Rosa Antoniou Kasimatis in 19th century Kythera (1823-1883)

Read the announcement of Professor Emeritus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens George Leontsinis on the life of Rosa Antoniou Kasimatis in Kythera.

In this communication an attempt was made to highlight the social, political and cultural characteristics of Kythera during the period when she lived on the island and the social and family life of Rosa Antoniou Kasimatis (1823-1883), descended on her father's side from the Kasimatis branch of the family and on her mother's side from the Darmaros branch of the family, whose members from 1572 are registered in the «Community of the Nobles» of Kythera.

The professor notes that the decisive factor in her life was her acquaintance with the Irish-born Count Charles Bush Hearn, a military surgeon in the service of the Royal British Army, commissioned in the services of the British military corps in the Ionian Islands.

Charles Hearn in 1849 was fulfilling his official duties in Kythera for a certain period of time. In the context of this occasion the island incorporated into its reputation, to the extent that it deserved on the part of the Kytherian mother of Lafcadio Hearn, the restless spirit of the famous national writer of Japan. The text, which focuses on a concise overview of key features of the society of Kythera in the 1901) century, is divided into the following sections. Kasimatis, b) Kythera in the 1901) century, Y) Crisis of the old system of organization of society and administration of Kythera (circa 1780-1809), and d) Modern interventions, social and economic development (190s century), and d) Modern interventions, social and economic development (190s century).

Biography of Georgios Leontsinis

Georgios Leontsinis is Professor Emeritus of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Professor of Modern Greek and European History and Professor of History Teaching. He has taught for many years at the Department of History of the Ionian University, the Department of Primary Education of the University of Thessaly, the Hellenic Open University, the Harokopeion University and, as Visiting Professor, at universities in Cyprus, Malta, Albania, Australia, China and Norway. He completed his secondary education in Kythera and studied at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Athens, where he received successively the degrees of Classical Philology and History-Archaeology. He completed postgraduate studies in England (University of East Anglia, School of Modern Languages and European History) on a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation, leading to a Ph.D. in Modern Greek and European History. His dissertation The Island of Kythera: A Social History, 1700-1863 has been published in English by the Saripoleion Foundation of the University of Athens. He conducted postdoctoral research in the field of modern Greek and European history at the University of London, Holloway and Bedford New College, Department of History, as a Visiting Scholar. He has organized international and national conferences and has participated in conferences and seminars. He has published more than 100 scientific studies to date in Greek and international scientific journals and edited volumes. He has published fifteen (15) books on topics related to modern Greek and European history and history teaching and has edited twelve (12) volumes of international and national conference proceedings. In 2012, at a scientific event organized in his honor by the Pedagogical Department of Primary Education of the University of Athens, he was awarded a special volume entitled History Care by the Rector of the University of Athens. He is one of the founding members and current President of the Society for the Theory, Research and Teaching of History.