between6”, and placing founded and funded by rich merchants in his story in the historiographical context of Epirus, Western Macedonia, circulation helps elucidate signiicant parts and Constantinople7. He represents a new of his intellectual agenda, parts that usually generation of scholars who claimed social go unnoticed by contemporary historians. power on the basis of their intellectual Voulgaris traveled and wrote a lot, and skills. his endeavor required overcoming like many of his contemporary European the limitations of traditional philosophical scholars, he was involved in a broad set of teachings and creating a new discourse in intellectual pursuits, but his goal was nei- which the attainments of the new natural ther the search for scientiic knowledge nor philosophy came to terms with the prereq- its circulation. Instead these resulted from uisites of the local philosophical and reli- gious traditions. In the period from 1742 to 4. Παναγιώτης Κονδύλης, Ο Νεοελληνικός Διαφωτισμός: 1762, Voulgaris produced the greatest part Οι φιλοσοφικές ιδέες [Neohellenic Enlightenment: of his scientiic work. He compiled text- he philosophical ideas], Athens, Θεμέλιο, 1988. See, books based on some of the most import- also: Ευάγγελος Π. Παπανούτσος (ed.), Νεοελληνική ant philosophical and natural philosoph- Φιλοσοφία [Neohellenic Philosophy], vol. 1, Athens, Αετός, 1953, p. 28; Νίκος Ψημμένος (ed.), Η Ελληνική Φιλοσοφία ical works of his time (including, among από το 1453 ως το 1821 [Neohellenic Philosophy from 1453 others, the works of Wilhem ’sGravesande, to 1821], vol. 2, Η επικράτηση της νεωτερικής φιλοσοφίας Petrus van Musschenbroek, Samuel Clarke, [he prevalence of modern philosophy], Athens, Γνώση, Émilie du Châtelet, and, 1989, p. 32. of course, and ). 5. Mark Harrison, “Science and the British Empire”, Isis, 96, 2005, p. 56-63, p. 63. See also, Lissa Roberts, “Situating science in global history: Local exchanges and networks of circulation”, Itinerario, XXXIII, 2009, p. 9-30 and Manolis Patiniotis, “Between the local and the global: 7. Κωνσταντίνος Κούμας, Ιστορία…, op. cit., p. 559- History of science in the European periphery meets post- 561; Γεώργιος Αινιάν, Συλλογή…, οp. cit., p. ιγ΄-ιδ΄; colonial studies”, Centaurus, 55, 2013, p. 361-384. Κωνσταντίνος Χατζόπουλος, Ελληνικά σχολεία στην 6. Simon Schafer, Lissa Roberts, Kapil Raj, James περίοδο της οθωμανικής κυριαρχίας (1453-1821) [Greek Delbourgo (eds.), he Brokered World: Go-Betweens and schools in the period of the Ottoman rule (1453-1821)], Global Intelligence, 1770-1820, Sagamore Beach, Science hessaloniki, Βάνιας, 1991, p. 94; Άλκης Αγγέλου, Των History Publications, 2009. Φώτων [Of the Lights], Athens, Ερμής, 1963, p. 111-132.

19 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas

His intellectual production was primari- formalized his plan to pursue the patron- ly aimed at securing a position in the pa- age of the Russian court. So in 1764 we ind tronage networks of the emerging Greek him supervising an ambitious publishing society. he commercial social groups of project. was still his focus and the South-Western Balkans as well as the the irst books he put forward were intend- conservative but Europeanized ed for teachers and students involved in of Constantinople tended to sponsor schol- Greek higher education. At the same time, ars who were involved with modern phi- he started building a network of relation- losophy and who experimented with ed- ships that would lead his career outside the ucational programs that transcended the limits of the . He met with narrow Aristotelian curricula. However, the mathematician Andreas von Segner neither scholars nor their intended patrons (1704-1777) and translated into Greek – to had reached a consensus on a new intellec- the great surprise and disappointment of tual identity. Instead they debated a variety his contemporaries9 – his Elementa arith- of educational patterns that relected their meticae et geometriae. When, some years diverging visions for the future of the de- later, Voulgaris departed for Catherine’s caying Ottoman Empire. Within this at- court, Segner provided him with an in- mosphere, Voulgaris like many of his con- troductory letter addressed to his friend temporaries, focused on the new natural Leonard Euler (1707-1783), a renowned philosophy as a means to enrich the exeget- member of the Saint Petersburg Imperial ical power of the established Aristotelian Academy10. tradition through the methodological at- While in Leipzig, the variety of Voulgaris’ tainments of modern empiricism8. intellectual interests was relected in the va- Notwithstanding his ambitious intellec- riety of his publications. Surprisingly, how- tual agenda, Voulgaris did not succeed ever, the work that eventually marked his in establishing himself in the center of new orientation was a legal code. Around the Eastern world. Unlike his contem- 1770, Voulgaris met the Orlov brothers poraries whose careers culminated in (Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, (1734-1783) Constantinople, Voulgaris was unable to and Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, (1737- settle down for long. Ater intense dis- 1808), Catherine’s military courtiers, who agreements with the environment of the were then working to foment an uprising Ecumenical Patriarchate, he departed for of the Ottoman Empire’s Christian popu- central Europe to start a second career. lations. hrough them, Voulgaris became Fairly early in this second phase, Voulgaris aware of Empress’ desire to have the Nakaz, began to perceive Catherine the Great as an the legal code she wished to put into efect alternative patron within the delicate bal- in the Russian Empire that would result ance of powers of the Orthodox world. But from the Russian-Ottoman wars, trans- when he arrived in Leipzig, he hadn’t yet lated into Greek. Voulgaris not only trans- lated the Nakaz but also enriched it with a

