Evangelis Zappas was born to a Greek family on August 23, 1800 in the village of Labovo in the Ottoman Empire.[1][4][6][7][8][9][10][11] His parents were Vasileios and Sotira Zappas.[12] Zappas received no education during his youth.[4] At 13, he left his village and worked as a mercenary in the Ottomanmilitia of Ali Pasha.[13][14] Zappas was involved in the Filiki Eteria, a Greek patriotic organization, and served in the Greek War of Independence when it started in 1821.[14][15] He claimed to have been wounded five times during the war.[13][16] Zappas later moved to Wallachia in 1831 and made a fortune in land and agriculture.[14] In the 1850s, Zappas became one of the wealthiest businessmen in Eastern Europe.[17] The value of his whole fortune was calculated at six million gold drachmas.[18]
Revival of the Olympic Games
Zappas was a nationalist inspired to revive the Olympic Games by Panagiotis Soutsos, a Greek poet.[19] He sent a letter in 1856 to King Otto of Greece offering to pay to restore the Olympics.[7] The first modern Olympic Games were held on November 15, 1859 in Athens, Greece.[4] And just like in the ancient Olympics, the athletes competed in running, discus throwing, javelin throwing, wrestling, jumping, and pole-climbing.[4] Zappas died on June 19, 1865 with no children.[5][20] His money was used for developing athletic buildings in Athens, as well as for continuing the Olympic Games.[21] 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.[5]
Legacy
Evangelos Zappas made several donations to Greek schools, libraries and scholarships.[18][22] He also financed the Romanian Academy where he has a statue there today.[23][24][25] Zappas also funded a Romanian dictionary, a newspaper and books in the Albanian language, and research on the history of the Romanian people.[6]
Decker 2005, p.273: "E. Zappas, a Greek born in Albania (Ottoman Empire) but living in Romania, founded modern Olympic Games that were held in 1859, 1870, 1875 and 1888."
Brownell 2008, Susan Brownell, "Introduction: Bodies before Boas, Sport before the Launcher Left", p. 36; Alexander Kitroeff, "Chapter 8: Greece and the 1904 "American Olympics", p. 303.
Young, David C. (2005). "Evangelis Zappas: Olympian Sponsor of Modern Olympic Games". Nikephoros: Zeitschrift für Sport und Kultur im Altertum. 18: 273–288. ISSN0934-8913.
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. ISBN2-7637-7267-6.