Paparrēgopoulos, K. 1815-1891

Constantine Paparrigopoulos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Παπαρρηγόπουλος; 1815 – 14 April 1891) was a Greek historian, who is considered the founder of modern Greek historiography. He is the founder of the concept of historical continuity of Greece from antiquity to the present, establishing the tripartite division of Greek history in ancient, medieval and modern, and sought to set aside the prevailing views at the time that the Byzantine Empire was a period of decadence and degeneration. Paparrigopoulos introduced this division in his teaching at the University of Athens. His main work is the multi-volume History of the Greek Nation (Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Έθνους), covering the history of the Greeks from ancient to modern times, and notably including the Greek Middle Ages as part of the national history of Greece. He is also known for vigorously countering the theories of Jakob Philipp Fallmerayer regarding the racial origins of the Greeks. He was the first historian who managed to demonstrate that Fallmerayer's theory was false.