8. Manolis Patiniotis, “Eclecticism and appropriation of the new scientiic methods by the Greek-speaking 9. Άλκης Αγγέλου (ed.), Ιωσήπου του Μοισιόδακος, scholars in the Ottoman Empire”, in Feza Günergun, Απολογία [Apologia of Iosipos Misiodax], Athens, Ερμής, Dhruv Raina (eds.), Science between Europe and Asia: 1992, p. 42-43. Historical Studies on the Transmission, Adoption and 10. Stephen K. Batalden, Catherine II’s Greek Prelate. Adaptation of Knowledge, Dordrecht-Heidelberg- Eugenios Voulgaris in Russia, 1771-1806, New York, London-New York, Springer, 2011, p. 193-206. Columbia University Press, 1982, p. 15.

20 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century

Figure 1: he bilingual edition of Nakaz containing Voulgaris’ translation.

21 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas preface addressed to the Greek-speaking academy, he would be able to further his Orthodox populations of the Ottoman scientiic pursuits. Evidence suggests that Empire (ig. 1). Not only did he praise the he did not realize this ambition; if he did, virtues of enlightened despotism, he also the extent is unknown. But we know (and described Catherine as the mother who this is the second instance attesting to would unite the Orthodox nation irrespec- his interest in the ) that in 1776, tive of the ethnic diferences among the the same year he departed for , he various populations11. was elected an honorary member of the his was his ticket for the third phase, Russian Academy of Sciences in absentia. which started in the early 1770s in Saint he third instance is an enigmatic one, Petersburg. Voulgaris spent the rest of his whose exact circumstances it has been dif- life as a member of the Russian court, tra- icult to trace. In 1788, while he still was in veling within Russia, but never going back Southern Ukraine, he was elected a foreign to central Europe or to the Greek-speaking member of the Royal Society of London, areas of the Ottoman Empire. Upon his then headed by Sir Joseph Banks (1734- arrival, he quickly ascended to the throne 1820)13. Clearly Voulgaris continued to be of Archbishop of Slavensk and . In acknowledged as a “man of science” and 1776, he traveled to Poltava to take over the to suggest his intention to remain active in diocese and supervise the establishment of this area, since it is unlikely that he would the Greek-speaking populations who had be designated a member of the Russian moved there ater the unsuccessful uprising Academy and the Royal Society of London the Orlovs had incited in the Peloponnese. without his involvement. Due to political disagreements, he resigned However, he did not produce any scientiic three years later, but he remained in the work during the years he spent in Russia. area until the late 1780s, when he returned Before departing for Poltava, he mainly to Saint Petersburg to spend the rest of his translated and composed political trea- long and proliic life12. tises intended to promote Catherine’s im- Although during his second career in age as an Enlightenment persona and the Russia Voulgaris seemed to have given up powerful ruler who would guarantee the his scientiic pursuits, we should not see post-Ottoman European balance of pow- that as a lack of interest. Indeed, there are er14. While in Poltava, he turned his at- at least three instances that testify to the tention toward religious issues, apparently contrary. As mentioned, when Voulgaris connected to the ideological consolidation let Leipzig, he obtained a letter of recom- of the Greek-speaking populations who mendation to the famous mathematician had moved there. He translated the guid- Leonard Euler. It seems that he initially ing text of the Russian Holy Synod, the thought that in Saint Petersburg, in the Spiritual Regulation of Feofan Prokopovich fertile environment of the famous local (1681-1736)15 into Greek. When he moved

