Demetrios Vikelas
His Excellency Demetrios Vikelas | |
---|---|
Δημήτριος Βικέλας | |
1st President of the International Olympic Committee | |
In office 1894–1896 | |
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | Pierre de Coubertin |
Personal details | |
Born | Ermoupoli, Greece | 15 February 1835
Died | 20 July 1908 Athens, Greece | (aged 73)
Demetrios Vikelas (also Demetrius Bikelas; Greek: Δημήτριος Βικέλας; 15 February 1835[1] – 20 July 1908) was a Greek businessman and writer; he was the co-founder and first President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), from 1894 to 1896.[2]
After a childhood spent in Greece and Constantinople (now Istanbul), he found fortune in London, where he married. He then moved to Paris, on account of his wife. Abandoning business, he dedicated himself to literature and history, and published numerous novels, short stories and essays, which earned him a distinguished reputation.
Because of his reputation and the fact that he lived in Paris, he was chosen to represent Greece in a congress called by Pierre de Coubertin in June 1894, which decided to re-establish the Olympic Games and to organise them in Athens in 1896, designating Vikelas to preside over the organisation committee. After the Games were over, he stepped down, remaining in Athens until his death in 1908.
Childhood
Vikelas was born in Ermoupoli, on the island of Syros in Greece. His father was a merchant, originally from Veria (then part of the Ottoman Empire, today capital of the northern Greek province of Imathia in Central Macedonia) and his mother, Smaragda, was a member of the rich Melas family. He was educated at home by his mother,[3] possibly due to his fragile health.[citation needed]
When he was six, the family moved to
Already he showed signs of his literary potential. At the age of 17 he translated
London, from business to literature
While aged 17, in 1852, he left home to live in London with his uncles Leon and Vasileios Melas, where he worked for their business, Melas Bros, first as a bookkeeper and then as a partner. He also began to maintain a weekly correspondence with his mother.[3]
This correspondence, which was kept, is one of the most important in establishing his biography. He also kept a journal in which he recorded not only facts about his daily life but also advice from his uncle Leon and his thoughts on books he had read and plays he was able to attend.[4]
After his day's work at his uncles' business, he took evening classes at
During the political events of 1863 in Greece, following the revolution which led to the eviction of
Also in 1866, he married Kalliope Geralopoulou, a young sister of Katerini, the wife of one of his uncles, also a member of a rich merchant family in London.[8] He also became a titular partner in his uncles' business.[9]
He also met and became friends with Charilaos Trikoupis - the son of the Greek ambassador to Britain Spyridon Trikoupis, himself destined to become Prime Minister of Greece. At the time they met, Charilaos Trikoupis was just starting his diplomatic and political career as an attaché, then chargé d'affaires, of the Greek legation. The two men kept a busy correspondence.[8]
Demetrius Vikelas continued to gain favour in Greece — in 1868 he published a 30-page statistical article on the
In 1876, in the wake of the economic crisis that had started in 1873, and in order not to lose the profits of their work, Vikelas and his uncles dissolved their business (now called "Melas Bros - D. Vikelas"). He thus found himself in command of a comfortable fortune, which allowed him to fully dedicate his time to literature.[10]
Paris, the illness of his wife, and literature
In 1874, following the death of her father, Vikelas' wife Kalliope began to suffer from mental problems and showed a number of suicidal tendencies.[8] The couple tried travelling to ease the illness. In Paris, following another scare, doctors declared Kalliope mad and she stayed for seven and a half months in Jules Bernard Luys' asylum in Ivry-sur-Seine. True to his character, Vikelas recorded the progress of his wife's mental health daily during the twenty years which followed.[8]
In his journal, from 1872 Vikelas expressed the wish to move to Athens. In 1877, while Kalliope's condition was in remission, they took the opportunity to make the move. Vikelas started to build a home around the corner from the streets of
During his stays in Paris, Vikelas embarked on translating Shakespeare plays into Greek: King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and Othello during his wife's first stay (1878), and Macbeth and Hamlet during the second (1881). The public readings of his translations received an enthusiastic welcome in the literary community in Athens. He then also wrote his main literary work: Loukis Laras.[8] The book first appeared in Athens as a series starting in 1879. The same year, it was translated into French and German. The French translation (which had its first republication in 1880) was included by the Education Minister Jules Ferry in the list of works which could be given as prizes to good students.[12]
