Costache or Kostake Aristia (; born Constantin Chiriacos Aristia; , Konstantinos Kyriakos Aristias; transitional Cyrillic: Коⲛстантiⲛꙋ Aрiстia, Constantinŭ Aristia; 1800 – 18 April 1880) was a Wallachian-born poet, actor and translator, also noted for his activities as a soldier, schoolteacher, and philanthropist. A member of the Greek colony, his adolescence and early youth coincided with the peak of Hellenization in both Danubian Principalities. He first appeared on stage at Cișmeaua Roșie in Bucharest, and became a protege of Lady Rallou. She is claimed to have sponsored his voyage to France, where Aristia became an imitator of François-Joseph Talma.
Upon his return, Aristia took up the cause of Greek nationalism, joining the Filiki Eteria and flying the "flag of liberty" for the Sacred Band. He fought on the Wallachian front during the Greek War of Independence, and was probably present at the defeat at Drăgășani. He escaped the country and moved between various European states, earning protection from the Earl of Guilford, before returning to Bucharest as a private tutor for the Ghica family. Aristia used this opportunity to teach drama and direct plays, and thus became one of the earliest contributors to Romanian theater. A trendsetter in art and fashion, he preserved his reputation even as Wallachians came to reject Greek domination. He adapted himself to their cultural Francization, publishing textbooks for learning French, and teaching both French and Demotic Greek at Saint Sava College.
Under the Regulamentul Organic regime, Aristia blended Eterist tropes and Romanian nationalism. He became a follower of Ion Heliade Rădulescu, and helped set up the Philharmonic Society, which produced a new generation of Wallachian actors—including Costache Caragiale and Ioan Curie. He contributed to the effort of modernizing the language, though his own proposals in this field were widely criticized and ultimately rejected. Aristia was made popular by his translation of Vittorio Alfieri's Saul, which doubled as a nationalist manifesto, and earned accolades for his rendition of the Iliad; however, he was derided for eulogizing Prince Gheorghe Bibescu. He also contributed to cultural life in the Kingdom of Greece, where, in 1840, he published his only work of drama.
Aristia participated in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848, when, as leader of the National Guard, he arrested rival conservatives and publicly burned copies of Regulamentul Organic. During the backlash, he was himself a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire, and was finally expelled from Wallachia. He returned in 1851, having reconciled with the conservative regime of Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, and remained a citizen of the United Principalities. He kept out of politics for the remainder of his life, concentrating on his work at Saint Sava, and then at the University of Bucharest, and on producing another version of the Iliad. Among his last published works are Bible translations, taken up under contract with the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Biography Youth Aristia is generally believed to have been born in Bucharest, the Wallachian capital, in 1800. The date was pushed back to 1797 in some sources, but Aristia's relatives denied that this was accurate.Lărgeanu, p. 7 In 1952, folklorist Dimitrios Economides, who conducted interviews with the Aristia family, argued that Costache was born in Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman Empire, "around the year 1800".M. M. H., "Cronica. Activitatea folcloristică internațională. Folcloriștii greci despre cercetările noastre de folclor", in Revista de Folclor, Vol. III, Issue 4, 1958, p. 174 At the time of his birth, Wallachia and Moldavia (the two Danubian Principalities) were autonomous entities of the Ottoman realm; Greek cultural dominance and Hellenization, represented primarily by Phanariotes, were at their "great acme".Stamatopoulou-Vasilakou, pp. 47–48 Though seen by scholar Petre Gheorghe Bârlea as Aromanian by origin,Bârlea, p. 17 Aristia himself noted that, on his paternal side at least, he was a "good Greek". He described his relationship with Wallachia in terms of voluntary assimilation, as advised by his father: Fii grec și român zdravăn, fii recunoscător ("Be steadfast as a Greek and a Romanian, be thankful").Constantin D. Ananescu, "Constantin Aristia — 114 anĭ de la nașterea sa", in Adevĕrul, 13 January 1914, p. 1 Immersed in Greek culture, he still had virtually no understanding of written Romanian until 1828.Călinescu, p. 150
Costache entered Bucharest's Greek School during the reign of Prince John Caradja, a Phanariote.Maria Protase, "Aristia Costache", in Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. I, p. 421. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. Dumitrescu, p. 15 His teachers there included philologist Constantin Vardalah. According to one late report by researcher Octav Minar, Aristia also debuted as a teacher of drama upon his return to Bucharest, at some point before 1815. His first-generation students supposedly included Stephanos "Natis" Caragiale, grandfather of the Romanian dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale.Minar, p. 6; Ionuț Niculescu, "Familia Caragiale – între adevăr și legendă", in Vitraliu, Vol. VII, Issue 13, 1999, p. 4 Before graduating, Aristia himself was an actor for the open-air venue at Cișmeaua Roșie.Dumitrescu, p. 15; Papazoglu & Speteanu, p. 321; Papacostea-Danielopolu, p. 74; Potra (1990), p. 524; Puchner (2017), p. 285; Stamatopoulou-Vasilakou, p. 48 Scholar Walter Puchner, who dates these events to "the spring and autumn of 1817", questions the accuracy of historical records, noting that they contradict each other on the details;Puchner (2017), p. 285 according to memoirist and researcher Dimitrie Papazoglu, Cișmeaua was in fact managed by "director Aristias".Papazoglu & Speteanu, p. 53 At that stage, acting in Wallachia was an all-male enterprise, and Aristia appeared as a female lead, in drag.Berzuc, p. 100; Puchner (2006), p. 93 The Cișmeaua troupe was sponsored by Caradja's daughter, Lady Rallou. According to various accounts, she was impressed by Aristia's talent, and reportedly sent him abroad, to the Kingdom of France, for Aristia to study under François-Joseph Talma.Călinescu, p. 150; Donatiello, pp. 28, 43; Dumitrescu, p. 15; Ghica & Roman, p. 149; Lărgeanu, p. 7; Potra (1990), p. 524; Puchner (2017), p. 293; Stamatopoulou-Vasilakou, p. 48 The details of this claim are disputed. Researcher Ioan Massoff notes that Aristia was never a member of Talma's acting class, but only a regular spectator to his shows, and after that his imitator.Berzuc, p. 97 Puchner questions whether this trip ever took place, since "no evidence has surfaced for [Aristia's] stay in Paris."Puchner (2017), p. 293