11. Άλκης Αγγέλου, Των Φώτων Β΄: Όψεις του Νεοελληνικού Διαφωτισμού [Of the Lights, B: Aspects of 13. Γεωργία Πέτρου, “O Ευγένιος Βούλγαρης (1716- the Neohellenic Enlightenment], Athens, Μορφωτικό 1806) και η Βασιλική Εταιρεία του Λονδίνου” [Eugenios Ίδρυμα Εθνικής Τραπέζης, 1999, p. 68-69; Stephen K. Voulgaris (1716-1806) and the Royal Society of London], Batalden, Catherine II’s Greek Prelate…, op. cit., p. 29. Νεύσις, 10, 2001, p. 181-198. 12. here is a detailed exposition of Voulgaris’ life and 14. Stephen K. Batalden, Catherine II’s Greek Prelate…, travels in the Russian Empire in Stephen K. Batalden, op. cit., p. 29 and note 71. Catherine II’s Greek Prelate…, op. cit. 15. Ibid., p. 45-46.

22 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century to Kherson, he turned to philological work, the religious dimension of natural philo- translating Virgil’s . He dedicat- sophy by linking the traditional philoso- ed the translation to Catherine’s protégé phical views of Nature with his contem- Grigorii Potemkin (1739-1791), the pow- porary natural theology; on the other, he erful man of Novorosiya, hoping for his crossed the borders between two diferent support for the revival of local Greek com- Churches in order to achieve a higher de- munities16. A few years later, another trans- gree of state-guaranteed integrity for his lation of Virgil helped Voulgaris re-enter Orthodox faith. the St. Petersburg intellectual scene. In In the end, it was this highly interme- 1791, the Russian Academy published his diate status that allowed Voulgaris to best translation of the Aeneid, a work that was express the intellectual and political ambi- apparently aimed at providing an illustri- guities of the emerging Greek society. hus ous historical background for the Russian it is hardly surprising that in 1805, aged Empire’s expansionist ambitions17. 90, and just one year from his death, he Voulgaris had been indulging for a long ensured that all the major natural philoso- time in theology, philology and, above phical works he had compiled or transla- all, politics. It would thus be reasonable to ted between 1742 and 1762 went to press. assume that his impact on Greek scientiic As soon as Voulgaris stopped traveling, life was limited. Not only was this not the his works started inscribing their own case, in fact it was the development of his trajectories contributing to the formation proile as a leading political and religious of a national consciousness, undoubtedly igure that gave his scientiic work its si- beyond the intentions of their author, but gniicance. Indeed, what made Voulgaris in accordance with the expectations of the representative of his time was his function social groups who gradually took the lead as an intermediate individual. He crossed of the emergent Greek society. a variety of social environments and bridged diferent philosophical and politi- cal visions. In the realm of philosophy and The two careers and tragic science, Voulgaris assimilated the attain- life of Marinos Harbouris ments of the Enlightenment into his native neo-Aristotelian context. his deprived he story of Marinos Harbouris reveals them of their inherent , but lin- the transfer and circulation of useful and ked them with the crucial goal of securing reliable technical knowledge by scholars the integrity and continuation of philoso- from the Ionian Islands; the importance of phy. In the realm of politics, he combined the Russian court as a centre of application his native cultural heritage with the vision of knowledge; and the role of Paris in the of an Orthodox empire where the Greek difusion of knowledge and the expansion culture and language would enjoy a dis- of Russian inluence in the Mediterranean tinct position. In the realm of religion, he as knowledge acquired elsewhere was combined his Orthodox faith with both his transmitted from St Petersburg to Paris philosophical and his political concerns. and from there to Cefalonia. he story of On the one hand, he attempted to revive Harbouris tells us how mobility contribut- ed to the transfer of knowledge irst from 16. Ibid., p. 72. and then to the Ionian Islands, when the 17. Ibid., p. 80; Άλκης Αγγέλου, Των Φώτων Β΄…, op. cit., Mediterranean became a ield of techni- p. 248-249. cal experimentation similar to ventures

