Evangelos Zappas

From Phantis

Evangelos Zappas (1800 – June 19, 1865) was a Greek businessman and financier.

He was born in Epirus in 1800 and moved to Bucharest in 1831. In 1859, he succeeded in organizing the Zappian Olympic Games in Greece as a combination of agricultural, industrial, and athletic competitions. Those Games were not held again during Zappas's lifetime, but due in large part to his bequeathing a large part of his fortune to future editions of the Games, they were held again in 1870, 1875, and 1889.

Zappas's Games were a part of Pierre de Coubertin's inspiration for the modern Olympic movement, which resulted in the current format of the Olympic Games. The Zappeion in Athens was named after him.