User:Rosemary16/Jacob Rizos Neroulos

Jacob (Iakovos) Rizos Neroulos, known as Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos (1778 – 10 December 1849), was a Greek scholar and politician in Wallachia, in Moldova and the newly formed nation of Greece.

Biographical elements
He was born in Istanbul in 1778. His father was a scholar holding the position of Kamarasi (Greek: Καμαράσης). His mother held the maiden name of Rizos. Her surname was the reason he took the appellation ‘Rizos’. His double name was used in contradistinction to the name of his ancestors ‘Rizoi Ragkavoi’ (Greek: Ρίζοι Ραγκαβοί).

Young Iakovakis became an orphan when he was in his infancy. Both his father and mother died so he was taken care of by his uncle Samuel Efesou. He was in charge of Jacob’s education and he was the reason he became an excellent Hellenist. Daniel Filippidis taught Iakovos philosophy and Abba Lafontaine, who had French origin, taught him mathematics and french.

When he was twenty years old he followed the ruler Konstantinos Ipsilantis in Moldova. Some years later, when his uncle Alexander Soutsos succeeded Ipsiladis, he appointed Jacob as his chargé d’affaires at the Ottoman Porte. However when the Russian war started, Iakovakis stayed out of the political scene, until the ruler John Karatzas reinstated him in Wallachia and promoted him to the rank of the prime minister of Wallachia (Premier Ministre des Hospodars de Valachie) (1812-1818). After six years Karatzas resigned and Rizos was appointed as the translator of the great interpreter in Instabul. In 1819 he followed the ruler Michael Soutsos in Moldova, where he stayed until the beginning of the Greek revolution. There he was initiated as a member of Filiki Eteria. After Ipsiladi’s failure in Moldova, Rizos ensconced himself to Bessarabia, during 1822-1825 to Pisa and during 1826-1827 to Geneva. In Geneva he wrote his famous work “Istoria tis Ellinikis Epanastaseos mehri to 1825” («Ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως μέχρι το 1825») and met with Kapodistrias, who brought him in Greece as his personal advisor in 1828.

In Greece Rizos Neroulos was immediately appointed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, he differed with the Government and as a result he withdrew from the public eye and lived in Aegina. After the death of Kapodistrias he came back and took charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Religious Affairs and Justice. He also became a member of the Simvoulio tis Epikrateias (Greece).

To Rizos Neroulos we owe the first training of high education, the foundation of University of Athens and the establishment of Archaiologiki Etairia  (Greek: Αρχαιολογική Εταιρεία). He was the President of Archaiologiki Etairia for several years as he was its first president since its establishment in 1837. Furthemore, he contributed in the establishment of Filekpaideutiki Etairia (Greek: Φιλεκπαιδευτικής Εταιρεία).

He was also one of the ten first prefects of Greece: In 1833 he was appointed as the prefect of Cyclades.

At the end of his life he was appointed as the ambassador of Greece to Istanbul, where he died (December 1849).

Literary work
Rizos Neroulos is mainly known for his book Cours de Littérature Grecque Moderne (Geneva 1827), which is the first history work in Modern Greek literacy. A less known but equally important work of his, is his book Histoire Moderne de la Grèce depuis la chute de l’Empire d’Orient (Newest history of Greece since the fall of the East Empire) (Geneva 1828), which was the first try for the recording of the newest history of Greece by a Greek historian. The main goal of this work was to maintain the ethnic character of Greeks during the Ottoman rule. According to Neroulos, the Greeks continued to exist as a different social and political figure in the purview of the Ottoman Empire. He also highlights the contribution of the Orthodox Church and the Greeks’ religion in the maintenance of their ethnic character. He believes in the historical necessity (causality) of the 1821 Revolution, which he considers not the result of history but the result of “Divine Providence”. During the writing of this work Neroulos worked with Kapodistrias, with whom he exchanged correspondence.

He has written three theatrical works: Korakistika (Instabul 1813), Aspasia (Vienne 1813), Polikseni (Vienne 1814). He also wrote an unfinished poem Kourkas arpagi (Greek: Κούρκας αρπαγή) in 1816. During the year of 1823 he printed in Leipzig his work Odi pros Ellinas (Greek: Ωδή προς Έλληνας) which had evident archaistic proclivity.

= References =

= Sources =


 * Ιάκωβος Ρίζος Νερουλός βιογραφικά στοιχεία από το Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Ερευνών
 * Ιάκωβος Ρίζος Νερουλός βιογραφικά στοιχεία από το https://web.archive.org/web/20120316142959/http://culture.ana-mpa.gr/
 * Ιάκωβος Ρίζος (1778-1849), Jean Pierre Louis Humbert (1792-1851), επιμ. (1828). Cours de littérature grecque moderne, doneé à Genéve (in French). Geneva, Paris: A. Cherbuliez, Dondey-Dupre. Retrieved in 5th April 2010.
 * Walter Puchner (2006), «Κορακιστικά», Ανθολογία Νεοελληνικής Δραματουργίας, τομ. Α, Από την Κρητική Αναγέννηση ως την Επανάσταση του 1821,εκδ. Μ.Ι.Ε.Τ., Αθήνα ["Korakistika", Anthology of greek dramaturgy] (In Greek), Athens, p. 420-432.
 * Αντώνης Μακρυδημήτρης (2000), Οι υπουργοί των εξωτερικών της Ελλάδας 1829-2000, εκδ. Καστανιώτης, Αθήνα, σελ.44 [from 12/09/1829 to 08/07/1831 Antony Makrodimitris, The ministers of Foreign Affairs of Greece 1829-2000] (In Greek), Athens, p. 44.

= Bibliography =


 * Εύη Βαλμά-Παυλώφ, «Ένα χαμένο ιστορικό κείμενο του Ιάκωβου Ρίζου Νερουλού», Δελτίον της Ιστορικής και Εθνολογικής Εταιρείας της Ελλάδος, vol.23, p.146-186.


 * Βασιλική Χ. Τζώγα, “Το ιστοριογραφικό εγχείρημα του αυτοεξόριστου στη Γενεύη Ιάκωβου Ρίζου Νερουλού μέσα από επιστολή του προς τον Ιωάννη Καρατζά στην Πίζα”, in Vassilios Sabatakakis (ed.), The Greek World in Periods of Crisis and Recovery, 1204-2018,Proceedings of 6th European Congress of Modern Greek Studies of the European Society of Modern Greek Studies, Lund, Sweden, 4-7 October 2018, vol. 4, Athens 2020, p. 67-91.