23 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas in overseas colonies18. Harbouris also some of the attention he deserves21. Beyond played a role in Russian involvement in the biographical, stories such as Harbouris’ the Mediterranean in the late 18th century serve a broader educational purpose in as an indirect agent of Russian interests, a the context of global histories of mobili- representative of Russian “sot power” af- ty, innovation and the social and political ter the arrival of the Russian navy in the conditions that foster or inhibit the trans- Mediterranean and the failed Orlov rebel- planting of knowledge and product and lion of 1770. process innovations. Harbouris lived in a Although Harbouris acquired considera- Greek-Venetian-Russian world or network ble fame in his lifetime, only recently has that transcended conventionally deined his story come to the attention of Greek east/west boundaries. Such an approach historians. In 1843, Anthimos Mazarakis allows new historical actors to emerge in included Harbouris in his biographies of the history of science, actors who were “illustrious men of the island of Cefalonia”, scholars, but also adventurers, career-seek- and the 1999 reprint made historians ers and men motivated by their science, art of the Ionian Islands become aware of or excellence in letters. hese mobile actors him19. Harbouris’ life story also inspired applied knowledge acquired in one place both a novel, “he Brothers Carburi” by to questions and situations encountered Petrie Harbouri (2001) and an animat- elsewhere. ed short ilm that focuses on Harbouris’ For both Voulgaris and Harbouris, Russia 1770 Russian engineering achievement20. played a prominent role across their lives. Recently historians have given Harbouris here was a Greek diaspora of intellectuals and oicers living in and working for the Russian Imperial Court – this included a group from the Ionian Islands, which helps explain the fascinating twists of Marinos 18. For the concept of useful and reliable knowledge Harbouris’s life. Following an alliance with in the context of the growing ield of Global History, the Ottoman Empire, in 1799 Russia took see Ian Inkster, “Potentially global: ‘useful and reliable knowledge’ and material progress in Europe, 1474-1914”, over the protection of the Ionian Islands he International History Review, 28-2, 2006, p. 237-286; and established the irst semi-independent Patrick O’Brien, “Historical foundations for a global state, the . Before this perspective on the emergence of a western European formal takeover, however the Russians had regime for the discovery, development, and difusion of useful and reliable knowledge”, Journal of Global expanded their inluence in various ways, History, 8, 2013, p. 1-24; Simona Valeriani, “he making including instigating insubordination and of useful knowledge in Europe, 1400-1800”, in Patrick rebellion among the Greeks in the Morea O’Brien (ed.), Useful and Reliable Knowledge in the East (Peloponnese and the islands). A number and the West, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, of Greek-speaking scholars had careers in forthcoming. the imperial Russian court as diplomats, 19. Βιογραφίαι των ενδόξων ανδρών της νήσου Κεφαλληνίας συγγραφείσαι υπό Ανθίμου Μαζαράκη Ιερέως, Εν Βενετία 1843 [Biographies of illustrious men of 21. Virgilio Giormani, Maria Cecilia Ghetti, “Marino the island of Cefalonia, by the priest Anthimos Mazarakis, Carburi (Cefalonia, 1729-1782): Un avventuriero Venice, 1843], (reprinted by Βιβλιοπωλείο Νότη Καραβία, onorato”, Studi Veneziani, LVI, 2008, p. 361-473, and their Athens, 1999). previous works “Alcuni aspetti della vita del cefaleno 20. Petrie Harbouri, he Brothers Carburi, Bloomsbury, Marino Carburi (1729-1782)” in the Proceedings of the London, 2002. he ilm can be seen at: https://www. VIth International Panionian Congress, Zakynthos, 23- youtube.com/watch?v=_o_nvfQ-3B0 (accessed 4 October 27 September 1997, Athens, Center for Ionian Studies, 2016). Society for Zakynthian Studies, 2001, p. 337-348.

