Wikipedia

List of people from Greece

(redirected from List of Greeks)

This is a list of notable Greeks.

Actors/actresses

Main article: List of Greek actors

Ancient period

Modern period

Melina Mercouri
Irene Papas

Adventurers

Athletes & sports figures

Ancient period

Modern period

Leonidas Pyrgos, first modern Olympics Gold Medalist (Fencing)
Sofoklis Schortsanitis

Clerics

Medieval period

Modern period

  • Jacob Palaeologus (c. 1520–1585), Dominican friar, later antitrinitarian theologian; (Greek father)

See also:

Entrepreneurs

Explorers

Ancient period

Medieval period

Early Modern

Modern

  • Panayotis Potagos

Fashion designers

  • Dimitris Parthenis (1944-2018)
  • Nikos Apostolopoulos, fashion designer
  • Sophia Kokosalaki, (1972-2019) haute couture, women, designer for the 2004 Summer Olympics
  • Jean Dessès (1904–1970)
  • Mary Katrantzou

Fashion models

Aliki Diplarakou, Miss Europe 1930

Filmmakers

Elia Kazan, famous filmmaker most known for A Street Named Desire, Gentleman's Agreement, East of Eden and On the Waterfront

Military and political figures

Alexander the Great, king of the city state of Macedon, tutored and personally mentored by Aristotle, first united the Greek city states, then conquered the Persian Empire as well as Egypt; named and founded the city of Alexandria.

Ancient period

  • Agis III (r.338–?331 BCE), Spartan king who rebelled against Macedon in 331 BCE
  • Alcibiades (450–404 BCE), Athenian general and statesman
  • Alexander the Great, (356–323 BCE) King of Macedon, and conqueror of the Persian Empire
  • Antiochus III the Great, (c. 241–187 BCE) Seleucid Monarch
  • Antipater, (c.390–319 BCE), Macedonian noble and Alexander the Great's regent in Macedon
  • Aristides (530–468 BCE), Athenian statesman
  • Cimon (510–450 BCE), Athenian leader and statesman
  • Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, (c.68–30 BCE) Queen of Egypt, from the Hellenistic Ptolemaic Dynasty
    Michelangelo's rendering of Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator
  • Demosthenes (384–322 BCE), politician and orator
  • Dionysius I (c.432–367), ruler of the Syracusan empire
  • Epaminondas (c.420–362), Theban general and statesman
  • Eucratides, ruler of the Bactrian Greeks
  • Leonidas (d.480 BCE), Spartan king, killed defending Greece from the Persians
    Bust of Leonidas I, famed king of Sparta who led his troops at the Battle of Thermopylae against a Persian invasion of the Greek city states, perhaps most famous for having told the Persian King Xerxes his "Molon labe", or "Come and take them", when ordered to surrender and to give up his weapons once his unit's position had been betrayed and surrounded.
  • Lycurgus (9th century BCE), semi-legendary Spartan lawgiver
  • Lysander (d.395), Spartan general and hero during the Peloponnesian War
  • Memnon of Rhodes, (d.333) Greek mercenary general in Persian army under Darius III
  • Miltiades, Athenian statesman and general
  • Nearchus, Alexander's naval commander
  • Peisistratus, Athenian tyrant
  • Pericles (495–429 BCE), Athenian leader and statesman
    Pericles, strategos of the city state of Athens during the Peloponnesian War
  • Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BCE), Macedonian king and father of Alexander the Great
  • Polycrates, Samian ruler
  • Ptolemy I (c.356–285), Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, founded a dynasty in Egypt
  • Pyrrhus of Epirus (c.318–272), invaded Italy, became known for victories of dubious value (Pyrrhic)
  • Seleucus I, Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, founded dynasty in Persia
  • Solon (638–558 BCE), Athenian lawmaker and archon
  • Themistocles (c.514–449 BCE), Athenian statesman and admiral
  • Xenophon (430–c.354 BCE), mercenary general, led and recounted march from Persia
  • Saint George (AD c.275–303), soldier in the Roman army, venerated as a Christian martyr

Medieval period

  • Alexius I Comnenus (1048–1118), Byzantine Emperor
  • Basil II (963–1025), Emperor, known as the 'Bulgar-slayer'
  • Constantine Lascaris, promoters of the revival of Greek learning in the Italian peninsula
  • Constantine VII, Byzantine Emperor and scholar, 'born in the (Imperial) purple' (Porphyrogenitus)
  • Constantine XI (1405–1453), last Byzantine Emperor
  • Gemistus Pletho, one of the chief pioneers of the revival of learning in Western Europe.
  • Helena, Christian mother of Constantine I
  • Irene, Byzantine Empress, instrumental in the restoration of icons, later sanctified
  • Johannes Bessarion, Bishop and Cardinal
  • Manuel Chrysoloras, one of the pioneers in introducing Greek literature to western Europe.
  • Manuel I Comnenus (1143–1180), Byzantine Emperor, was responsible for a distinct revival of Byzantine fortunes until his defeat at Myriokephalon
  • Michael VIII Palaeologus (1159–1182), Byzantine (before 1261 Nicene) Emperor, recaptured Constantinople from the Franks.
  • Marcus Musurus, professor of Greek language at the University of Padua.
  • Nicephorus II Phocas (963–969), Byzantine Emperor and general
  • Romanus IV (1068–1071), lost the fateful battle of Manzikert
  • Saint Cyril (827–869), Byzantine monk, developed the Glagolitic alphabet
  • Theodora, wife of Justinian I, actress, courtesan, Empress.

