Alexandros Soutsos (1803-1863) was a Greek poet

Modern Greek literature

Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in the Greek language from the 11th century, with texts written in a language that is more familiar to the ears of Greeks today than is the language of the early Byzantine literature, the compilers of the New Testament, or, of course, the...

 from a prominent Phanariote family. He founded the Greek Romantic school of poetry

Romantic poetry

Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-1700s as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day , also influenced poetry...

. Soutsos was born in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

 in 1803 from Chian

Chios

Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...

 parentage. At the time of the Greek Revolution, he was a young, liberal partisan. He wrote poems to encourage the insurgents. Soutsos studied in Chios, where he spent his formative years. Later he moved to Paris, where he was influenced by the liberal philosophies of the French intellectuals. His major work of prose

Prose

Prose is the most typical form of written language, applying ordinary grammatical structure and natural flow of speech rather than rhythmic structure...

 was the Exóristos (The Exile). His works were instrumental in developing liberal thought in the young Greek monarchy. He was an admirer of Lord Byron. Whose inspiration prompted Soutsos to try to emulate him. The resultant work, was his longest poem Periplanómenos (The Wanderer), in spite of some positive reviews, it never achieved international success. In spite of his lack of artistic respect, he was admired by many of his contemporaries the Greek people admired him for his dedication to freedom, and for his liberal philosophies. He died in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 in 1863, and his works were published in 1916.

Evangelis Zappas explicitly requested that Alexandros Soutsos and his brother Panagiotis Soutsos

Panagiotis Soutsos

Panagiotis Soutsos , was a Greek newspaper editor, journalist, author, and poet of the romantic school, born in Constantinople . He was an admirer of the ancient Greek tradition, while he used an archaic language in his works...

 be made members of the organizing committee of the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

. It was Panagiotis Soutsos who first made mention of a revival of the Olympic Games in his poetry Dialogue of the Dead in 1833.