24 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century merchants and army oicers. heir stories immigrants from Cefalonia. Michael not only explain why Harbouris moved Skiadas was born in Argostoli in 1740 or to the Russian court in the irst place and 1742. He travelled irst to Russia, then how he settled there, they also provide the studied Medicine, heology, Physics and context for Catherine the Great’s support Mathematics in Leiden, briely stayed in for his venture in Cefalonia. Paris and returned to Moscow ater ten he connection of the Greek intellectual years. Skiadas was appointed professor life with Russia predated the 18th centu- of Physiology, Pathology and General ry. Following their studies in Venice and Medicine at the Moscow Medical School Padua, the monk brothers Sofronios and in 1765. Ioannikos Leichoudes were sent by the he person most connected to Harbouris Patriarch of Constantinople to Russia in was Petros Melissinos (1726-1796). Born 1685 to teach rhetoric and Greek at the in Russia, Melissinos studied engineering Moscow Academy. Iakovos Pylarinos in Moscow and physics and mathemat- (1659-1718) studied Law and Medicine ics in Paris, but followed a military ca- in Padua and travelled extensively in the reer. Together with Marinos Harbouris, Ottoman Empire, the Balkans, Crete, and he helped Georgios Papazolis convince Constantinople, where he served as doctor the Orlov brothers to start their cam- to the Prince of Wallachia, Kantakouzinos, paign in the Ottoman Empire. Marinos eventually ending up in Russia as one of Harbouris was therefore one of the many the doctors of Peter the Great. Athanasios Ionians (and other Greeks) who settled in Skiadas (1698-1796) also came from Russia for a career. In the early 19th centu- Cefalonia; he studied Philosophy and Law ry, , the most promi- in Italy and was invited by Peter the Great nent Greek Ionian – in 1828 he became the to Russia. Skiadas succeeded Sofronios irst Governor of Greece – achieved a dis- Lykoudis as teacher at the Slavo-Greek- tinguished career in the Russian Foreign Latin Academy of Moscow, studied in Ministry. hus, the personal connections the Russian archives, and introduced re- of Harbouris and the family and profes- forms to the Russian education system22. sional networks of Ionian and other Greek- Other Greeks who lived in Russia and speaking scholars signiicantly helped him were close to the court at the time were advance his career prospects in the Russian Georgios Skiadas, Andreas Kassis from environment. Patras, Loukas Vagenas (Vaenas), Nikolaos Marinos Harbouris or Carburi, as he was Rodostamos from and Dimitrios known at the time, was born in Argostoli, Yannakopoulos from Constantinople23. Cefalonia in 1729. Along with his broth- Skiadas studied Medicine and Philosophy er, he studied Physics and Mathematics in Venice and Padua before he returned to in Bologna, but ater his studies there Moscow, where he was appointed person- Harbouris killed his mistress in a it of jeal- al doctor to Empress Elisabeth. He died ousy (Many years later he confessed this in 1803, one of the few second generation in writing, albeit indirectly). He escaped prison by joining the Austrian army for two years. When he moved to Russia in 22. Γ.Α. Λαζάρου, Ι. Λασκαράτος, “Η ιατρική οικογένεια 1763, Petros Melissinos gave him a job in Σκιαδά στη Ρωσία του 18ου αιώνα” [he medical family of Skiadas in 18th-century Russia], Αρχεία Ελληνικής the oice of the French director of the engi- Ιατρικής, 18-1, 2001, p. 80-83. neering department of the military school. 23. Ibid., p. 81. Harbouris thrived; though there are

25 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas conlicting sources on his time in Russia, reached its destination in 1770, ater nearly it is clear that he met Empress Catherine, two years of work. he engineering accom- entered the aristocratic circles of the ad- plishment earned Harbouris internation- ministration and married the daughter of a al acclaim and Russian titles and oices. Foreign Oice minister. Harbouris almost Although he never received the Empress’ certainly met Voulgaris as well as other promised award, he did receive support Greeks in the Russian court. for the plantation works he developed in Information about his time in Russia and Cefalonia. his engineering achievement comes from Ater his wife’s death, in 1777, Harbouris his book and the one written in 1843 by and his children let Russia; when their Mazarakis. When Empress Catherine de- ship sunk in the Baltic, Harbouris lost one cided to erect a statue of Peter the Great of his children and all his belongings. He on a pedestal, Harbouris insisted that moved to Paris and settled with his broth- it be placed on a single stone; he found a er, a physician at the royal court; he spent suitable one fourteen kilometers from St. two years in aristocratic and educational Petersburg. Both the sculptor and the min- circles there and published his account of ister of public works supported the idea, the rock’s transport, with tables and de- and Catherine promised seven thousand signs of instruments used in the process rubles to the man who managed the im- (ig. 2). possible task. Harbouris used all his en- Harbouris’ text tells a story of technical ex- gineering knowledge to lit the huge rock, pertise that let no material trace, except of transport it over land and sea and bring course the rock itself – on which the statue it to St Petersburg on 22 September 1769, of Peter the Great still stands. he intro- at the enormous cost of 70,000 rubles. He duction is quite revealing, as it includes an directed workmen to wait for the ground implied confession about Harbouris’ trou- to freeze, and then had the stone dragged bled life and youth when he committed the over the ice to the sea for shipment and crime that forced him to leave the Venetian transport to the city. his was made possi- Republic for Russia. At that point he was ble by his development of a metallic sledge traveling under an assumed name, having that slid over bronze spheres about 13.5 cm taken the name of his family’s town24. In (6 inches) in diameter, over a track, a de- France, Harbouris became interested in vice that foreshadowed the later invention agricultural progress and innovations. He of ball bearings. Making the feat even more studied agronomy and befriended a French impressive was the fact that no animals or agronomist, and he began looking for an machines were used in bringing the stone entrepreneurial adventure that would ben- from the original site to Senate Square. It eit his native island. Harbouris knew a took 400 men nine months to move the part of the island that was marshland and stone, and during that time master stone- thus seemed unit for cultivation: trusting cutters continuously shaped the enormous his knowledge of engineering, agronomy, granite monolith, their progress overseen natural history and chemistry, he became by Catherine, who visited periodically. convinced that he could grow indigo, Once it arrived at the sea, it was put on an enormous barge that had been construct- ed exclusively for the task; the vessel was 24. Marin Carburi, Monument élevé à la gloire de supported on either side by two full-size Pierre le Grand, ou relation des travaux et des moyens warships. Ater a short voyage, the stone méchaniques, Paris, 1777, p. 3-4.

