1. Kostis Palamas was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian School along with Georgios Drosinis and Ioannis Polemis.
10 Facts About Kostis Palamas
1. 2.
Kostis Palamas published his first collection of verses, Songs of My Fatherland, in 1886.
3.
Kostis Palamas was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature on 14 occasions, but never received it.
4.
Kostis Palamas held an administrative post at the University of Athens between 1897 and 1926.
5.
Kostis Palamas wrote the lyrics to the Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras.
6.
The Hymn was then shelved as each host city from then until the 1960 Winter Olympics commissioned an original piece for its celebration of the Games, but the version by Samaras and Kostis Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem in 1958 and has been performed at each celebration of the Games since the 1960 Winter Olympics.
7.
The old administration building of the University of Athens, in central Athens, where his office was located, is dedicated to him as the "Kostis Palamas Building" and houses the "Greek Theater Museum", as well as many temporary exhibitions.
8.
Kostis Palamas has been informally called the "national" poet of Greece.
9.
Kostis Palamas was an influential voice in Greek literature for more than 30 years, and greatly influenced the entire political-intellectual climate of his time.
10.
Kostis Palamas was one of the most respected literary critics of his day, and instrumental in the reappraisal of the works of Andreas Kalvos, Dionysios Solomos and the "Ionian School" of poetry, Kostas Krystallis et al.