Kostis Palamas Greek poet 1859-1943

He was born in Patras but received most of his education in Mesolonghi which is where the infamous British poet Lord Byron ended up.

He went to university in Athens to study law, economics and political science but left shortly afterwards to become a journalist.

He is a well known poet Kostis Palamas as he has had his work translated into English by Theodore Stephanides which helped to increase his fame abroad. He is extremely popular because whenever the generation of the 1930’s is mentioned “Angelos Sikelianos, Odysseus Elytis C G Karyotakis,George Seferis, Nikos Kazantzakis , “etc his name turns up. Here is the view of a Greek so you know why this happens Kostis Palamas.

He is another one of those well connected people who has university buildings named after himself in Athens.

He wrote the Olympic hymn which was used in 1896 and every year since 1960.

At his funeral Angelos Sikelianos led a riot of 100,000 against the establishment to try to overturn the government.

This is the tenth post in the series of Greek but mainly Lefkádian writers and poets which includes a bonus post from Sententiae Antiquae on Sappho.

Aristotle Valaoritis

C F Cavafy

Angelos Sikelianos

Lefkadia Hearn

George Seferis

C G Karyotakis

Ioannis Valaoritis

Odysseus Elytis

Andreas Emberikos

Other series include Greek Authors, Painters, Musicians, Famous Greeks, Foreigners who have an interest in Greece and Rural Villages in Lefkás. All the links can be found here Series links.

Best wishes

Angela