Vikelas spent the following fifteen years in Paris, building up contacts with the surrounding intellectuals and literati of the French capital. Consequently, Juliette Adam dedicated her anthology Poètes grecs contemporains ("Contemporary Greek poets"), published in 1881, to him, and he published in her Nouvelle Revue.[13] He wrote for it, as before, numerous articles (on Byzantine history, Eastern issues and Greek political life), novels (a compendium in French and Greek came out in 1887) and even travel guides.[14]
In the linguistic controversy in Greece between
Between 1877 and 1892, he travelled, since at the worst of her crises, his wife could not bear his presence. He returned to Greece, visited Scotland, Switzerland, Spain and Constantinople.[14]
In 1892, he bought a new plot in Athens (between the streets of Kriezotou and Valaoriti) where he built a new residence which was also his final home.[14]
In 1893, he helped finance the construction of the Greek Orthodox church in Paris .[16]
In May 1894, he received a request from the
Originally, it had been De Coubertin's idea to hold the first celebration of the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but Vikelas convinced him and the newly created International Olympic Committee that they should be held in Athens, in order to symbolically link them to the original Games.[17] As the constitution of the IOC at that time required the IOC president to be from the country which would host the next Games, Vikelas became the IOC's first president.
Permanent return to Greece
With his responsibility for the
In November 1894, a number of young nationalist officers, advocates of the
After the Games, which proved a success, Vikelas withdrew from the IOC, replaced as a member by the Count Alexander Mercati and as president by Coubertin. The defeat in the Greco-Turkish War which came soon after dealt a serious blow to his morale. He decided to leave Paris to move permanently to Athens. There he dedicated himself to popular education. In 1899 he founded the "Society for the Spread of Useful Books" in Athens, to help the country to recover from its defeat.[21]
In 1905, he represented the University of Athens at the third Olympic Congress and seventh IOC Meeting in Brussels.[22] He also remained an active member of the Hellenic Olympic Committee.[23] He died in Athens on 20 July 1908 "from an afflicting illness".[24]
He had been made a knight of the
Legacy
He left his immense library collection to the city of Heraklion in Crete, founding the Vikelaia Municipal Library.[25]
Though in fact he did not live much of his life in
Also the Syros Island National Airport is named for him.
The Olympic Movement
First Olympic Congress
Pierre de Coubertin had already attempted to restart the Olympic Games at the Congress for the fifth anniversary of the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques in 1892. While he may have raised the enthusiasm of the public, he did not manage to establish a proper commitment.[26]
He decided to reiterate his efforts at the Congress in 1894 which followed, which would openly address the issue of amateur sports, but also with the sub-text of the recreation of the Olympic Games. Six of the seven points which would be debated pertained to amateurism (definition, disqualification, betting, etc.) and the seventh on the possibility of restoring the Games. Coubertin also sought to give an international dimension to his congress. He gained support from several personalities: the
Historical and literary works
Novels and short stories
- Poems, London, 1862.
- Loukis Laras; his main work, a historical, patriotic and moral novel. The style is naturalistic, as opposed to his heavy romantic works which were written as they were in Greece. It is written in simple language to make it accessible to a wider audience. The action unfolds as the Greek War of Independence enters Smyrna, Chios, Syros and the Cyclades. An old rich Greek merchant in London reflects on the adventures of his youth. The novel was published as a series from 1879 in the literary Athenian magazine Estia. The book was translated into eleven languages.[8]
- Nouvelle grecques, translated by the Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire, 1887.
- "Philippe Marthas (Nouvelle grecque)" appeared in La Nouvelle Revue., September–October 1886. read at Gallica (French)
- Papa-Narcissus, novel, 1887
- Filippos Marthas, novel, 1887
- Tales of the Aegean, 1894
Books and historical articles
- Articles on Palaiologos, the last dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, in the Athenian journal Pandora, 1859-1860.
- On the Byzantines., London, 1874.