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Figure 2: he cover of Harbouris’ book published in 1777.

27 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas sugarcane, cofee, rice and other colonial support of Giacomo Nani, the governor of plants there25. Cefalonia and an old friend26. Nani person- Harbouris had two careers: irst he excelled ally inspected Harbouris’ project, view- in the world of Ionian scholars educated ing his “experiments with exotic plants, in Italy, France, Switzerland or Germany among which indigo came to maturity27”. who worked in foreign administration, Nani conveyed Harbouris’ promise to universities and in European courts, par- demonstrate his irst results at the end of ticularly Russia, as doctors and educators. the fourth year and sent a sample of indigo Ater becoming known as a brilliant math- to Venice for approval28. ematician-engineer, Harbouris became a Venetians praised Harbouris and his en- colonial-style agricultural entrepreneur gineering and drainage works. Most in- who transplanted ideas as well as crops: he teresting is the transmission of knowledge successfully navigated Venetian authorities from Paris to Cefalonia, given that cotton and their restrictions, Russian opportuni- was also cultivated. Even in the small area ties and ambitions and the French milieu that was under cultivation, the planting of that accommodated itinerant innovators new crops and draining of the marshland and their adventurous experimenting. he was exceptionally demanding. It was worth second career of Marinos Harbouris is it, however, to Harbouris, as draining the mainly a story of transplant and cultiva- marshland would beneit the health of the tion projects of indigo, sugar, cotton and inhabitants of Livatho as well as potential- cofee, of plants, planters, local politicians, ly improving their income. Harbouris met empires, and markets. “Savants” planters, his business partners Idaster, a musician as chemists and botanists experimented with well as an agronomist, and another French indigo cultivation and manufacturing agronomist Bandu, who was experienced from the 16th through early 20th centuries, in the cultivation of colonial plants, in with the experimentation peaking in the Venice. he fact that the forty workers – a 18th century. considerable workforce for the time – who Harbouris presented his plan to Empress were hired to complete the draining works Catherine, who promised to fund it, ex- came from Laconia raises questions about cited perhaps by the promise of some why foreign workers were “imported”, form of Russian economic penetration in although seasonal migration among the the Mediterranean. hough by then if- Peloponnese and the Ionian Islands was ty years old, Harbouris had remarried in not uncommon. Once the draining was France, and the couple decided to start complete, the buildings for the workers afresh. Once he knew that his crime of at- were constructed and a mill for the sugar tempted murder was no longer investigated cane was built, a simple structure with a and he was pardoned for it, he returned to large cistern for molasses. Cefalonia in 1779, secured the license from On the night of 18 April 1782, about three the Venetian authorities to exploit the years ater the project started, Harbouris, land in Livatho, started building innova- his servants and fellow agronomist Bandu tive drainage works and brought workers were murdered in their house. Harbouris’ from Mani in Laconia to start cultivating wife survived, and led from Cefalonia cotton, indigo and sugarcane. He had the 26. Ibid., p. 379. 25. Virgilio Giormani, Maria Cecilia Ghetti, “Marino 27. Ibid., p. 381. Carburi”, op. cit. 28. Βιογραφίαι των ενδόξων ανδρών, op. cit., p. 157-158.

