Panos Rontogiannis wrote Lefkada’s history in two volumes, 687 and 923 pages long

The first volume of Panos Rontogiannis’ History of the Island of Lefkada appeared in Athens in 1980 and ran to 687 pages. The second followed in 1982 with 923. He was a schoolteacher, not a university historian, and he had already founded the island’s public library. The Society for Lefkadian Studies later reprinted both volumes with his own corrections.

A philologist from Tsoukalades who taught in four towns

Rontogiannis was born in the Lefkada village of Tsoukalades in 1911 and studied philology in Athens. The Biblionet author record says he took part in the National Resistance and taught in secondary schools in Katerini, Lefkada, Igoumenitsa and Athens, where former pupils remembered him as an inspiring teacher. He founded the Public Library of Lefkada and its collection of post-Byzantine icons. He died in 1996.

Christian Art in Lefkada won an Academy of Athens prize in 1975

His first large book was about the island’s churches and icons. Christian Art in Lefkada filled volume three of the Society’s yearbook, dated 1973 and printed in 1974 with 125 plates. The Academy of Athens gave it a prize in 1975, according to the Society’s own chronology. Rontogiannis had sat on the Society’s first board when its statute was approved in December 1970.

Two volumes, 1980 and 1982, with chapters on farming, shipping and schools

The publisher’s description on Biblionet is drawn from his preface. It says the second volume set out to cover the whole period after the island’s union with Greece in 1864. Farming and produce, shipping, and education and letters are among its subjects. He wrote that the general picture of island life would emerge more clearly as such studies multiplied.

The chronology lists the first edition of volume one at 687 pages and volume two at 923. The 2005 and 2006 reprints carry corrections and additions by the author, made before his death, and run to 701 and 935 pages. Volume one was reprinted again in 2016.

Later books on the capitals and the schools of Lefkada

Rontogiannis kept working on single questions after the History. The Capitals of Lefkada appeared in the Society’s 1988 yearbook with five maps, and Education in Lefkada 1613 to 1950 followed in 1994, the Biblionet record shows. He chaired the Society from 1988 to 1994. The Society dedicated its fourth Ionian culture conference to him. It met in Lefkada in September 1993 on the theme “from local history to general history”, and the proceedings open with a paper by Dimitrios Sklavenitis titled “Panos Rontogiannis, the historian of Lefkada.”

Featured image: the Public Library of Lefkada, founded by Panos Rontogiannis, 31 December 2014. Photograph by Anton Lefterov, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for web.

Further Reading

• Dimitrios Ch. Sklavenitis, “Panos Rontogiannis: the historian of Lefkada”, conference paper, Pergamos repository, University of Athens (in Greek).

References

• Biblionet. Rontogiannis, Panos G., author record and bibliography (in Greek).
• Biblionet. Istoria tis Nisou Lefkados, Society for Lefkadian Studies, 2006 edition (in Greek).
• Society for Lefkadian Studies. Chronology of the Society, 1970 to present (in Greek).
• Society for Lefkadian Studies. Proceedings of the Fourth Conference of Ionian Culture, Lefkada, 8 to 12 September 1993 (in Greek).
• Wikimedia Commons. Lefkada Public Library, photograph by Anton Lefterov.