Reteos Berberian

Reteos Berberian, also known as Reteos Perperian (Armenian: Ռեթէոս Պէրպէրեան, 1848, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire – 1907, Üsküdar, Ottoman Empire), was an Ottoman Armenian educator, pedagogue, principal, writer, poet, and founder of the prestigious Armenian Berberian Varjaran school.[1]

Reteos Berberian
Born	1848 Hasköy, Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died	1907 Üsküdar, Ottoman Empire
Nationality	Ottoman
Occupation	Educator, pedagogue, principal, writer, poet
Known for	Founder of the prestigious Armenian Berberian Varjaran school

Biography

Reteos Berberian was born in Hasköy, a heavily populated Armenian district of Constantinople. He graduated from the local Nersesian school in 1866.[1] Inspired by the educational facilities of the Armenian community of Constantinople, Berberian aspired to open an educational institution himself. He finally achieved doing this in 1876 when he built the Berberian Varjaran school in Üsküdar.[1] The curriculum and methodology of the school was his design and creation. The school trained and educated students so that they can achieve a level of competency high enough to enable them to enter prestigious European universities. Berberian died in 1907 and was buried at the Bağlarbaşi Armenian cemetery in Üsküdar.

Writings

Reteos Berberian, after learning grabar (classical Armenian), used it in his romantic poems. At the age of nineteen, he translated Lamartine's "Death of Socrates" and other poems into Grabar.[2] He published his first poetry book, called «Առաջին տերեւք» (The First Leaves), in 1877. A series of articles about his reflections on natural and elemental world was published in the newspaper Yergrakunt (Globe). «Դաստիարակի խօսքերը» (Words of a Teacher), published in 1901, consisted of his speeches, lectures, and advice about education. The book «Խօսք եւ յուշեր» (Words and Memories) was a set of emotional poems he wrote after his wife died in 1903. His last work, «Դպրոց եւ դպրութիւն» (School and Schooling), published shortly before his death, consisted of additional articles about education and pedagogy.

Further reading

• Berberian's Life and Work
• Tevoyan, A.M., Reteos Berberian Biography [In Armenian], Yerevan (1989)

References

1. Hacikyan, Agop; Gabriel Basmajian; Edward S. Franchuk (2005). Nourhan Ouzounian (ed.). The Heritage of Armenian Literature Volume III: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press. pp. 428–429. ISBN 0-8143-2815-6. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
2. Kurkjian, Vahan M. (2008). A history of Armenia. Los Angeles, CA: Indo-European Publishing. ISBN 9781604440126. Retrieved 27 September 2012.