Professor Nikos Petrochilos

Professor Nicholas Petrochilos : Curriculum vitae

Nicholas's father was Kosmas Petrochilos, and his mother, Aikaterini Stathi - Petrochilou. Kosmas came to Australia when he was 14 years of age. He remained there to the age of 36, when he returned to live in Greece. Soon after returning to Kythera, he married Aikaterini.

Aikaterini's paratsoukli was Kalogerinis. Aikaterini was the school teacher in Markesakia, Kythera, for 36 years.

He attended the Primary School in Pitsinianika, Kythera and the High School (Gymnasium) in Chora, Kythera. He left Kythera when he finished Gymnasium, at the age of 18.

Prof. Nicholas Petrochilos was born in Athens, but he comes from the island of Kythera (Ionian islands). He graduated from the Philosophic School of the University of Athens (1960) and taught as a secondary school teacher of Philology in the state schools of Greece.

Later (1968), he was selected among many other candidates for a two-year refresher course in Pedagogics (he graduated in 1970), and soon afterwards was awarded a scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation of Greece for postgraduate studies in England. He studied Latin Literature at the University of London (Westfield College) for three years and obtained his Ph.D. in 1973.

His dissertation for his Ph.D. was published in 1974 under the title Roman Attitudes to the Greeks. It was translated into Greek (1984) by two scholars of the University of Thessaloniki. Many favourable reviews of his thesis were published in various classical periodicals all over the world.

In 1974 he was appointed Lecturer at the University of Athens, and in 1977 was unanimously elected Associate Professor of Latin Literature in the Philosophic School of the University of Thessaloniki. Three years later he was elected, unanimously again, Full Professor at the same University. He had an early retirement, in 1987, and was appointed Emeritus Professor.

Apart from his work as a translator and commentator of Latin Historical Texts into modern Greek [ Sallust and Suetonius, in all their works, have already been published in three volumes by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece; the whole work of Tacitus (6 volumes) has been completed and awaits publication by the Cultural Foundation mentioned above ], Professor Petrochilos continued his teaching career as a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Crete, Athens and Cyprus. His translations of Seneca's De vita beata (On happy life) (1996), De tranquillitate animi (On the tranquillity of the mind) (1997), and De brevitate vitae (On the brevity of life) (1997), as well as of Erasmos : De recta Latini Graecique sermonis pronuntiatione dialogus ( = on the right pronunciation of Latin and Greek)(2000), have been all published by Patakis editions, in Athens.

He has also written and published various works on the cultural relations between the two most eminent peoples of the ancient world, the Greeks and the Romans, on Roman epic poetry --particularly on Virgil's Aeneid - as well as on many other areas of Roman culture and civilisation (drama, politics, everyday life). He has participated in many conferences, in Greece and abroad, and presided many of them. He was President of the National Theatre of Greece (1989-1990) and is now an active member of various Societies in Greece and abroad. He speaks English, German and Italian.

Prof. Nicholas Petrochilos’
books and articles in chronological order

1.- Roman Attitudes to the Greeks , Athens 1974, pp 231 (in Engl.).

2.- "The Element of Deviation from the Rules of Morality in the Comedies of Plautus'', EEΦΣΠA 24 (1973-4), 867-880 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

3.- "A Contribution in the Interpretation of Cicero's Political Ideas", EEΦΣΠA 24 (1973-4), 881-895 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

4.- "Perennial Elements in the Problem of Explaining The Roman Military Triumphs", EEΦΣΠA 24 (1973-4), 896-903 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

5.- "Moral and Political Danger in Ancient Greek Sources and in Cicero's De Republica", EEΦΣΠA 24 (1973-4), 904-911 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

6.- A review of P.Kragelund's Dream and Prediction in the Aeneid , (Copenhagen, 1976), Πλάτων 28 (1976), 342-4.

7.- A review of Dr Marion M.Van Assendelft's Sol ecce surgit igneus - a commentary on the morning and evening hymns of Prudentius (Groningen, 1976), Πλάτων 29 (1977), 291-3.

8.- "Anna and Ioturna : Devotion and Destruction", Eλληνικά 31 (1979), 316-331 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

9.- "The Juno's and Venus' Executive Instruments in Virgil"s Aeneid", EEΦΣΠΘ 18 (1979), 383-410 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

10.- A review of H.Gotoff's Cicero's Elegant Style- an analysis of the "Pro Archia" (University of Illinois Press, 1979), Eλληνικά 32 (1980), 168-172.

11.- Nature and Function in the Motive of the Mythological Example in Roman Epic Poetry, Thessaloniki, 1980, pp 237 (in Greek, with an extensive summary in Engl.).

12.- "Happiness and Unhappiness and their Mutual Relation in Virgil's Aeneid", Δωδώνη 10 (1981), 167-194 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

13.- "Dido Vergiliana et Dido Ovidiana", Φιλόλογος 23 (1981), 244-264 (in Greek).

14.- A translation into Greek of J.P.V.D.Balsdon's Roman Women (London, 1974) in the National Bank Cultural Foundation series, Athens 19842, pp 444.

15.- "Litterae Latinae and the recent attack against them", Φιλόλογος 32 (1983), 88-119 (in Greek).

