Apostolos Arsakis

 

Apostolos Arsakis (January 6, 1792 - July 16, 1874)

Born in Premeti in Northern Epirus, he was a politician and philanthropist of 19th century Greece.

Educated in Vienna at the Greek diaspora run school, he learned off one of the most important figures and scholars, Neophytos Doukas.

Apostolos Arsakis moved to Bucharest in Romania, where he became a prominent politician in that country. He was appointed Romanian Minister of Foreign affairs and even later spent a brief period as Romanian Prime Minister.

At the same time, Arsakis became one of the major benefactors of the 19th century and of the newly established Greek state. He personally offered large sums of money for the establishment of female educational institutions in Athens, initially to train young teachers and then send them to then Ottoman controlled Macedonia, in order to help continue the strong presence of the Greek language and culture.

Soon these schools became open to all students and the Arsakeio group of schools, grew to include several schools all over the Greek World, including in his home region of Northern Epirus. There are 2 in Athens, and campuses in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patra.

For these acts, the Greek Government awarded him honorary Greek citizenship.

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