Apostol Arsache () or Apostolos Arsakis (; ; 1789 – 1869) was a Greek-Romanian politician and philanthropist. He was one of the major benefactors of 19th-century Greece, while at the same time he became a leading political figure in Romania.

Life

Arsache was born in the village of Hotovë, Përmet District, modern southern Albania, then in Ottoman Empire. He was of either Albanian, Aromanian or Greek descent. In 1800, Arsache moved together with his family to Vienna, there he was educated in a school of the local Greek diaspora. Among his teachers was Neophytos Doukas, prominent figure of the

modern Greek Enlightenment The Modern Greek Enlightenment (also known as the Neo-Hellenic Enlightenment; , ''Diafotismós'' / , ''Neoellinikós Diafotismós'') was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment, characterized by an intellectual and philosophical movemen ...

. At 1807 Doukas published an

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

composed by Arsache about the work, ''Breviarium historiae Romanae'', of historian [ Eutropius. He then went to the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

and studied medicine. Arsache composed a treatise under the title ''Ἔκθεσις συνοπτικὴ τῆς Ἰατρικῆς ἱστορίας'' (Coincise Report of the History of Medicine) in

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, which was published at the Greek periodical '' Hermes o Logios'', in Vienna. At 1807 he published his thesis ''De Piscium Celebro et Medulla Spinali'' in Latin. In 1814 he moved to Bucharest, Romania. In the Cabinet of Barbu Catargiu (22 January to 24 June 1862), he served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

and following Catargiu's assassination on 20 June, Arsache briefly served as interim

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania (), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania (), is the head of the Government of Romania, Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled ''President of the Council of Ministers'' (), when ...

Contribution to Greece

He became one of the major benefactors of the newly established Greek state. In 1850 he offered large sums of money for the establishment of a female educational institutions in the Greek capital, Athens, housed in a luxurious mansions at the city center. Arsache donated a total of 600,000 golden drachmas for this purpose. This institution bore the name '' Arsakeio'' after him.Georgeta Filitti-Penelea – ''Apostol Arsachi''. În: PVB, 1995, 1, pp. 57–62.
Georgeta Filitti-Penelea – ''Apostol Arsaki – un personaj istoric uitat (Le docteur Apostol Arsaki (XIX s.)''. În: Magazin Istoric, 1996, 30, nr. 1, pp. 20–22
Dimitris Michalopoulos, "Apostol Arsachi", ''Revue Roumaine d'Histoire'', tomes XL-XLI (2001–2002), pp. 139–158.
Dimitris Michalopoulos, ''Arsaki. La vie d'un homme d'Etat'', București: Editura Academiei Române, 2008. Because of his initiative the Greek Parliament gave him honorary Greek citizenship. He also managed to build a school in his home town in 1870.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsache, Apostol 1789 births 1869 deaths People from Përmet Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire Immigrants to the Holy Roman Empire Ministers of foreign affairs of Romania Ministers of interior of Romania Romanian people of Aromanian descent Romanian people of Greek descent Romanian people of Albanian descent Greek philanthropists Aromanians from the Ottoman Empire Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Greek people of Aromanian descent Greek people of Albanian descent Aromanian politicians Immigrants to the Principality of Wallachia 19th-century philanthropists 19th-century people from the Principality of Wallachia