Ilias Tantalidis
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Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Ilias Tantalidis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1818 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 1876 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire |
| Occupation | Poet, teacher |
| Nationality | Ottoman Greek |
| Period | 19th century |
Ilias Tantalidis (Greek: Ηλίας Τανταλίδης 1818–1876) was a Greek poet of the First Athenian School and educator.
He was born in Fener in 1818. His father was from Crete and their original family name was Trantalidakis. He studied in the Great School of the Nation in Kuruçeşme and in the Evangelical School of Smyrna. After finishing school he was hired by the rich Phanariot doctor and intellectual Stefanos Caratheodory as a teacher for his children. In 1840, with financial support from Caratheodory he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Athens and finished in 1844. He returned to Constantinopole and was planning to publish an ecclesiastic journal but in 1845 lost his eyesight. Despite being blind, he became professor in the Halki seminary and was led by a servant to the classroom.[1] Among his students was Georgios Vizyinos and Tantalidis became his mentor and encouraged him towards his literary career.[2] He died in 1876 from peritonitis shortly after returning from Athens where he published his last poetry collection. He was buried behind the church of Holy Trinity in Halki.
