Alexandros Rizos Rangavis or Alexander Rizos Rakgabis" (; ; 27 December 180928 June 1892), was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

man of letters An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either ...

, poet and

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Early life

He was born in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

to a

Phanariot Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots (, , ) were members of prominent Greeks, Greek families in Fener, Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, Ecume ...

family. He was educated at

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

and the military school at

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Having served as an officer of artillery in the

Bavarian army The Bavarian Army () was the army of the Electorate of Bavaria, Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom of Bavaria, Kingdom (1806–1918) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereig ...

, he returned to Greece, where he held several high educational and administrative appointments. He subsequently became ambassador to Washington, D.C. (1867), Paris (1868), and Berlin (1874–1886), and was one of the Greek plenipotentiaries at the

Congress of Berlin At the Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878), the major European powers revised the territorial and political terms imposed by the Russian Empire on the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of San Stefano (March 1878), which had ended the Rus ...

in 1878.

Literary work

He was the chief representative of a school of literary men, known as the First Athenian School, whose object was to restore as far as possible the ancient classical language. He was also a founding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens. Of his various works, ''Hellenic Antiquities'' (1842–1855, of great value for epigraphical purposes), ''Archaeologia'' (1865–1866), an illustrated ''Archaeological Lexicon'' (1888–1891), and the first ''History of Modern Greek Literature'' (1877) are of the most interest to scholars. He wrote also the following dramatic pieces: ''The Wedding of Koutroulis'' (comedy), ''Dukas'' (tragedy), ''The'' ''Thirty Tyrants'', ''The Eve'' (of the Greek revolution); the romances,'' The Prince of Morea'', ''Leila'', and ''The Notary of Argostoli''; and translated portions of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...

Lessing Lessing is a German surname of Slavic origin. The original Sorbian form, ''Lěsnik'', means either "forest dweller" or "woodman", ''lěs'' meaning "wood forest". People with the surname Lessing include a German family of writers, artists, musicians ...

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and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

. After his recall he lived in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, where he died on 28 June 1892. He had married Caroline, the daughter of James Skene of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen. A complete edition of his philological works in nineteen volumes was published at Athens (1874–1890), and his ''Memoirs'' appeared posthumously in 1894–1895.

Publications

* Ραγκαβής, Α. Ρ. (1852).
Memoire sur la partie meridionale de l' ile d' Eubee / par M. Rangabe
'. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. * Ραγκαβής, Α. Ρ. (1859).
Διάφορα διηγήματα και ποιήματα
'. Εν Αθήναις: Εκ του Τυπογραφείου Γ. Περδικομμάτη. * Ραγκαβής, Α. Ρ. (1866).
Αρχαιολογία: Ιστορία της Αρχαίας Καλλιτεχνίας
', Τ. 2, Εν Αθήναις. * Ραγκαβής, Α. Ρ. (1873)
''Ο πρίγκιψ του Μορέως / Le Prince de Morée, traduction du grec autorisée par l'auteur''
Paris Librairie Academique.

Publications about Rangavis

*
Με των Μουσών τον έρωτα. Ο Αλέξανδρος Ρίζος Ραγκαβής και το νεοελληνικό θέατρο
'. Εκδόσεις ΙΜΣ.

Notes

External links