The Aristias rallied to the cause of Greek nationalism shortly before the Greek uprising of 1821. Young Aristia joined Alexander Ypsilantis's secret society, the Filiki Eteria,Birtz, pp. 16, 44; Lăcusteanu & Crutzescu, p. 270; Lărgeanu, pp. 7–8; Papacostea-Danielopolu, p. 74 which slowly engineered the nationalist expedition in Moldavia and Wallachia. In late 1818 and early 1819, a new Prince, Alexandros Soutzos, allowed Aristia and his troupe to perform works of political theater, portraying the "hatred of tyranny and self-sacrifice for the fatherland"—from La Mort de César and Mérope, by Voltaire, to Iakovakis Rizos Neroulos' Aspasia. They were met with "frenetic applause, exuberance and overflowing emotions".Puchner (2017), pp. 285–286 Soutzos was troubled by this reception, and decided to ban all plays that could be construed as critiques of religion and political affairs. He was ignored by the troupe, who answered more directly to a group of Eterist conspirators; they continued with provocative stagings of plays by Voltaire and Vittorio Alfieri, until May 1820, by which time local Greeks were in full preparation for the revolution.Puchner (2017), p. 286
Aristia awaited the Eterists in Bucharest, which had been occupied by troops loyal to Tudor Vladimirescu, who led a parallel uprising of Romanians. In mid March 1821, Greeks in Bucharest, led by Giorgakis Olympios, pledged to support Ypsilantis rather than Vladimirescu. The event was marked by a large display of Greek nationalism in downtown Bucharest, the details of which were committed to writing by Constantin D. Aricescu from his interview with Aristia.Ghica & Roman, p. 493 The actor carried the "flag of liberty", an Eterist symbol showing Constantine the Great and Helena, alongside a cross and the slogan "In this, conquer"; the obverse showed a phoenix rising from its ashes.Iorga (1921), pp. 272–273. See also Călinescu, p. 150; Lărgeanu, pp. 7–8 The ceremony ended with the banner being planted on the Bellu gate, announced to the crowds as prefiguring the future reconquest of Byzantium.Ghica & Roman, p. 173; Iorga (1921), p. 273 Reportedly, "the flag that was carried by Mr. Aristia" was later also adopted by Sava Fochianos, who deserted to Ypsilantis' Sacred Band alongside the Bucharest garrison.Iorga (1921), pp. 75, 362
In April–August, Ypsilantis' forces were encircled and crushed by the Ottoman Army. According to various accounts, Aristia fought alongside the Sacred Band of Wallachia in their final stand at Drăgășani, side by side with a fellow actor, Spiros Drakoulis. He was seriously wounded on that battlefield,Puchner (2017), pp. 283, 289 before receiving sanctuary in the Austrian Empire.Călinescu, p. 150; Dumitrescu, p. 15; Lărgeanu, p. 8 He eventually settled in the Papal States, where he reportedly continued his education and became familiar with Italian theater.Donatiello, pp. 28, 34 Performing in charity shows for destitute children, in or around 1824 he met Louis Dupré, who drew his portrait.Lărgeanu, p. 8 Also at Rome, Aristia met the Earl of Guilford, and later claimed to have received his quasi-parental protection. Meanwhile, Costache's actual father had enlisted to fight for the First Hellenic Republic, and was later killed at the Siege of Missolonghi.
Returning to his native Wallachia, Aristia found work as a private tutor for young members of the Ghica family—whose patriarch, Grigore IV Ghica, had taken the Wallachian throne in 1822. His patron, Smărăndița Ghica, also asked him to stage Neoclassical plays in Greek at her Bucharest home. Regulars included the future politician and memoirist, Ion Ghica, who was also directly tutored by Aristia.Ghica & Roman, pp. 12, 149, 255, 348. See also Potra (1990), p. 524 According to Ghica, Aristia reserved the title roles for himself, while Smărăndița and Scarlat Ghica had supporting roles; their costumes were improvised from bed linen and old dresses.Ghica & Roman, p. 348 Ghica describes his teacher as an "epic" and "fiery" character, noting in passing that Aristia was also promoting the modern Western fashion, including the tailcoat, having discarded all Ottoman clothing after 1822.Ghica & Roman, pp. 255, 348
This period also witnessed the first coordination between Aristia and a Wallachian writer, Ion Heliade Rădulescu. Inspired by the latter, in 1825 Aristia produced and performed in Molière's George Dandin, turning it into an anti-Phanariote manifesto.Bogdan-Duică, p. 125. See also Călinescu, pp. 64, 140, 149; Dima et al., p. 276; Puchner (2017), p. 271 It remains the only work by Molière ever to be brought on stage in Wallachia, despite many translations of his other plays.Puchner (2017), p. 271 Also in 1825, Aristia traveled to British Corfu, performing in his own Greek rendition of Voltaire's Mahomet.Donatiello, p. 31 Sponsored by Guilford, he finally graduated from the Ionian Academy. During his time there, he staged Alfieri's Oreste, Agamemnon, and Antigone, Pietro Metastasio's Demofoonte, and Jean Racine's Andromaque. Puchner also mentions that Aristia eventually taught classes at the academy.Puchner (2017), p. 283