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Elyros the Pylareus or the chronicle of a philological fraud...
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6/13/2011
The great geographer Elyros Pylareus was born, according to his would-be biographers [1] , in 376 AD. in the town of Pylara in Kefallinia, that is today's Pylaro. His father's name was Ermolaos and his mother's name was Elpiniki. He studied at the Apollonia School in Symi, moved to Constantinople from where, by order of the Byzantine Emperor himself, who had repeatedly honored him, he traveled for eight years throughout Asia, writing his eponymous "ETHNIKA", a work consisting of twenty-four books . He returned to Constantinople, whence, being a restless Cephalonite spirit, he left after the Emperor's death, and traveled for twenty-three more years in Asia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Europe, and the islands. Then, he returned to Kefalonia, where, until his death in old age in 484 AD. wrote his second monumental work, "HUMANS", consisting of thirty-two books. A very small part of this voluminous work of Evlyros was published in 1850 (Athens: typios F. Karabinou – K. Vafa), in a small pamphlet that bore the title " Geographically and Legally concerning Kefallinia, separated from the ETHNIKON, and among the PEOPLE Evlyros Kefallinos of Pylareos [...] published first already under K. Simonidou".
This pamphlet, consisting of 1+29 pages, is preserved in two copies in the Korgialenio Library of Argostoli...
For God's sake, let historians and philologists not rush to refer to their sources. Let the mayors and local rulers not rush to name streets and erect statues of this great child of Kefallinia. They will not find Elyris in any grammar
[2] . Because the great geographer Elyris the Pylareus is, at least as far as philological research has shown, a chapter, or if you want one of the faces of the biggest philological fraud that happened in Greek letters of the 19th century , and caused a stir in the developing intellectual life of the newly formed Greek state.
The story that will follow, and in which Kefalonia and especially Pylaros is involved gracefully, but not at all innocently, as we will see, is as follows: Behind Elyros, and not only from him, is the notorious forger of manuscripts of the 19 th century Konstantinos Simonidis
[3] : A satanically intelligent physiognomy, who turned up and down not only Greece, but also the entire philological Europe of his time.
Simonides was born in 1820 in Symi of the Dodecanese. From a young age he showed his strange instincts when he tried to poison his parents. A little later he left the island and fled to Mount Athos, around 1845, at the side of an old monk. There, having an inclination for painting from an early age, he learned to read, copy, and, as it turned out, to imitate old manuscripts, arts which he decided to exploit properly by returning to the worldly.
With an armful of supposedly unknown manuscripts and copies of manuscripts (some possibly genuine) under arms, he toured the main intellectual centers of Hellenism, and presented these works to the local scholars as alleged discoveries of colossal proportions, explaining his incredible luck with the following, incredible also, manner
[4] : He claimed that, going to Mount Athos, he was informed of the existence of ancient manuscripts. In order to gain access to them, he engineered his appointment as a substitute for the Clerk of the Commons. When he assumed his duties, he said, he discovered a box with many locks, which contained the "Goat", a huge scroll of membrane, which included many unknown manuscripts. He managed to hack into the box, copy as many manuscripts as he could, and return the original to its place.
Simonides managed to fool many eminent scholars of his time with these terrifying so-called discoveries of his. Even his greatest critics go so far as to admit that some of the manuscripts he occasionally published or claimed to possess may have been genuine copies. However, it seems that even in those that were genuine, Simonides inserted passages of his own inspiration and composition, or, more often than not, invented and composed fake so-called copies or manuscripts of known or invented authors, and tried to sell them. , often successfully. In 1849, he published in Athens the flagship of his forgeries, "
Symaida [5] " , the history of the "Apollonia School" of Symi, which was allegedly written by the Hieromonk Meletios from Chios. As proved by the criticism of his time, "Simais" was simply an attempt to give Simonides an ancient quality to his place of origin, since, it seems, there must never have been such a school, such a manuscript or such an author
[6] .
