{"id":643,"date":"2025-02-03T10:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T10:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hjs.gr\/?p=643"},"modified":"2025-05-20T10:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T10:01:13","slug":"62-3-2-2-2-2-3-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hjs.gr\/?p=643","title":{"rendered":"155 Years from the birth of professor of anatomy Georgios Sclavounos: His contribution to the greek surgical anatomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Surgical History
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Hell J Surg. 2024 Jul-Sept;94(3):176\u2013179
\ndoi: 10.59869\/24044
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Michail Saintanis1<\/sup>, Ameer Shehade1<\/sup>, Dimosthenis Chrysikos1<\/sup>, Dimitrios Filippou1<\/sup>, Dimitri\u03bfs Schizas2<\/sup>, Theodore Troupis1<\/sup><\/p>\n

1<\/sup>Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece,
\n2<\/sup>Division of Surgery, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece<\/p>\n

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Correspondence:\u00a0 <\/em>Michail Saintanis, Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Faculty of Health Sciences, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 75 M. Asias str.,11527, Athens, Greece, Tel.: +30 6942268921, email: michalis.snt@gmail.com<\/a>, ORCID iD: 0009-0007-8415-9404<\/p>\n

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Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Georgios Sclavounos (1869 – 1954) was a 20th<\/sup>-century Greek physician and university professor. He reformed the field of Anatomy in Greece, at a time when it began to be qualitatively compared with its progress in other countries.<\/p>\n

Key Words:\u00a0 <\/em>Georgios Sclavounos, professor of Anatomy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens<\/p>\n

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Submission: 26.12.2024, Acceptance: 03.01.2025<\/span><\/p>\n

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Georgios Sclavounos was born in Tithorea in the province of Lokris, Fthiotides, Greece, on October 16, 1869. He graduated from Thebes School and in the academic year 1884-1885 he enrolled in the Philosophy School of the University of Athens. He then transferred to the Law School. A year later, the University was closed due to conscription and Sclavounos went to Zurich for eight months and later to W\u00fcrzburg in Bavaria where he studied Medicine. He graduated in 1891 with a doctorate with the thesis \u201cOn elaidin and the keratogenic process of the cardiac fate of the stomach of mammals\u201d [1] (Figures 1-4).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1.<\/strong> Georgios Sclavounos. Oil painting of Georgios Sclavounos by an unknown artist. Adapted from the Department of Anatomy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2.<\/strong> The Anatomy Museum. Department of Anatomy-\u201cAnatomeion\u201d, \u039cedical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece.<\/p>\n

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Figure 3.<\/strong> Georgios Sclavounos of tithorea, fthiotides, academician, professor of anatomy.<\/p>\n

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Figure 4.<\/strong> Brief explanation of Georgios Sclavounos\u2019 \u201csialine groove of the stomach\u201d created by Michail Saintanis.<\/p>\n

In 1891, he passed practical examinations and worked for two years as an assistant in the anatomical institute of the famous Swiss great anatomist, physiologist and histologist Albert von K\u00f6liker (1817-1905) in W\u00fcrzburg. K\u00f6lliker made contributions to the study of zoology. K\u00f6lliker\u2019s earlier efforts were directed to the invertebrates, and his memoir on the development of cephalopods (which appeared in 1844) is considered a classical work [1].<\/p>\n

G. Sclavounos collaborated with the great anatomists Max Schultze (1825-1874), Hermann Braus (1868-1924) and Johannes Sobotta (1869-1945), who are the authors of well-known contemporary anatomical textbooks and atlases.<\/p>\n

In 1892, he returned to Greece for family reasons. Upon his return to Athens, he was appointed assistant professor of Anatomy and curator of the Anatomy under the supervision of Professor Rigas Nikolaidis (1856-1928). In 1893 he was appointed lecturer of anatomy, in 1895 curator of the anatomy laboratory and in 1899-1900 he was elected professor and director of the Institute of Anatomy [2].<\/p>\n

Sclavounos introduced anatomical research and many anatomical terms into Greek medical literature. Greek anatomical science began to be comparable to its Western counterpart.<\/p>\n

In 1906, Sclavounos published the first volume of his three-volume monumental scientific work about Human Anatomy. To illustrate his book, he borrowed anatomical paintings from Werner Spalteholz (1861-1940), professor of the University of Leipzig, and histological and anatomical images from Johannes Sobotta (1869-1945), professor of the University of W\u00fcrzburg and later professor of the University of K\u00f6nigsberg and University of Bonn, and Otto Schultze, also professor of the University of Bonn. The 48 illustrations in Sclavounos\u2019 book were illustrations of his own preparations and they are astonishing in their accuracy of detail [3-5].<\/p>\n

In 1899, G. Sclavounos became full professor in the chair of Anatomy and Physiology. From the academic year 1933-1934 he was director of the Dental School. He retreated, due to retirement, from the University of Athens in 1938. During his presence at the University, he ordered new anatomical casts from abroad while he inaugurated the new Anatomy Department in Goudi, Athens [1,2].<\/p>\n

\u00a0Georgios Sclavounos used the technique of pyrography to describe the adhesion of muscles to bones by representing the cauterised points which were the points of attachment of the muscles. At that time, the use of the Teichmann technique for injecting a colored substance into corpses was introduced and this technique was applied in Greece before it was applied in Europe. This achievement is considered important for the progress of surgical anatomy and anatomical research.<\/p>\n

G. Sclavounos taught Anatomical and Physiological Histology and gave a demonstration with microscopic presentations of embryological preparations, Anatomical and Histological exercises, as well as dealing with Osteology and Syndesmology and taught Anatomy courses at the School of Fine Arts.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In 1897, he was elected a life member of the International Anatomical Society, the German Anatomical Society and since 1926 a member of the Academy of Athens. He died on May 13, 1954 in Athens.<\/p>\n

He was married to Victoria Kyriazis, daughter of the mayor of Drymia, Fthiotides, Themistocles Kyriazis and great-granddaughter of the famous fighter in the Revolution of 1821 Komnas (Komninos) Trakas (1786-1840). They had four children including Themistocles Sclavounos, professor of Histology-Embryology at the School of Medicine of the University of Athens and Konstantinos Sclavounos, professor at the Agricultural School of the University of Thessaloniki. Themistocles Sclavounos was the first Professor -Director from 1936 when the extraordinary chair of Histology-Embryology became regular, until 1967 [1-5].<\/p>\n

In 2010, a museum in his honor was opened in Amfikleia, Fthiotides.\u00a0 The museum, which bears the name of the late academician, was created jointly by the Municipality of Amfikleia and the School of Medicine of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens [6].<\/p>\n

G. Sclavounos wrote numerous books and scientific works on Anatomy and Physiology in Greek and German. Among them [3-5]:<\/p>\n