Ottoman Empire period

  • Atik Sinan, architect for Mehmed II and Mustafa III
  • Barbarossa (1473–1518), famous privateer, older brother of Khair ad Din; (Greek mother)
  • İbrahim Ethem Pasha, Greek-born Grand Vizier
  • Khair ad Din (1475–1546), Greek-born Ottoman Turkish Admiral, also known as Barbarossa; (Greek mother)
  • Pargalı İbrahim Pasha, Suleyman the Magnificent's first appointed Grand Vizier, who left an important landmark on his reign.
  • Alexandra Mavrokordatou (1605–1683), salonist and intellectual.
  • Mimar Sinan, architect for Suleiman the Magnificent
  • Kosem Sultan
  • İshak Pasha Grand Vizier
  • Turgut Reis Ottoman Admiral
  • Al-Husayn I ibn Ali founder of the Husainid Dynasty of Tunisia

Modern period

Greece

Northern Epirus

  • Apostolos Arsachis (1792–1874) Greek-Vlach politician and philanthropist, born in Northern Epirus
  • Pyrros Dimas (born 1971) retired weightlifter, considered as one of the greatest of all time, having been three times Olympic champion and three times World Champion.
  • Dimitris Nanopoulos (born 1948) world-renowned physicist, of a Northern Epirotian[1] descent
  • Georgios Sinas (1783–1856) entrepreneur, banker and national benefactor. Founder of the Athens National Observatory
  • Evangelos Zappas (1800–1865) businessman and philanthropist. He is recognized today as the founder of the modern Greek Olympic Games
  • Georgios Christakis-Zografos (1863–1920), politician, president of the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus

Canada

France

  • Marietta Karamanli, (MP) Socialist Party

Romania

  • Iannis Pharmakis (died 1821), revolutionary fighter
  • Michael von Melas, field-marshal for Austrian Empire
  • Cantacuzene governors of Bessarabia and Walachia (1678–1688)

Spain

United Kingdom

  • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921), husband of UK's queen Elizabeth II, born on the island of Corfu
  • Norman St.John-Stevas, British politician
  • Lord Adonis, British politician

Australia

United States

Musicians

See also: List of Greek composers and List of Greek musical artists

Ancient period

Modern period

Painters

Ancient period

Renaissance

Modern period

Philosophers

Bust of Aristotle, the most influential and cited philosopher in history, student of Plato and teacher and tutor of Alexander the Great
Plato, as painted by Michelangelo, whose The Republic and other works on morality and politics are listed as some of the most influential works in philosophy.

Ancient period

Medieval period

Modern period

Scientists and Engineers

Archimedes, ancient influential inventor and scientist; spearheaded insights into mathematical calculus.

Ancient period

Constantin Carathéodory, acclaimed mathematician and scientist, mentor and teacher to Albert Einstein

Medieval period

  • Anthemius of Tralles, involved in the construction of the Haghia Sophia
  • Isidore of Miletus, 6th-century polymath, principally in charge of design and construction of the Haghia Sophia
  • Paul of Aegina, 7th-century physician best known for writing the medical encyclopedia Medical Compendium in Seven Books.
  • Leon the Mathematician, 9th-century geometer, subject of a bidding war between the Byzantine Emperor and Caliph al-Mamun
  • Callinicus of Heliopolis, engineer, inventor of Greek fire

Modern period

Sculptors

Ancient period

Modern period

Aristotle Onassis in 1932, who later would create one of the largest shipping conglomerates of his day; married American first lady and widow Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Tycoons

Writers

Ancient period

Medieval period

Modern period

General

Academics

List of Greeks who were born outside modern Greece

This is a list of ethnic Greeks who were born after the Declaration of the Greek War of Independence (1821), outside the borders of the Greek state. The list does not include Greeks born in the diasporan communities or Greeks of Cyprus (after its independence in 1960), but only Greeks born in the traditional Greek homelands (the Balkans, Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean shores).

Actors/actresses

Athletes

Clerics

Entrepreneurs

Fashion designers

Filmmakers

Military and political leaders

Musicians

Painters

Philosophers

Scientists and engineers

Sculptors

Singers

Tycoons

Writers

General

See also

References

  1. ^ Από τη Βόρειο Ηπειρο στο Σύμπαν: (in Greek) «Οχι, δεν είμαι Πελοποννήσιος. Γεννήθηκα και μεγάλωσα στην Αθήνα, αλλά είμαι Βορειοηπειρώτης και μάλιστα Βλάχος. Νάκας ήταν το αυθεντικό επώνυμο του παππού μου προτού φύγουμε από την Αλβανία»
  2. ^ [1] "Greek conductor and composer"
  3. ^ [2] "This website is dedicated to preserving the musical memory of the late, great, Tatiana Troyanos, Greek-American Mezzo-Soprano"
  4. ^ "Eugenides is himself Greek-American, Detroit-born, suburb-raised – all sources of inspiration for his second novel." [3]
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