Alexandros Vasileiou was a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 merchant and scholar. He was born in Ottoman occupied Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër is a city in southern Albania with a population of 43,000. Lying in the historical region of Epirus, it is the capital of both the Gjirokastër District and the larger Gjirokastër County...

, in modern Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

.

He was one of many Greek merchants in the 18th-19th centuries that were involved in the fields of education and literature. A. Vasileiou played an essential role in the Greek Enlightenment movement. His contact with Adamantios Korais

Adamantios Korais

Adamantios Korais or Coraïs was a humanist scholar credited with laying the foundations of Modern Greek literature and a major figure in the Greek Enlightenment. His activities paved the way for the Greek War of Independence and emergence of a purified form of the Greek language, known as...

, a major figure of Greek literature at that time, was of unique importance for him, while he lived in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Correspondence between the two men was continuous. A. Vasileiou adopted the ideas of Korais to the Greek language question

Greek language question

The Greek language question was a dispute discussing the question whether the language of the Greek people or a cultivated imitation of Ancient Greek should be the official language of the Greek nation. It was a highly controversial topic in the 19th and 20th centuries and was finally resolved...

 and confronted the conservative scholar Neofitos Doukas. He was the author of a number of articles in the Hermes o Logios

Hermes o Logios

Hermes o Logios, also known as Logios Ermis was a Greek periodical printed in Vienna, Austria, from 1811 to 1821. It is regarded as the most significant and longest running periodical of the period prior to the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence, containing contributions by key scholars and...

magazine (a Greek literary magazine, published in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

). At the same time he supported financially the publication of several issues of Logios Ermis and other literature material.

Because of his trading businesses he lived in several cities throughout Europe: Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, Lyon

Lyon

Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....

, Paris, Vienna, Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

. In Trieste, he was also consul of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. He died in Trieste in 1818, a few days after declaring bankruptcy. His brother, Michael Vasileiou

Michael Vasileiou

Michael Vasileiou was a 19th century Greek merchant and benefactor. He was born in Ottoman occupied Gjirokastër, in modern Albania.He was the brother of Alexandros Vasileiou, merchant, scholar and student of Adamantios Korais, a major figure of the Greek Enlightenment movement...

, was also a notable scholar and merchant living in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

.

Sources

• Culture and nationalism in nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. Roland Sussex, John Christopher Eade. Slavica Publishers, 1985. ISBN 978-0-89357-146-7.
• The Movement for Greek independence, 1770-1821: a collection of documents Richard Clogg. Macmillan, 1976.
• Modern Greek Philosophy Research Center. University of Ioanina: Alexandros Vasileiou biography. Epirotiki Estia (Greek)