16.- "Anti-hellenic climate in the Aeneid", First Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, Ioannina 1984, 41-49 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

17.- "Zeugnisse über die Rolle des Gefühls in der römischen politischen Praxis", Φιλόλογος 45 (1986), 203-217 (in Greek, with a summary in German).

18.- "The Attitude of Livy Towards Alexander the Great", Second Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, Aριάδνη 4 (1988), 91-100 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

19.- "Quintilian and Tacitus : utopia and realism", Acta of the Third Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, Thessaloniki 1989, 173-187 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

20.- "Nisus and Euryalus (and Dolon)", Aρχαιογνωσία 6 (1989-1990), 101-107 (in Engl., with a summary in Greek).

21.- "Professor John Kampitsis", a necrology, Aρχαιογνωσία 6 (1989-1990), 207-211.

22.- A review of Konstantinos Grollios' Horace Odes, Book 2nd, Aρχαιογνωσία 7 (1991-2), 228-231.

23.- Sallust - Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank, Athens 1993, pp 340.

24.- "Women of High Moral Character in Roman Comedy", Fourth Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies (Rethymnon 1990), 9-19 (in Greek, with a summary in Engl.).

25.- "Contribution to the Study of the Roman Theatrical Speech", Aρχαιογνωσία 8 (1993-4), 107-118 (in Greek, with a summary in English).

26.- "Heroides : The seventh Book", Acta of the Fifth Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, at Athens 1993, (Athens, 1996), 163-172.

27.- Senecas : De vita beata (Για μια ευτυχισμένη ζωή)- An Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, Patakis : "Tα Mικρά / Λατίνοι Συγγραφείς -1-", Athens 1996, pp 119.

28.- Senecas : De tranquillitate animi (Περί της πνευματικής γαλήνης)- An Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, Patakis : "Tα Mικρά / Λατίνοι Συγγραφείς -3-", Athens 1997, pp. 94.

29.- Suetonius , 1st Volume : Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, Latin Historians, 2, The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank, Athens 1997, pp. 443.

30.- Senecas : De brevitate vitae (Περί της συντομίας της ζωής) - An Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, Patakis : "Tα Mικρά / Λατίνοι Συγγραφείς -4-", Athens 1998, pp. 94.

31.- "Types and Characters in Roman Comedy", Aρχαιογνωσία 9 (1995-96), Athens 1998, pp. 49-81.

32.- "Talent and perversion of an emperor : the valuation of the historical evidence", Acta of the Sixth Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies (1997), Acta of the Sixth Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, at Ioannina 1997, (Ioannina, 2001), 203-211.

33.- Suetonius , 2nd volume : Introduction, Translation into Greek and Notes, Latin Historians , 2, The Cultural Foundation of the National Bank, Athens 1999, pp. 433.

34.- “A Concise Examination of the Revival of the Roman Comedy Authors and of their Continuous Presence”, Nea Poreia, October - December 1999, 253-267.

35.- Erasmos : De recta Latini Graecique pronuntiatione dialogus ( = on the right pronunciation of Latin and Greek), Patakis editions, Athens 2000, pp. 253.

36.- "Gaius Sallustius Crispus", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 53 (2000), 34-37.

37.- “Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus”, Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 53 (2000),38-

38.- "Cornelius Tacitus", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 53 (2000), 42-47.

39.- "Romans and Cristianity", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 62 (2000), 36-41

40.- "The Reservations of a Conservative World", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 114 (2001), 36-41.

41.- "Virgil : His Georgics and Bucolics : A critical valuation", 3rd Millenium, 7 (2001), 24-27.

42.- “Days of slavery and voices of freedom from the Ionian islands”, Nostos 1 (2002), 259-291.

43.- “Professor D. Lypourlis’ functional presence in the School and Department”, O paratiritis 33-34 (2003), 53-57.

44.- “Some problems in translating Latin”, Acta of the 23rd Symposium of Poetry, University of Patrae, July 4th – 6th 2003, 159-165.

45.- “The activities of the Society of Kytherian Studies”, Acta of a conference organised by Prof. G. Leontsinis at Kythira (Σεπτέμβριος 2003), pp.29.

46.- “Translating the Roman Historians”, Acta of the Seventh Panhellenic Symposium of Latin Studies, at Thessaloniki 16-19 Oct. 2002, University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 2003, 471-481.

47.- "Gaius Iulius Caesar : et tu son?", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 236 (2004), 24-29.

48.- "The Figure of Diana in Virgilian Aeneid", Honorary Volume for Emeritus Prof. Loukas Sparros, edited by Dem. Zikas, Athens 2004, 41-45.

49.- “Lavinia : A shadowy presence in Vergilian epic”, A Honorary Volume for Emeritus Prof. Dem. Lypourlis, University Studio, Thessaloniki 2004, pp.323-342.

50.- "Gaius Iulius Caesar as a Writer", Elefterotypias’ Istorica, 293 (2005), 26-31.

51.- “The Virgilian Dido and Andromache : parallel lives?”, A Honorary Volume forEmeritus Prof.Ioan.Theof. Papadimitriou, Athens 2006, pp. …… ……….

52.- “Venus and Eros in Aeneid”, Nostos 3 (2005), pp. 263-273.