28 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century ater being treated for serious injuries. She extraordinary life resembles iction ilms. settled in Corfu; fourteen years later she Harbouris created opportunities as he went told her story to Swedish diplomat Pehr along, demonstrating an impressive ability Olof von Asp, but it is through the exhaust- to convince authorities of the feasibility of ive account of Giormani and Ghetti and his plans and using his family and regional their use of Venetian sources that we know networks to achieve his goals. Harbouris, the facts recorded in the long-standing in- one could say, is the personiication of vestigation by the Venetian authorities29. exile transformed into opportunity. Even if Beyond the factual details of what was ap- Cefalonia did not become a plantation eco- parently a premeditated act of revenge for nomy for growing and exporting indigo, the way Harvouris mistreated his workers sugar and cotton, Harbouris’ project might and delayed their pay, the story reveals the have provided a sustainable alternative to attempt to transfer and introduce process the currant monoculture and the resulting and product innovation in an agricultural grain deicit, which in combination with economy that was far from stagnant. the shipping that took of in the 19th cen- Harbouris turned his native island of tury, led to a diversiication of the island’s Cefalonia into a ield of technical experi- economy. mentation known in colonial ventures, but André Grasset de Saint-Sauveur, the little-known in the Mediterranean. His French consul in the Ionian Islands at the project was the most impressive attempt to end of the 18th century, was negative toward introduce cultivation techniques and prod- Harbouri, while Anthimos Mazarakis, uct innovation on the Ionian Islands. he perhaps biased toward a fellow Cefalonian, story also reveals the involvement of Russia corrected the French Consul’s account30. in the Mediterranean in the late 18th centu- Andreas Andreadis, the irst Greek eco- ry and Harbouris’ role as an indirect agent nomic historian, noted that the information of Russian interests, suggesting that Russia on Harbouris was so contradictory that he was using “sot power” even as its navy ar- could not decide whether Harbouris was a rived in the Mediterranean. Harbouris’ ag- “genius slayed or a crook that received the ricultural experiment was entangled with results of his malevolence31”. he extra- international politics and Russia’s desire to ordinary adventures and accomplishments obtain power in the Mediterranean at the of Harbouris should not be shadowed by expense of the Ottoman Empire and, to a his violent death and the abrupt end to his lesser extent, Venice. entrepreneurial venture; they exemplify Although Harbouris’ venture was initially the circulation of people, ideas, projects funded by the Russian empire’s impe- and techniques within Europe, and pro- rialist drive, it was Venetian authorities vide evidence for the complex processes – both locally and in Venice – that faci- that shaped European modernity. litated its fruition. Authorities in Venice and Cefalonia sought to transform the island and the economy of the Republic by encouraging industry, agricultural inno- vation and, of course, trade. he charisma 30. Βιογραφίαι των ενδόξων ανδρών, op. cit. of Harbouris should not be overlooked; his 31. Ανδρέας Μιχ. Ανδρεάδης, Περί της οικονομικής διοικήσεως της Επτανήσου [On the economic administration of the Ionian Islands], Eν Αθήναις, 29. Virgilio Giormani, Maria Cecilia Ghetti, “Marino Τυπογραφείον “Εστία”, 1914 (reprinted by Βιβλιοπωλείο Carburi”, op. cit. Νότη Καραβία, Athens, 1994), vol. 2, p. 139.

29 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas

Conclusions representative of a long tradition of mobil- ity in the Mediterranean space, one em- What did Eugenios Voulgaris and Marinos bodied by our heroes. hey moved along Harbouris have in common? he former the networks connecting their places of was a man of letters and spiritual aspira- origin with central Europe and Russia, and tion, the latter a man of passion and me- in the course of their displacement they chanical inventiveness. However, both continuously reshaped their identities and originated in the Ionian Islands, and their allegiances. heir loyalty to Catherine the careers and itineraries bear witness to the Great and their commitment to fulilling dynamism of the intellectual networks her plans was the culmination of this pro- connecting the area with the broader cess as they were actively involved with the European space. In a recent collection con- Empress’ attempts to increase her intellec- cerning the intellectual and political mo- tual and political proile both inside and bility across the Mediterranean, the editors outside Russia. But they also wandered in ofer a panoramic view of such networks. the “European” space – at a time when it was not entirely clear what that adjective “Whether political exiles, refugees dis- stood for. Both Voulgaris and Harbouris placed by war, expatriate intellectuals or spent time in intermediate stations, itinerant merchants, persons caught up Leipzig for the irst, Paris for the second, in the diasporas were usually accusto- where they were able to reconstitute their med to travelling, being men – and, more rarely, women – who lived their lives on linkages to patronage networks and, more the move: across states, empires and seas. importantly, to recreate their identities. In […] In a world of vast empires, customs both cases the second careers that followed unions, miniature city-states and semi- their leaving these cities required a trans- independent principalities, the frontiers formation of targets, skills and means. Far of which were continually shiting, it is from being “caught up in the diaspora”, unclear what ‘home’ and ‘abroad’ really Voulgaris and Harbouris were anything meant. On the one hand, travelling from but liminal: if Voulgaris was more of the one city to another, or from one state to itinerant intellectual type, the title adven- another, might represent for many a cir- turer – and indeed a brilliant one – seems culation within a familiar space where more itting for Harbouris. they could feel at home no matter where Mobility also served as a privileged “site” of they laid their heads. On the other hand, knowledge production. Like many of their the delineation and consolidation of new contemporaries, Voulgaris and Harbouris frontiers (cultural, national, linguistic took advantage of their cultural dislocation and religious) transformed many indi- to elaborate patterns of distinction and de- viduals into liminal beings, obliged to marcate spaces tailored to their expertise, divide their allegiance between societal an expertise that acquired new meanings in units which now came to be seen as sepa- their new environments. Translation was rate and distinct32.” a major means for achieving their goals. Although this description mostly refers Voulgaris secured Catherine’s patronage to the 19th century, the image it conveys is through the translation of the legal text of Nakaz and perpetuated it through the 32. Maurizio Isabella and Konstantina Zanou, translation and communication of texts Mediterranean Diasporas: Politics and Ideas in the Long that contributed to shaping the Empress’ 19th Century, London, Bloomsbury, 2016, p. 6. proile. Harbouris, on the other hand,

