Demetrius Sarros (Δημήτριος Σάρρος), born Kato Vitsa, Zagori, 14 September, 1869; 150th anniversary of his birth in 2019.

Μέρος πρώτο

Although I had read a short account of the life and work of Demetrius Sarros (1869-1937) in the historical monograph on the village of Vitsa in Zagori, Epirus, written by Ioannis Nikolaidis (Ioannina, 1939, pages 116-122), I hadn't fully appreciated the impressive extent of Sarros's writings, literary, historical, folkloric, as well as his many translations from the Ancient Greek, and sections from Lord Byrons's Childe Harold, Canto II.

I decided to spend some time at the library of the Society of Epirot Studies in Ioannina this morning, where the librarian was most helpful. He quickly found all the material I had hoped to inspect, except an unpublished title, "Ipirotika tragoudia kai moirologia".

I was given permission to photograph whatever I wanted, but I did so rather hurriedly on the desk where I was sitting, to have some record of what I may want to study again, when time allows. The quality of my photos is very poor, but I will post the images here, in the hope that they will be of use to anyone who may decide to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of his birth in 2019. A special publication would be ideal on the occasion of the 2019 Vitsa Panigyri.

I started by looking at his translation of sections from Byron's Childe Harold, Canto II:

He also includes some sections from other poems by Byron:

I wanted to have a closer look at Sarros' first publication, Prota Tragoudia, 1891, which I had looked at many years ago.

I hope the above pages are more or less legible, when printed. I will put more material on the following posting.