It is characteristic that Simonides had initially found support from some publications of the time, which were quick to demonstrate their undivided defense towards what at first sight seemed to be the philological discovery of the century. "Aeon", "Elpis" and "Mnemosyni" were in favor of him, but it was not long before severe criticism came from publications such as "Nea Hellas" and "Pandora". Simonides' confrontations with those who dared to criticize him were sharp
[7] . After the revelation of the fraud, which was pioneered by Alexandros Rizos Ragavis and the magazine "Pandora"
[8] , but also by Andreas Mustoxidis, Simonidis leaves for Germany, where he manages to deceive the famous paleographer of the Tischendorf era, allegedly selling him "manuscript" of "Heaven". When his identity was revealed to him there as well, by his former friend and later Bishop of Syria Alexander Lycurgus, he left for Russia, and then for England, where he again indulged in his favorite tactics, managed to extract enough money from prominent expatriates, and finally it was revealed again, while in the meantime he had even succeeded in having a study published in his favor (1860)
[9] ! He spent the last years of his life in Alexandria, selling manuscripts to travelers, and trying in vain to be ordained bishop of Ethiopia, until his death in 1867.
Voutiras
[10] lists 43 publications signed by Simonides, starting in 1842 in Moscow (from the University of which Simonides claimed to have obtained a doctorate), and ending in 1865 in London. Most of his works have been characterized as the product of his labyrinthine imagination, while some of them are responses to his critics. It is characteristic that Simonides, despite the repeated harassment to him, never showed the manuscripts published by him as proof of his claims, or, in some cases, showed only a few pages, while Sp. Lambros
[11] seems to have started to write a monograph on the Simonides case, having established the importance of the subject.
But let's go back to Elyros... Alexandros Rizos Ragavis
[12] , in the same year (1850) of the publication of the booklet "Geographical and Legal [...]" of Elyros, refers to a pre-publication of a fragment of Elyros's manuscript in number 504 of "Elpidos" by a scholar of the time who signed under the pseudonym "Euthyphron", who seems to have been convinced of the authenticity of the manuscript, since, as he stated, Simonides had shown him three pages from it, and had even read some passages. "Euphyphron" according to Ragavis, considered as proof of authenticity the fact that Simonides had difficulty reading, which meant (for "Euphyphron") that the writing was probably not his. According to Simonides, the entire manuscript in his hands consisted of at least five hundred leaves, and its copyist was a certain Nikephoros of Daedalus and Euphrosyne from Corfu. Ragavis has no difficulty at all in making "leaf and feather" the specific passages of Evlyros, as well as the rich grammatical references of Simonides, who, according to Ragavis, masterfully constructed, in addition to the manuscripts, also intertwined bibliographic references: To all its imaginative titles and authors, in all its forged editions, there were cross-references from one to the other, so as to construct a perfect network of an at first sight impressive cross-documentation, which in reality was not only completely non-existent (or at least with some minimal nuggets of truth) but also completely fabricated.
Ragavis concludes that this is a "name-laden syllabary", inferring that Simonides mixed genuine toponyms and elements (perhaps from Stephen the Byzantine) with paradoxical names of his own invention, and, using a language that at first sight might resemble in the time of Elyrus (while in reality it was an artificial language and full of soliloquies and barbarisms), he constructed the entire manuscript. It is a "miracle" that, he says, could be completed within a week. He considers the language of the text as the main reason for proving the forgery. And, completing his reconstruction in the next volume of "Pandora"
[13] , he concludes that Elyrus is 100% fabricated – both himself and his manuscript.
Simonides, however, does not seem to put it down so easily, since with his pamphlet "Geographically and Legally concerning Kefallinia", and while the uproar against him is raging, he addresses, in a lengthy preface (pp. of the brochure), to the editors of the Kefallinian newspapers - which had only started to be published on the British-occupied island a year ago, after the right to freedom of print was granted by the Protection - and in fact to Ilias Zervos Iakovatos, publisher of "Philelelefthero". After Simonides diplomatically declares his support for the struggle to throw off the English yoke, he tries, in an admittedly very clever way, on the one hand to disprove his critics about the non-existence of Elyrus (by quoting heaps of false references), and on the other hand to ensure sponsors for the future edition of the magnificent work of the Cephalonian geographer (of whose work the pamphlet in question is only a sample). On pages 28-29 of "Geographical and Legal", Simonides throws down the gauntlet (and extends his hand of charity) by announcing the publication of Evlyros' "Ethnics" and asking for the pre-registration of subscribers. Version that never took place.
