# Evangelos Zappas

| Evangelis Zappas Ευαγγέλης Ζάππας |
| --- |
| Portrait of Evangelis Zappas in Zappeion |
| Born | 23 August 1800 Labovë e Madhe, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 19 June 1865(1865-06-19) (aged 64) Broșteni, Ialomița, United Principalities |
| Nationality | Greek |
| Citizenship | Greek, Romanian |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Benefactor Revival of modern Olympic Games |

**Evangelis** or **Evangelos Zappas** (Greek: Ευαγγέλης/Ευάγγελος Ζάππας; Romanian: *Evanghelie Zappa*; 23 August 1800 – 19 June 1865) was a Greek patriot, philanthropist and businessman who established the modern Olympic Games.

## Biography

### Early life

Evangelis Zappas was born to a Greek family on August 23, 1800 in the village of Labovo in the Ottoman Empire. His parents were Vasileios and Sotira Zappas. Zappas received no education during his youth. At 13, he left his village and worked as a mercenary in the Ottoman militia of Ali Pasha. Zappas was involved in the Filiki Eteria, a Greek patriotic organization, and served in the Greek War of Independence when it started in 1821. He claimed to have been wounded five times during the war. Zappas later moved to Wallachia in 1831 and made a fortune in land and agriculture. In the 1850s, Zappas became one of the wealthiest businessmen in Eastern Europe. The value of his whole fortune was calculated at six million gold drachmas.

### Revival of the Olympic Games

Panoramic view of the Panathenaic Stadium (1906).
Zappas was a nationalist inspired to revive the Olympic Games by Panagiotis Soutsos, a Greek poet. He sent a letter in 1856 to King Otto of Greece offering to pay to restore the Olympics. The first modern Olympic Games were held on November 15, 1859 in Athens, Greece. And just like in the ancient Olympics, the athletes competed in running, discus throwing, javelin throwing, wrestling, jumping, and pole-climbing. Zappas died on June 19, 1865 with no children. His money was used for developing athletic buildings in Athens, as well as for continuing the Olympic Games. He left instructions for the building of the Zappeion Exhibition and Conference Center named in both his honour and in the honour of his cousin, Konstantinos Zappas.

### Legacy

Evangelos Zappas made several donations to Greek schools, libraries and scholarships. He also financed the Romanian Academy where he has a statue there today. Zappas also funded a Romanian dictionary, a newspaper and books in the Albanian language, and research on the history of the Romanian people.

* Brownell, Susan (2008). *The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games: Sport, Race, and American Imperialism*. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-1098-1.
* Chatziefstathiou, Dikaia; Henry, Ian P. (2012). *Discourses of Olympism: From the Sorbonne 1894 to London 2012*. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137035561.
* Decker, Wolfgang (2005). *Festschrift für Wolfgang Decker zum 65. Geburtstag: dargebracht von Schülern, Freunden und Fachkollegen*. Berlin: Weidmann. ISBN 3-615-00326-8.
* Gerlach, Larry R. (2004). *The Winter Olympics: From Chamonix to Salt Lake*. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-778-6.
* Golden, Mark (2009). *Greek Sport and Social Status*. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71869-2.
* Hill, Christopher R. (1992). *Olympic Politics*. New York and Manchester: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-3792-1.
* Iordachi, Constantin (2013). "From Imperial Entanglements to National Disentaglement: The "Greek Question" in Moldavia and Wallachia, 1611–1863". In Daskalov, Roumen; Marinov, Tchavdar (eds.). *Entangled Histories of the Balkans – Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies*. Balkan Studies Library. Leiden and Boston: Brill. pp. 67–148. ISBN 9789004250765.
* Matthews, George R. (1904). *America's First Olympics: The St. Louis Games of 1904*. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. ISBN 0-8262-1588-2. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Philologikos Syllogos "Parnassos" (1977). *Parnassos* (in Greek). Athens: Philologikos Syllogos Parnassos.
* Reisler, Jim (2012). *Igniting the Flame: America's First Olympic Team*. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press. ISBN 978-0-7627-8660-2.
* Ruches, Pyrrhus J. (1967). *Albanian Historical Folksongs, 1716–1943: A Survey of Oral Epic Poetry from Southern Albania, with Original Texts*. Chicago, IL: Argonaut Incorporated.
* Rühl, Joachim K. (2004). "Olympic Games Before Coubertin". In Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D. (eds.). *Encyclopedia of the Modern Olympic Movement*. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 3–16. ISBN 978-0-313-32278-5.
* Ruprecht, Louis A. (2002). *Was Greek Thought Religious?: On the Use and Abuse of Hellenism, from Rome to Romanticism*. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-29563-9.
* Trager, James (1979). *The People's Chronology: A Year-by-year Record of Human Events from Prehistory to the Present*. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. ISBN 9780030178115.
* Vassiadis, George A. (2007). *The Syllogos Movement of Constantinople and Ottoman Greek Education 1861–1923*. Athens: Centre for Asia Minor Studies. ISBN 978-960-87610-6-3.
* Young, David C. (2008). *A Brief History of the Olympic Games*. Wiley Brief Histories of the Ancient World. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 978-047-07777-5-6.
* Young, David C. (2005). "Evangelis Zappas: Olympian Sponsor of Modern Olympic Games". *Nikephoros: Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum*. **18**: 273–288. ISSN 0934-8913.
* Young, David C. (1996). *The Modern Olympics – A Struggle for Revival*. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-5374-5.
* Young, David C. (1991). "Myths and Mist Surrounding the Olympic Games: the Hidden Story". In Landry, Fernand; Landry, Marc; Yerlès, Magdeleine (eds.). *Sport...Le Troisième Millénaire*. Quebec City: Presses Université Laval. pp. 99–115. ISBN 2-7637-7267-6.

* Mallon, Bill; Heijmans, Jeroen (2011). "ZAPPAS, EVANGELOS (GRE)". *Historical Dictionary of the Olympic Movement*. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 397. ISBN 978-0-8108-7522-7.

## Other websites

* University of Florida (Gainesville) - Professor David C. Young Lifetime Achievement Award (includes long list of useful source references concerning the revival of the Olympic Games in modern times)
* Testaments of Evangelis and Konstantinos Zappas. (Greek)