Christophorus Plato Castanis (
Greek: Χριστόφορος Πλάτων Καστανής; 1814–1866; also known as Christophoros Castanis or Castanes and Christoforos Kastanis or Kastanes) was an
Ottoman Greek academic, author and
classicist.[1] Castanis was born at
Livadia,
Chios on 1 April 1814 and lived much of his life in the United States.[2] He published an autobiography titled The Greek Exile in 1851, which told of his survival of the
Chios massacre, his time in
Ottoman slavery, and his emigration to America.[3][4][5]
Personal life
Castanis was born to a wealthy
Chiot family, and was one of eight siblings.[6] He was privately educated and one of his tutors was a member of the
Filiki Eteria.[6]
In 1822, during the
Chios massacre, Castanis was captured and sold into slavery, where he was forcibly converted to
Islam.[7][8] According to his autobiography, Castanis made an escape and was reunited with his mother. They eventually fled on a
Cephalonian ship and met with American relief agents at
Nafplio.[9][10]
American
abolitionist and
PhilhelleneSamuel Gridley Howe sponsored his migration to the US, along with
Garafilia Mohalbi and
John Celivergos Zachos.[11][12] According to Castanis, around forty
Greek orphans emigrated to the United States in similar circumstances during this period.[13] Some modern scholars, including
Gonda Van Steen and Foteini Tomai, verify this, although question the nature of their 'orphan' status.[14] Castanis married American Rutha H. Clark in
Worcester, MA on 22 October 1844.[15][16] Castanis died in the US in 1866.[17]
Career
Castanis arrived in New York City in 1831, and attended
Mount Pleasant Classical Institute.[11] He also attended
Yale and
Amherst College.[2] In 1839 Castanis held a speaking tour, where he delivered lectures on
Greek Independence.[18][19] Many of his written works also dealt with Greek Independence. For example, Washington, DC's The Republic newspaper reported on his 1849 book, Oriental Amusing, Instructive, and Moral Literary Dialogues: Comprising the Love and Disappointment of a Turk of Rank in the City of Washington, claiming it "…is made the vehicle, in a conversational form, of conveying the expression of the author’s
republican sympathies in behalf of Greece and Turkey, as well as of discussing some
philological questions, intended to prove that modern Greeks
pronounce their language as the ancients did."[20]
Christophorus Plato Castanis, An Essay on the Ancient and Modern Greek Languages: Containing Remarks on the Accents, Pronunciation and Versification of the Greek Languages, with Historical Notices, Etc. To which is Added Extracts from Modern Greek Authors; Christopoulos on Versification; an Oration Delivered Before the New York Legislature; and a Guide to Acquire a Knowledge of the Modern Greek, Allen, Morrill & Wardwell, Andover, Massachusetts, 1844.
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Christophorus Plato Castanis, Interpretations of the Attributes of the Principal Fabulous Deities: With an Essay on the History of Mythology, William Hyde, Portland, Oregon, 1844.
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Christophorus Plato Castanis, A Love Tale: The Jewish Maiden of Scio's Citadel; or, The Eastern Star, and the Albanian Chief, Philergomathia, 1845.
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Christophorus Plato Castanis, Oriental Amusing, Instructive, and Moral Literary Dialogues: Comprising the Love and Disappointment of a Turk of Rank in the City of Washington, John Putnam, Boston, 1849–1850.
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Christophorus Plato Castanis, The Greek Exile; or, A Narrative of the Captivity and Escape of Christophorus Plato Castanis, During the Massacre on the Island of Scio, by the Turks, Together with Various Adventures in Greece and America, Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., Philadelphia, 1851.
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Christophorus Plato Castanis, The Greek Boy and the Sunday-School: Comprising ceremonies of the Greek church, mode of baptism, communion, picture-worship, etc., William S. Martien, Philadelphia, 1852.
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References
^George Kaloudis, Modern Greece and the Diaspora Greeks in the United States, Lexington Books, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London, 2018, p. 31.
^
ab"
Christophorus Plato Castanis", AHEPA (American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association) History ("Built with love by the Brother Knights in Tenafly, NJ").
Note: Livadia is a northern suburb of the town of Chios,
see the section on Vrontados here.
^Castanis, Christophorus Plato, The Greek Exile, Lippincott, Grambo, & Co., Philadelphia, 1851.
^Evangelia Kindinger, "’Only Stones and Stories Remain’: Greek American (Travel) Writing about Greece", Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, 12, 2011; available
here (University of Regensburg).
^Vicky Johnson Gatzouras, Family Matters in Greek American Literature, PhD thesis, Blekinge Institute of Technology and Göteborg University, 2007, p. 14; available
here (Pennsylvania State University).
^Yiorgos D Kalogeras (Kaloyeras), "’Eleni’: Hellenizing the subject, westernizing the discourse", MELUS, 18(2), Oxford University Press, 77–89, at 83–5.
doi:
10.2307/467935.
^Birgül Koçak Oksev, "Meaning and Context: Anglo-American Perception of the Ottoman Slave Markets Through the Greek Question in the Abolition Era", International Journal of Turcologia, 10(19), Spring 2015, 5–26.
^
abGeorge J. Leber, The History of the Order of AHEPA (The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association), 1922–1972: Including the Greeks in the New World, and Immigration to the United States (Washington, DC: The Order of AHEPA, 1972), 49. A PDF file of the book is available
here.
^See: William Miller, "Additions to Modern Greek History in the ’Gennadeion’", The Journal of Modern History, 9(1), 1937, 56 onwards.
doi:
10.1086/600632.
See also:
CWJ Eliot, "Howe, Greece, and Byron’s Helmet", Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 10(2), 1992, 197–204:
See here
Maureen Connors Santelli, "3. Philhellenism Joins with American Benevolence", The Greek Fire, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2020, pp. 83–115.
doi:
10.1515/9781501715808-005.
Maureen Connors Santelli, "4. Philhellenes Clash with American Commerce", The Greek Fire, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2020, pp. 116–151.
doi:
10.1515/9781501715808-006.
^Evangelia Kindinger, "Of Dópia and Xéni: Strategies of Belonging in Greek-American Return Narratives", Journal of Mediterranean Studies, 20(2), 2011, 389–415;
here (behind paywall) at Project Muse.
^George Kaloudis, Modern Greece and the Diaspora Greeks in the United States, Lexington Books, Lanham, Boulder, New York & London, 2018, p. 31.
See also:
Maureen Connors Santelli, "5. Abolitionism, Reform, and Philhellenic Rhetoric", in The Greek Fire, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 2020, pp. 152–193.
doi:
10.1515/9781501715808-007.
Peter W Topping, "Modern Greek Studies and Materials in the United States", Byzantion, 15, 1940–41, 414–42;
JSTOR44168534.
^Untitled announcement, The Daily Union (Washington [D.C.]), 21 May 1845. Within the third of the seven columns of the page shown
here, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"Pamphlets of the Day", The Republic (Washington [D.C.]), 27 November 1849. Within the second of the seven columns of the page shown
here, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
^"The Little Greek Boy"(PDF). American Traveller Vol. 3 No. 55. Digital Academic Archive. 8 January 1828. Retrieved 9 June 2021.