Simonidis chooses to publish excerpts from Evlyros' "ETHNIKA", concerning Kefalonia (pp. 1-23 of the pamphlet), while he then quotes an excerpt from "ANTHROPINA" which is labeled "Legal or Righteous Kefalliniakon" (p. 24-27 of the pamphlet), citing few details about the relevant "manuscripts".
The two passages are equally delightful (even ... spartan) and give us a prime example of how Simonides, Elyros' alter ego, worked.
"KEFALLINIAKA" (excerpt from Ethniki) contains alphabetically arranged many toponyms and mythological-factual elements that are actually found in Kefalonia to this day (e.g. references to Ainos, Pali, Pylara - alas if Elyros was not mentioned in his place of origin, even in a third person(!) -, the Pronnos, Sami, Panormos, etc.) that could convince the unsuspecting reader of the possible authenticity of the text, as names only, since it is futile and fruitless to even dare to check the authenticity - mythological or geographical - of the content of each entry. Among the apparently original elements, however, one will find a jumble of toponyms so paradoxical and unheard of, that lead to entries with content so improbable, that one really admires the author for his mastery in inventing and composing such verbal and semantic labyrinths . The confusion caused to the reader who attempts to delve is such as to make checking the authenticity or even the logic of the lemmas impossible, if not unnecessary. His language, on the other hand, is more reminiscent of that of Logiotatos in "Byzantium's Babylonia" or of the heroes of the "Korakists" by Iakovakis Rizos-Neroulos.
It is worth mentioning a few such toponyms: Next to the entry "Kranoi" there is the entry "Kteinokerdalos"
[14] – this is a "coastal settlement" near Sami. The port "Ombrimothymos"
[15] , the coast "Heimetlon", the grove "Gigantodentor", the mountain "Gladamon"
[16] , are some characteristic examples of such writing.
Special mention should be made of the city of "Pikrogamia"
[17] and the dramatic history of its naming: According to Elyros-Simonides, it was named after the unfortunate Teleboida, the fifth wife of Chrysippus, who was "Priapus the vulva" , and therefore, after the first night of the wedding, he remained a widower. Teleboida was spared during the ordeal of the first night, but she had the misfortune of falling in love with Eurymedon, a brotherly friend of Chrysippus. The latter, as usual, caught them "in the act", and, after killing Eurymedon, tortured in a horrible way and killed the adulteress. The lamentations of her father, who was desperately asking for his daughter's body, softened the heart of Chrysippus, who named the city "Pikrogamia" and in memory of Teleboida instituted a special celebration called "Pikrogamia". The naming of another city, "Mychiotoki
[18] ", was based on similar traumatic events. In all the cases where Elyros-Simonides chooses to be more detailed, he does not spare similar "mythological" or "historical" details.
In "NOMIKA (΄DIKAION KEFALLINIAKON)", which occupies, as we said, a very small part of the pamphlet, he becomes much more concise (toward the end, inspiration seems to dry up, even for the best forger). But let's not think that "Legal" lacks originality. In fact it is not a citation of rules of law, but a citation of rituals (most of which also involve bloody sacrifices of animals, preferably birds). The fertilization-sexual-pagan element dominates most of the "rites" described, culminating in the "Gamastolema". Lest you think that the other Kefallen ceremonies lacked original names, we list a few: "Toxodamnia", "Ombrimothima", "Varymachia", "Selasphora", and, finally, a celebration that is completely suited to the style of Evlyros-Simonides: "Mikonia and Alloprosalla".