30 - Diasporas 29 Greek Travelers in Eastern Europe at the End of the 18th Century gained Catherine’s beneicence through context of continuous re-invention of an the translation of a huge rock and extended actor’s identities, translation is the pro- it through the translation of colonial plants cess of production of useful and reliable from their native environment to the in- knowledge. Voulgaris on the theoretical tended sphere of Russian interests. More and Harbouris on the technical side elabo- than just a play on words, translation in its rated innovative syntheses not destined to double meaning represents what these men survive in the name of truth, but intend- were: intermediaries who bridged cultures, ed to be consumed by the process of eco- interpreted varying interests and accom- nomic and political transformation that modated conlicting priorities relected by had become imperative by the end of the their own shiting allegiances. 18th century. hose were also the qualities of the knowl- edge they produced. If mobility is the

Manolis Patiniotis est maître de conférences au département d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences à l’université nationale et capodistrienne d’Athènes. Il dispense des cours sur l’histoire de la révolution scientiique, sur l’histoire des sciences pendant les Lumières et sur l’historiographie des sciences et de la technologie. Il est l’auteur d’une monographie, Elements of Natural Philosophy: he Greek scientiic thought in the 17th and the 18th centu- ries (Gutenberg, Athènes, 2013), ainsi que d’un article, « Between the local and the global: History of science in the European periphery meets post-colonial studies » (Centaurus, 55, 2013). Il a également coécrit avec Pedro Raposo l’article « Beyond ixed geographies: Moving localities and the making of knowledge » (Technology and Culture, 57, 2016). Il est un des membres fondateurs du groupe international de recherche STEP (Science et technologie en périphérie de l’Europe).

Manolis Patiniotis is an associate professor at the department of History and Philosophy of Science, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He teaches courses on the his- tory of Scientiic Revolution, the history of the sciences during the Enlightenment and the historiography of science and technology. He is the author of the monograph Elements of Natural Philosophy: he Greek scientiic thought in the 17th and the 18th centuries (Gutenberg, Athens, 2013) and of the paper “Between the local and the global: History of science in the European periphery meets post-colonial studies” (Centaurus, 55, 2013). He has also co-au- thored with Pedro Raposo the article “Beyond ixed geographies: Moving localities and the making of knowledge” (Technology and Culture, 57, 2016). He is a founding member of the international research group STEP (Science and Technology in the European Periphery).

31 Manolis Patiniotis, Sakis Gekas

Sakis Gekas est maître de conférences en histoire moderne grecque à l’université York à Toronto (Hellenic Heritage Foundation Chair in Modern Greek History). Il enseigne le grec moderne, l’histoire européenne et méditerranéenne et l’histoire des migrations et diaspora grecques. Il est l’auteur d’une monographie, Xenocracy. State, Class and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864 (Berghahn 2017), ainsi que d’articles sur les îles Ioniennes sous autorité britannique, sur les marchands et les ports de la Méditerranée, et sur l’histoire éco- nomique du xixe siècle en Grèce.

Sakis Gekas is an associate professor and Hellenic Heritage Foundation Chair in Modern Greek History at the Department of History, York University, Toronto. He teaches Modern Greek, Mediterranean and European History and the history of Greek migration and di- aspora. He is the author of the monograph Xenocracy. State, Class and Colonialism in the Ionian Islands, 1815-1864 (Berghahn, 2017), and of articles on the Ionian Islands under British rule, on merchants and ports in the Mediterranean, and on the economic history of 19th-century Greece.

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