When Velestinlis depicted Homer
The ‘Adamantios Korais’ Public Library
The Magna Carta of Rigas Velestinlis, one of the most important works of the Modern Greek Enlightenment movement, was printed in Vienna in 1797 in 1,220 copies. 12 numbered sheets measuring 80x60 cm. depicted the vision of Rigas, Greek statesman and writer, for a free state that would include the Helladic territory and the Balkans. The 6th sheet of the Carta depicts the coast of Ionia and the islands of the Eastern Aegean. In the depiction of Chios, the School of Homer is marked at the southern part of the island, close to the area of Fana, and this rendition is complemented by a coin: on one side it shows the Sphinx, the symbol of the island, resting against an amphora, and on the other, a male figure holding the Iliad with the inscription HOMER.
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