Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves

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**Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves**
Pseudonym:	Rhangabe
Born:	December 25, 1810 Constantinople
Died:	June 28, 1892 Athens, Greece
Occupation:	Poet
Nationality:	Greek
Writing period:	19th century

Alexandros Rhizos Rhankaves (commonly also Rhangabe) (December 25, 1810–June 28, 1892), was a Greek savant, poet and statesman.

[edit] Early life

He was born at Constantinople to a Phanariot family. He was educated at Odessa and the military school at Munich. Having served as an officer of artillery in the Bavarian army, he returned to Greece, where he held several high educational and administrative appointments. He subsequently became ambassador at Washington, D.C. (1867), Paris (1868), and Berlin (1874–1886), and was one of the Greek plenipotentiaries at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.

[edit] Literary work

He was the chief representative of a school of literary men whose object was to restore as far as possible the ancient classical language. Of his various works, Hellenic Antiquities (1842-1855, of great value for epigraphical purposes), Archaeologia (1865-1866), an illustrated Archaeological Lexicon (1888–1891), and a History of Modern Greek Literature (1877) are of the most interest to scholars. He wrote also the following dramatic pieces: The Marriage of Kutndes (comedy), Dukas (tragedy), the Thirty Tyrants, The Eve (of the Greek revolution); the romances, The Prince of Morea, Leila, and The Notary of Argostoli; and translated portions of Dante, Schiller, Lessing, Goethe and Shakespeare.

After his recall he lived at Athens, Greece, where he died on the 28 June 1892.

A complete edition of his philological works in nineteen volumes was published at Athens (1874–1890), and his Memoirs appeared posthumously in 1894-1895.