Petros Manos

Petros Manos came from a family of officers. After graduating in 1892 he also pursued a military career in the cavalry. He was involved in the fighting in Kriti (1896-1897), the Greco-Turkish War (1897), and in the Macedonian conflict (1904-07) under the pseudonym “Captain Vergas”. After resigning from the Army in 1909, he returned to serve as a reserve lieutenant in the Balkan Wars (1912/13). After the Balkan Wars, he became an adjutant at the Royal Court. When the Greek King Constantine I had to go into exile in 1917, Manos followed them to Switzerland, where he died one year later. He was one of the founders of the nationalist group “Ethniki Etaireia” and president of the Macedonian Committee.

Manos was also one of the best Greek épée fencers representing Athinaiki Leskhi. At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he advanced to the semi-final in the individual épée event and placed fifth with the team.

His first wife was Maria Argyropoulou. Two of their daughters were later married to kings, Aspasia to Alexander, King of Greece, and Alexandra to Peter II Karageorgevich, King of Serbia. The third daughter, Roxani became the first wife of industrialist and 1936 Olympian Christos Zalokostas. His second wife was Sofia Tombazi, with whom he had one daughter, the choreographer Rallou Manou, wife of architect Paulos Mylonas.