A 19th Century Greek Scholar in Bucherest: Mihail Christaris and His Library

In the end of the 18th century many young men from Epirus went to Bucharest in order to complete their studies. Among them was Mihail Christaris (Jannina 1773-Athens 1851?) who became a medical doctor and lived in Bucharest for more than twenty years, playing a prominent part in cultural life and later in the preparation of the Greek War of Independence. His translation of the Traité élémentaire de morale et de bonheur of Jean-Zacharie Paradisde Raymondis, in which he adds his own notes, and his Catechism of the Main Social Duties (Bucharest 1831) make him an upholder of the French Revolution’s liberalism in Southeastern Europe. His library, rich in rare as also in more recent books, offered by him to Theophilos Ka'iris’ school in Andros gives us the inclinations of his personality.