Georgios Kandilaptis

Georgios Th. Kandilaptis (Greek: Γεώργιος Κανδηλάπτης, romanized: Geórgios Kandiláptis) was a Greek scholar, journalist and teacher. He for 44 years in the Ottoman Empire and later in Greece as well as an author of studies of historical, folklore, literary and sociological content, which his main subject being the region of Pontus.

Kandilaptis was born in 23 October 1881 in Argyropolis, then Ottoman Empire (now Gümüşhane, Turkey) and was the last of the 4 children of Theodoros and Kiparissia (or Paresa) Kandilaptis. In 1899, after graduating from the Phrontisterion of Argyropolis, he pursued an educational career teaching from 1899 until 1914 in villages in the province of Argyropolis and Erzincan. In 1914, during World War I, he was called to join the Ottoman army, but he was declared a fugitive and the period 1920-1922 and was exiled to Erzurum.

Later, he took place in the Population exchange between Greece and Turkey when in the summer of 1924 he left his hometown and fled to Greece where he settled with his family in Alexandroupoli, transporting with him important historical relics of Pontic history including Golden bulls of the Empire of Trebizond, the bones of Alexios IV of Trebizond and several library manuscripts, saving them from destruction.

In Greece, he continued his teaching career, mostly in elementary schools in various areas of the region of Evros, until his retirement in 1951. On June 29, 1966, the Greek state honored Kandilaptis' offer in letters, awarding him with a special ceremony held in Athens and the Gold cross of the Order of the Phoenix.

He died from a disease on January 14, 1971 in Alexandroupoli.

Personal life

Kandilaptis was married since 1908 to Angeliki Louka, with whom he had seven children (four boys and three girls). One of his children was killed in action during the Greco-Italian War, Lieutenant Theodoros Kandilaptis, whose name bears Alexandroupouli's military camp.

In addition to being a teacher, Kandilaptis was from a young age a journalist and columnist, working with newspapers and magazines such as the Pharos tis Anatolis (in Trabzon), the World of Odessa, the Argonautis of Batumi and the Paidikos Kosmos. His activity continued after his establishment in Greece, publishing until 1969 about 400 essays, articles, studies and literature in magazines and newspapers in Athens, Macedonia and Western Thrace. By 1971 (the year of his death) twelve books had been published, and a large volume of his unpublished work was published after 2001.