“Remarkable Personalities” with Stavroula Karali welcomes Dr. Eleni Rapti, an archaeologist, historian, and author of the book «Σμύρνη, το καύχημα της Ιωνίας. Η εκπαίδευση των Ελλήνων», published by Herodotos Editions.
Rapti discusses Smyrna’s extensive network of Greek schools, its students and teachers, and everyday life in the classroom. She focuses on the Evangelical School, the Philological Gymnasium, and private schools such as the Aronis School, which Giorgos Seferis attended.
The discussion also covers girls’ education and Smyrna’s girls’ schools: the social attitudes that limited girls’ schooling and the gradual changes that opened new paths for women in education and professional life.
Rapti also discusses the Ionian University, an ambitious educational project associated with Konstantinos Karatheodoris. The university was ready to open but never welcomed its first students. The Asia Minor Catastrophe brought the project to an abrupt end.
Produced and presented by Stavroula Karali
Sound editing: Maria Fotakopoulou