Alexandros Soutsos (1803–1863) was a Greek poet from a prominent Phanariote family. He founded the Greek Romantic school of poetry. Soutsos was born in Constantinople in 1803 from Chian parentage. At the time of the Greek Revolution, he was a young, liberal partisan. He wrote poems to encourage the insurgents. Soutsos studied in Chios, where he spent his formative years. Later he moved to Paris, where he was influenced by the liberal philosophies of the French intellectuals. His major work of prose was the Exóristos (The Exile). His works were instrumental in developing liberal thought in the young Greek monarchy. He was an admirer of Lord Byron. Whose inspiration prompted Soutsos to try to emulate him. The resultant work, was his longest poem Periplanoménos (The Wanderer), in spite of some positive reviews, it never achieved international success. In spite of his lack of artistic respect, he was admired by many of his contemporaries the Greek people admired him for his dedication to freedom, and for his liberal philosophies. He died in 1863, and his works were published in 1916. 1803 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in the Greek language from the 11th century, with texts written in a language that is more familiar to the ears of Greeks today than is the language of the early Byzantine literati, the compilers of the New Testament, or, of course, the... Phanariotes (from Phanar, the chief Greek quarter at Istambul, where the oecumenical patriarchate is situated) were those members of families resident in the Phanar quarter who between the years 1711 and 1821 were appointed voivodes of the Danubian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia). ... Romantic poetry was part of the Romantic movement of European literature during the 18th-19th centuries. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Chios (Greek: , alternative transliterations Khios and Hios, see also List of traditional Greek place names; Ottoman Turkish: صاقيز Sakız; Genoese: Scio) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea five miles off the Turkish coasts. ... Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ...

Evangelis Zappas explicitly requested that Alexandros Soutsos as well as his brother Panagiotis Soutsos be made members of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games. It was Panagiotis Soutsos who first made mention of a revival of the Olympic Games in his poetry "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833. ^[1] Evangelos Zappas (1800–1865) was a Greek businessman and financier. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ...

References

1. ^ David C. Young, The Modern Olympics - A Struggle for Revival, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press in 1996, p15, ISBN 0-8018-5374-5