- "Les Grecs aux conciles de Bâle et de Florence.", La Nouvelle Revue., May–June 1882. read at Gallica (French)
- "La Grèce avant la révolution de 1821", La Nouvelle Revue., January–February 1884. read at Gallica (French)
- De Nicopolis à Olympie. Lettres à un ami., 1885. (following his correspondence with the Marquis de Queux de Saint-Hilaire)
- "The Byzantine Empire", Scottish Review, no. 8:16, October 1886.
- "Byzantism and Hellenism", Scottish Review, no. 9:17, janvier 1887.
- "The Subjects of the Byzantine Empire", Scottish Review, no. 9:18, April 1887.
- "Greece before 1821", Scottish Review, no. 13:26, April 1889.
- "The Formation of the Modern Greek State", Scottish Review, no. 14:27, July 1889.
- "L'Empereur Nicéphore Phocas", La Nouvelle Revue., July–August 1890. read at Gallica (French)
- Seven Essays on Christian Greece., 1890.
- "Le Philhellénisme en France.", Revue d'Histoire diplomatique., III, 1891.
- "La Littérature byzantine", Revue des deux mondes, March–April, 1892. read at Gallica (French)
- Grèce Byzantine et moderne., Firmin Didot, Paris, 1893.
Political and polemic works
- "Journalism in England", Eunomia (Athènes), 1864.
- "Statistics of the Kingdom of Greece", Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, no. 31, September 1868.
- Le Rôle et les aspirations de la Grèce dans la question d'Orient., Cercle Saint-Simon, Paris, 1885. read at Gallica (French)
- "Vingt-cinq années de règne constitutionnel en Grèce", La Nouvelle Revue., March–April 1889. read at Gallica (French)
- "The Territory of the Hellenic Kingdom", no. 14:28, October 1889.
Translations
He translated into Greek the stories of Hans Christian Andersen (for his nephews and nieces), and various Shakespeare plays.
Notes
- ^ Some sources use the date 1832 (Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens., 84)
- ISBN 978-0-313-28477-9.
Demetrios Vikelas ... was the first president of the IOC. The creation of the IOC and his election as president in 1894 constitute the beginning of the modern Olympic movement.
- ^ a b c Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 84
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 84-85
- ^ Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 106-107
- ^ Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 107
- ^ Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 107–108
- ^ a b c d e f g h Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 85
- ^ a b c Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 108
- ^ Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 109
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, The exemplary life of Dimitrios Vikelas, 16
- ^ Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 109-110
- ^ Basch, Le Mirage Grec, 229
- ^ a b c d Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 86
- ^ Basch, Le Mirage Grec, 231
- ^ a b c Dolianitis, Demetrius Vikelas, 111
- ISBN 978-0-7190-3792-4.
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 95
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 49-50
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 149-150
- ^ Miller, Εύλλογος πρὸς διάδοσιν ὠφελίμων βιβλίων, 117
- ^ Revue Olympique, Demetrius Bikelas, 132
- ^ Olympic Review, Greece and Olympism, 253
- ^ Revue Olympique, Demetrius Bikelas, 131
- ^ "Vikelaia Municipal Library". Municipality of Heraklion. Archived from the original on 2013-02-17. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 87
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 79–81
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 61
- ^ Llewellyn Smith, Olympics in Athens, 88
References
- ISBN 1-86197-342-X.
- Llewellyn Smith, Michael (2006). "The exemplary life of Dimitrios Vikelas (1835-1908)". The Historical Review / La Revue Historique. Vol. III. Institute of Neohellenic Research.
- Dolianitis, George (1995). The IOC's Centenary 1894-1994. The Contribution of Demetrius Vikelas to the Revival of the Olympic Games (PDF). Ancient Olympia: International Olympic Committee. pp. 93–120. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-01-14. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
- ISBN 2-218-06269-0.
- JSTOR 626292.
- "Demetrius Bikelas" (PDF). Revue Olympique (in French) (33). Paris: International Olympic Committee: 131–132. September 1908. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
- "Greece and Olympism" (PDF). Olympic Review (127). Lausanne: International Olympic Committee: 253. May 1978. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
External links
- Biography of Demetrius Vikelas on the IOC website
- Works by Demetrios Vikelas at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Demetrios Vikelas at Internet Archive
- Works by Demetrios Vikelas at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)