Panagiotis Soutsos

Panagiotis Soutsos
Woodcut of Panagiotis Soutsos (1873)
Born	1806 Constantinople (modern Istanbul) Ottoman Empire
Died	25 October 1868(1868-10-25) (aged 62) Athens, Greece
Occupation	Poet, novelist, journalist
Nationality	Greek
Education	School of Chios
Period	1831-1868
Literary movement	Romantic poetry, First Athenian School
Notable works	The Wayfarer (1831)

Panagiotis Soutsos (Greek: Παναγιώτης Σοῦτσος; 1806 – 25 October 1868), was a Greek poet, novelist and journalist born in Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey). He was the brother of the satirist Alexandros Soutsos and cousin of writer and diplomat Alexandros Rizos Rangavis. Soutsos is known to be one of the pioneers of romanticism in Greek poetry and prose as well as a visionary behind the new Olympic Games who inspired Evangelis Zappas to sponsor their revival.

The Soutzos family was an important family of Phanariotes in Constantinople, many members of which were men of letters: his maternal uncle was Iakovos Pizos Neroulos, while his sister, Aikaterini Soutsou, was a poet. He was homeschooled by many important intellectuals of that time, and from 1818 till 1820, he and his brother studied in the School of Chios by educators such as Neophytos Vamvas and Constantinos Vardalachos. In 1820, due to the passing of their father, Konstantinos Soutsos, the two brothers moved to Transylvania where they stayed for a short while with their uncle. In April of the same year they departed to Paris with a recommendation letter of their uncle in order to meet Adamantios Korais. After moving again to Italy two years later, they both finally moved to Greece in 1825.

Following his arrival in Greece, he settled down in Nafplio in 1833, at the time the capital of the newly formed Greek State. There he started a political career and began writing his first poems. In 1830, he was appointed secretary of the senate by Ioannis Kapodistrias. However, he soon objected to his practices and lost his position. He was enthusiastic about the coming of King Otto and supported the work of the regency in his newspaper Helios (Ἥλιος; Greek for Sun) until the enactment of the heterogeneous law in 1843, under which citizens born in occupied territories no longer had the right of employment in the public sector. His political ideas turned into staunch conservatism ever since, something that also became evident through his use of an at times even atticizing language.