Greek diaspora Constantinople and Asia Minor: Africa: Other regions: Other groups: Other languages This is a list of notable Greeks.
See also: This is a list of ethnic Greeks who were born after the Declaration of the Greek War of Independence (1821), outside the borders of the Greek state.
The list does not include Greeks born in the diasporan communities or Greeks of Cyprus (after its independence in 1960), but only Greeks born in the traditional Greek homelands (the Balkans, Anatolia and the Eastern Mediterranean shores).
Phidippides
, acclaimed runner and 'inspirator' of the Olympic
Marathon race
, who had run back and forth between Athens and Sparta in order to relay news of the Battle of Marathon, resulting in his death from ultimate exhaustion, when in his last breath he yelled out "We (the Greeks) won". Painting by
Luc-Olivier Merson
, 1869.
Milo of Croton
, wrestler and the most acclaimed ancient Olympian
Panagiotis Giannakis
, former 1987 EuroBasket Team Captain, former Olympiacos Head coach
Greg Louganis
, four times Greek-American Olympic Gold Medalist (Diving)
Bust of
Leonidas I
, famed king of Sparta who led his troops at the
Battle of Thermopylae
against a Persian invasion of the Greek city states, perhaps most famous for having told the Persian King Xerxes his "
Molon labe
", or "Come and take them", when ordered to surrender and to give up his weapons once his unit's position had been betrayed and surrounded
Ioannis Metaxas
in 1937, Fascist dictator of Greece who refused the invasion of Italian troops, famously responding to
Benito Mussolini
, "Then it is war".
Plato
, as painted by Michelangelo, whose
The Republic
and other works on morality and politics are listed as some of the most influential works in philosophy
