Ilias S. Spyropoulos

Ilias Spyropoulos studied classical philology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Thessaloniki and, with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) in 1966, at the Sorbonne University and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris. He was awarded a doctorate from the Sorbonne University in 1973. He served in secondary education for approximately twenty years, with a long interruption after 1968 when he was dismissed by the dictatorial regime. With the establishment of the Center for Educational Studies and Training in 1976, he was appointed as a Consultant, later becoming the President of the Secondary Education Department in 1984, and subsequently the President of the corresponding department of the Pedagogical Institute. In these roles, he primarily handled the reform of curricula, textbooks, and teaching methods for ancient Greek and modern Greek literature texts in secondary education, as well as the training of teaching staff (as a coordinator of nationwide seminars and Director of the Training School for Secondary Education Officials - SELME Athens). He was also the introducer of environmental education in high schools. He served as president or member of Councils and Committees of the Ministry of Education and represented it on educational planning issues at UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the European Economic Community, and Cyprus. Ilias Spyropoulos's writing, apart from textbooks, his contribution to equipping philologists with "Teacher's Books," his scientific and pedagogical articles, and the Index of volumes 1-20 of the journal "Hellenika" (1979), includes: a) Works on contemporary school practice, such as "Ancient Greek in Gymnasium and Lyceum" (1980), which was followed by a trilogy "Service to Humanism" (1. "Ancient Theater in Today's Education." - 2. "Literature and Education." - 3. "Ancient Greek Discourse and Modern Education," 1991 - 1992). b) Works on ancient classics: Plato ("Plato's Myths," 1969, "Plato's Protagoras," 1975), Sophocles ("Interpretation of Oedipus Tyrannus," 1981), Herodotus ("Macedonia and Macedonians in Herodotus," 1993, "The Erotic and Bloodthirsty in Herodotus," 1998). A life’s work of Ilias Spyropoulos is the five-volume edition of the nine books of Herodotus's "Histories" (extensive Introduction - Ancient Text - Translation - Commentary - Detailed Indexes, 1992 - 1998). However, Ilias Spyropoulos is predominantly an Aristophanist, as evidenced by his writing activity: His doctoral dissertation "L' accumulation verbale chez Aristophane," awarded by the Society of French Philologists in 1974, "Aristophanes' Knights," 1987, "Aristophanes: Satire - Theater - Poetry," 1988, "Aristophanes' Acharnians," 1998, along with articles, miscellanea, and book reviews in scientific journals and presentations at Greek and international conferences. Notably, the National Theatre of Northern Greece staged his translation of "Knights" at the 1989 Festival, and the National Theatre staged his translation of "Acharnians" at the 1995 Festival. This translation was awarded by the Hellenic Society of Literary Translators in 2002.