An important figure in 18th-century Venice was the Kythirian scholar Spyridon Vlantis (1765-1830), who studied at the renowned Flanginian School in Venice and later became a professor and its last director.
Spyridon was born and died in Venice and was the son of Francis Vladi from Kalokerina, Kythira, and Helen Stathi from Chora. He was involved in the publication of ancient texts and translations. He also wrote the famous Italian-Greek dictionary, a concise Greek dictionary, and a trilingual dictionary.
He studied at the Flangineio School from August 30, 1776, to August 5, 1782, under the tutelage of Agapios Loverdos, while attending philosophy classes at the Jesuit Academy and studying civil law. Due to financial difficulties, he remained in Venice, working as an accountant at the Homotzoglou trading house. On February 7, 1794, he was elected temporary teacher and director of the Flangineio School, and on September 16, 1796, he was appointed permanent headmaster. In 1800, he was invited to become a corresponding member of the Ionian Academy. Also in 1811, he became a member of the Graecodacica Philological Society, and the Orthodox Bishop of Dalmatia and Albania, Benedikt Kraljevic, proposed that he become headmaster in Sebenik, Dalmatia.
He married Aikaterini Dalfornou and had four children: Eleni (1789), Regina (1790), Maria (1794), Pavlos (1796), and Andreas (1811). He died on January 6, 1830. He left behind his blind wife and a daughter, who were cared for by the Greek Brotherhood of Venice, and two sons.
He is buried in the Greek Cemetery of Venice, in the cemetery on the island of San Michele.
Writing
– New Italian-Greek dictionary, Venice: Nikolaos Glykes of Ioannina, 1792
– First volume of the Trilingual Dictionary, Venice 1816
– Greek Concise Dictionary, Venice 1821
– Speeches delivered at the Flanginian Greek Museum (unpublished)
He also translated:
– Metamorphoses by Ovid, Venice, 1801
– Warehouse of the children, Enetisi 1793, vol. 4
– 22 selected short stories by Boccaccio
– The Coffee House, comedy by Goldoni, Venice, 1791
– Brief account of the events in Venice 1797-1799
Sources
– Konstantinos Sathas, Biographies of Eminent Greeks in Literature from the Fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Greek War of Independence, 1453-1821, published by Kouloura, 1990, pp. 688-690.
– Triantafyllos Sklavenitis, “Spyridon Vlantis and Private Teaching Piano di Studi: Course Syllabus: Venice 1794,” Treasures, vol. 34, (2004), pp. 421-446
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