those between nations but between sportsmen! That’s already a good result! Peace is something so good, so precious, so perfect that one can never make too much of an effort to shore it up and make it last. Was it in my ant colony! The letter from Crown Prince Constantine Diadochos is in Greek, on a letterhead with a crown from the General Administration of the Army, no date but a blank for 190x. The Crown Prince talks about ‘the good days of the Olympic Games’ and also about peace.
The signed item from Demetrius Vikelas is in Greek and not dated and reads more of a formal statement than a piece of correspondence, and talks of the symbolism of reviving the Ancient Games, the construction of the Panathinaikou Stadium, the international character of the occasion, ancient Greeks’ traditions, the representatives of the different nations who met in Athens, just as the representatives of the cities of the ancient Greeks were met by the Alpheion, the peaceful competition, and the close association with foreign visitors.
Further translation of letters in this archive have been prepared during the research of the lot, and is available on request from the auctioneer.
The original recipient of these letters is unknown, he is never named. The recipient would certainly be Greek but with strong links to France. He may have been a director of a Committee or possibly the Pan Hellenic Gymnastics Club.
In general the papers can be characterised as a mixture of official statements and correspondence, and letters of support for the Olympic project.
Provenance: Demetrius Caclamanos, and thence by family descent.
These letters were originally in the possession of Demetrius Caclamanos who at the time of the Olympic revival was a young journalist.
He was born in Nauplia, Greece, in 1872 son of General George and Arpasia Caclamanos, and grandson of Panayotic Caclamanos, one of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence.
Demetrius left journalism in 1907 to enter the Diplomatic Service. He was Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 1910, and then served as a counsellor at the Greek Legation in Paris until 1912. He was Charge D’Affaires in Rome from 1912 to 1914, and then served as Minister to the United States in 1915, Minister to Petrograd 1915-1918 and as Minister to the Court of St James in London from 1918 to 1935. When he retired he was afforded the title of Minister Plenipotentiary of the 1st Class for Life. In addition to various foreign orders, he wore the Grand Cross of the Order of George I and was Knight Commander of the Order of the Redeemer.
Away from politics, Mr Caclamanos was a director of British Investors Co. Ltd. and of the Shipping Marine Union, London.
He was a member of St. James’s Club, London.
He was an expert in matters of Greek history and published two acclaimed works, Greece in Peace and War, and [Lord] Byron in Greece, as well as translating into modern Greek the writings of Thucydides (c. 460 BC - c. 395 BC). £3,000 - 5,000
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