Pavlos Kalligas facts for kids
Pavlos Kalligas (born in Smyrna, 1814 – died in Athens, 1896) was a very important Greek person. He was a lawyer, a writer, and a politician. He taught at the University of Athens, was a member and even the leader (Speaker) of the Hellenic Parliament. He also served as a minister in charge of things like foreign affairs, education, money, and justice. Later, he became the chairman of the National Bank of Greece.
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Pavlos Kalligas: Early Life and Education
Pavlos Kalligas was born in 1814 in a city called Smyrna, which was part of the Ottoman Empire back then. His father, Panagis Anninos-Kalligas, was a rich merchant from Cephalonia, and his mother, Sofia Mavrokordatou, was from Chios.
When the Greek Revolution started in 1821, his family moved to Trieste to stay safe from violence against Greeks. Pavlos went to school in Venice at the Flanginian School and finished high school in Geneva. After that, he went back to Trieste to help his father with the family business.
However, after his father passed away in 1832, Pavlos decided to change his path. He stopped working in business and started studying law. He went to universities in Munich, Berlin, and Heidelberg. At Heidelberg, he earned his doctorate in Law, which is a very high degree in law.
Becoming a Professor and Judge
In 1837, after finishing his studies, Kalligas moved to the newly independent Kingdom of Greece with his mother. They first lived in Nafplion and then in Athens. He quickly became a lecturer, which is like a teacher, of Natural Law at the new University of Athens.
By 1839, he was teaching International Law, and in 1843, he became a full professor of Roman Law. Because he was a university professor, he also became a member of the first Greek Parliament, as allowed by the Greek Constitution of 1844. But in 1845, he had a disagreement with the Prime Minister, Ioannis Kolettis, and lost his job at the university.
After leaving the university, Kalligas worked as a lawyer. He also spent time writing and publishing a big five-volume book about Roman Law. In 1851, he became a Deputy Prosecutor in the highest court, the Court of Cassation, and continued to work as a judge until 1859. For two months in 1854, he even served as the Justice Minister.
Political Career and Later Life
In 1860, Pavlos Kalligas became a legal advisor for the National Bank of Greece, which is a very important bank in the country. The next year, he was allowed to teach at the university again, and in 1862, he became a regular professor of Roman Law.
After King Otto was removed from power, Kalligas was chosen to represent Attica in the II National Assembly from 1862 to 1864. During this time, he helped create the new Greek Constitution of 1864. He also briefly served as the Foreign Minister. In 1865, he became the Minister of Justice and also the Minister of Education and Religious Affairs. From 1869 to 1870, Kalligas was the head of the University of Athens, known as the rector. He also led the Law School several times.
In 1879, Kalligas retired from the university and joined a political group called the New Party. He was elected to Parliament for Attica that same year and again in 1881. He became the chairman of a shipping company and, in 1882, the Finance Minister. This meant he was in charge of the country's money. He resigned from this job in 1883 because he disagreed with the Prime Minister, Charilaos Trikoupis, about how he treated his ministers.
After that, Kalligas was elected as the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, which means he was the leader of the Parliament, from 1883 to 1885. In the 1885 elections, he didn't get into Parliament and decided to stop his political career. He then became the Deputy Chairman and later the Chairman of the National Bank of Greece, a position he held until he passed away on September 16, 1896.
Pavlos Kalligas: Important Writings
Pavlos Kalligas wrote a lot! Besides his legal books, he wrote many essays and studies on history. For example, he wrote about the English Civil War and events from the Byzantine Empire. He also wrote about philosophy, looking at ideas from ancient Greek thinkers to people living in his own time.
He helped start a literary magazine called Pandora. He also wrote a novel, which is a type of storybook, called Thanos Vlekas (Θάνος Βλέκας). This book is very important for modern Greek literature. It was one of the first books in Greece to show life as it really was, even the difficult parts of the new independent Greek state. This was different from most books at the time, which were more romantic and less realistic.
His legal work was also very important. Besides his five-volume book on Roman Law, he helped write the first draft of a civil code for modern Greece in 1849. A civil code is a set of laws that deals with private matters like property, family, and contracts. Even though it took a long time, this code was finally put into practice in 1945.
Political Ideas
Kalligas often said he was a "child of the 19th century." This meant he believed strongly in popular sovereignty, which is the idea that the government gets its power from the people.
However, he also saw problems with the political system of his time. He didn't like the corruption and favoritism that he saw in political parties. He warned about the dangers of the "tyranny of the majority," which is when a large group of people can make decisions that unfairly harm smaller groups.
As Finance Minister, he believed in a strict economic policy. He wanted to limit how much money Greece borrowed from other countries. He also thought the government should collect more taxes, for example, by taxing alcoholic drinks. His ideas were not popular with the middle class and business owners, which contributed to him leaving his job in May 1893.
