Dimitris Liantinis

Life and work Liantinis was born in the Laconian village of Polobitsa and his descent was from the nearby village of Liantina. His birth name was Dimitrios Nikolakakos (Δημήτριος Νικολακάκος). He later changed his surname to Liantinis to honour his village. He graduated in 1966 from the University of Athens' curriculum of Philosophy and worked as a teacher. He moved to Munich in 1970 to study the German language at LMU Munich, where he remained until 1972 while at the same time teaching at the Greek school of Otto Gesellschaft. In 1977 he completed his PhD thesis (titled "The Presence of the Greek Spirit in Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke" ) under the supervision of Evangelos Moutsopoulos. Liantinis says that Homer describes a scene where the hero, before engaging him in battle, says to his opponent: "the race of men is related to that of leaves" ("οἵη περ φύλλων γενεὴ τοίη δὲ καὶ ἀνδρῶν"), as we momentarily stand fresh on the tree branch, then quickly surrender to the wind and rain. The lyric poet Pindar also questions in his works: "What are we [men] but dreams of shadows..." ("σκιᾶς ὄναρ ἄνθρωπος"), "...not even shadows proper" as Liantinis points out.

The only form of immortality that Liantinis (and the Greeks, according to him) believed in was what he called "intra-world immortality" (ενδοκοσμική αθανασία), which comes from the memories a man leaves behind him, through his deeds and life example. This is indeed in accordance with the immense value the ancient Greeks placed on posthumous reputation (υστεροφημία).

On the same subject, he also emphasised the Greek hero's individualism (opposite to the Eastern dissolution of the self inside the Great Universe), even to the point of choosing his own death. In Gemma, he writes poetically: "I will die, Death, when I want and not when you want. In this last act, your desire is not going to be realized; it is my desire which will be realized. I fight against your will. I fight your power. I fight your entire entity. I will enter into the earth when I decide, not when you decide." [Gemma 1997].

Disappearance and death Liantinis disappeared on 1 June 1998. A taxi driver claimed that he drove the professor on the same day near Sparti (near Taygetos) and that he was wearing a blue shirt and white footwear.

Liantinis had instructed his cousin to reveal to his daughter, after seven years, the location of the crypt where his remains could be found. His cousin did so. In July 2005 human bones were found in the area of the mountain Taygetos; forensic examinations verified that it was the body of Liantinis. No lethal substances were found to determine the cause of death.

Some people believe that Liantinis took his own life as a protest against what he saw as the lack of values in modern Greek society. In his last letter to his daughter he wrote: "My last act has the meaning of protest for the evil that we, the adults, prepare for the innocent new generations that are coming. We live our life eating their flesh. A very bad evil. My unhappiness over this crime kills me."

Bibliography (selection) Liantinis D. (1984). Homo Educandus. Pub.: Vivliogonia. Liantinis D. (1992). Τα Ελληνικά. Pub.: Vivliogonia. Liantinis D. (1997). Gemma. Pub.: Vivliogonia. (English translation by Yiannis Tsapras. Available on Amazon and as a Kindle e-book; German translation by Nikolaos Karatsioras as Gemma: Wie man Mensch wird. Pub. Frank & Time).

An online resource (Liantinis.gr) written and managed by his wife Professor Nikolitsa Georgopoulou contains letters to her, manuscripts, un-edited texts and critical comments for his books.