We may, today, with a light heart, deal with the case of Simonides with humor - however the phenomenon of philological forgery is not something rare in science. Melvil Dewey, creator of the taxonomy used by most libraries worldwide, has provided a special taxonomy for this type of work. Moreover, in today's era, a kind of (declared in advance and therefore innocent) imitation of scientific studies, biographies or documentary films, a kind of artificially disguised parody (the so-called "mockumentary" - let's remember the two sequels of the recent pseudo- documentary film “The Blair Witch Project”), or the recent Anthology of (non-existent) Russian Prose Writers, behind which were texts by Philip Drakontaides. However, all of these genres are declared fiction (essentially a cinematic or literary play), presented as such, and not intended to deceive (All literature, after all, like art, is one big true lie). Simonides certainly had the makings of a great career in this field – but he chose the path of fraud.
Perhaps we will never know if the three pages of Elyrus that "Euphyphron" of "Elpidus" claimed to have seen were true, if there is even a slight hint in favor of the existence of Elyrus. What is more likely, and based on today's data, is that Elyros was 100% a fraud – as much as we would be flattered to the contrary. And now that we have arrived at a certain "judicial conviction", we can smile thinking that in 50, 100, 200, the 500 leaves of Elyrus' manuscripts may suddenly be revealed and the readers of the future will laugh at this text here as the scribe laughed at that tattered pamphlet of 1850...
FOOTNOTES
[1] See the laudatory biography of Elyros by Andreas X. Kalogiras in "
I Kefallinia or Kefalonia",Athens: ch.o., 1954, pp. 37-39, which essentially translates the "biography" of Elyros by "Nikephoros of Corfu" ( see pp. iii of the edition of excerpts "
Geographically and Legally concerning Kefallinia, extracted from ETHNIKONE, those from Elyros Kefallinos of Pylareos [...] first published under K. Simonidou" ,Athens, 1850.
[2] The extremely careful Ilias Tsitselis, in the first volume of his "
Kefalliniania Simmikta" (Athens, 1904, pp. 140-142) biographies Elyros, effectively presenting the history of the fraud in brief.
[3] See Biography of Konstantinos Simonides by Tr. E. Evaggelidis in the relevant entry of the "
Great Greek Encyclopedia" (Drandaki), Volume KA', p. 853, as well as in volume G of the "
Dictionary of History and Geography" by S. I. Voutira, Kon/polis 1889, pp. 580-582.
[4] See the most eloquent relevant narration in the study of A.R. regarding Simonides' philological frauds. Ragavi, serialized in PANDORA magazine.
[5] "Symais or History of the School of Apollonia in Symi, especially of the hagiographical chair and a precursor of the unpublished Greek manuscripts, [...] written by Meletius hieromonach of Chios [...]" Athens, 1849.
[6] See detailed criticism of the authenticity of "
Symaidos" by Alexandros Rizo Ragavis in the magazine "PANDORA" volume B, Athens 1851, pp. 595-601.
[7] The irony with which he confronts his critics in the preface but also at the end of each sub-chapter of the pamphlet "
Geographical and Legal [...]" (ibid.) by Elyros, asking himself if everything is possiblethese he could invent and write himself. (see indicatively p. 23, 27 of the brochure).
[8] See the analytical judgment in the articles of A.R. Ragavi in "Pandora" volume A (1850) pp. 551-555, 565-573 and volume B (1851), pp. 595-602.
[9] This study, by Charles Stewart,is possibly written at the dictation of Simonides.
[10] See detailed list of Simonides' editions in Voutiras, ibid., pp. 582-583.
[11] See the chapter
"Simonidea" in the magazine "NEOS ELLINOMNIMON" of the remains of Sp. Lambros (vol. IZ, 1923, p. 40-52) and his related references in volume D (1907) p. 249 ff. of the same magazine, as well and the references there.
[12] See PANDORA, vol. A (1850) pp. 568-570.
[13] See PANDORA, vol. B (1851), p. 602.
[14] See Evlyrou "Geographical and Legal [...]" (ibid.) p. 29
[15] See Evlyrou, op. p. 14.
[16] See Evlyrou, op. p. 5
[17] See Evlyrou, op. p. 14.
[18] See Evlyrou, op. p. 13.
First published in
ODYSSEY Kefallonia - Ithaki. 2003, pp. 69-73
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