Emmanouil Benakis ΕΜΜΑΝΟΥΗΛ ΜΠΕΝΑΚΗΣ
Born 1843 in Syros. Died June 20, 1929 in Kifisia.
Emmanouil Benakis: the Egyptiotis who thrived when Cotton was King
Plaza, Number 64
Greek people have lived in Egypt since the ancient era, but their numbers and circumstances have varied over time. The period between the 1860s to 1952 would see the Greeks population in Egypt swell to 100,000, first under the umbrella of Muhammad Ali, an Albanian who owed nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Sultan and later under the aegis of the British who were willing to take whatever steps necessary (including bombardment in 1882) to protect Egyptian cotton, vital for their mills in Liverpool and Manchester. (1) Under these conditions a Greek merchant culture thrived, especially in Alexandria, only to virtually disappear in the years after 1952 when Gamal Abdel Nasser ended colonial rule once and for all.
You might think that all that is left of that era would be crumbling mansions, a cemetery or two, and the lingering nostalgia of those forced to leave as their companies were nationalized and their influence in the government marginalized. But you would be wrong. Egyptian Greeks had a profound influence on their homeland. Wealthy merchant families like that of Immanouil Benakis in Alexandria, had their feet firmly planted in Greece, - and their footprints have been immense.
Benakis, as elder statesman and benefactor
By the 1870s, Immanouil Benakis was well on the way to becoming one of the richest men in Egypt. He became a member of the Greek government in 1910, mayor of Athens in 1914, and one of the country’s many fabled benefactors. Today, when you enter the Benakis Museum on Vas Sophias Avenue you are entering the vestibule of a house that in the decade after 1910 was the social and political hub of Athens.
His Life.
Immanouil was born in Ermopolis Syros in 1843. His family had roots in Chios but were forced to flee after a vengeful Sultan massacred most of the inhabitants in 1822. The family moved to the aptly named Ermopolis, a significant economic centre in the Cycladic islands even before it joined the new nation in 1829. There, Immanouil’s father had a textile company which imported goods from England. Immanouil attended high school in Syros and continued his education in England.
His is not exactly a rags to riches story although his family did suffer economic setbacks. But by the time Immanouil was a young man, the expanding Greek merchant community, (many of whom were from Chios) had established an economic and social safety net big enough to encompass ambitious and clever young men.
Wealthy Greek merchants had been a feature of Ottoman society long before his era. Under the Ottoman system, merchants were privileged because their wealth generated taxes which ensured the wealth of their Ottoman overlords. And Greeks from the Phanar district of Constantinople, the Phanariots, had become an indispensible part of the Ottoman bureaucracy as time went on. Under this system, a merchant class with some influence and capable of accumulating capital became an inherent part of the system.
The Phanariot quarter in 1900. The Ottomans liked to keep their foreign communities separated in enclaves
A myriad of small Greek owned ships had been handling the local trade long before the 19th century, but the Italians, French and British had controlled the big sea routes in the Mediterranean until the balance of power in Europe altered as a result of geopolitical shifts including the American civil war, the increasing power of Russia, and the French revolution. A 1774 treaty between the Porte and Russia allowed Greek owned ships to fly British or Russian flags and under very favourable economic conditions. Because of pirates, these Greek carriers could also carry cannons.
The Agamemnon of famous ship owner Bouboulinas. These armed ships were easily converted to war ships at the start of the War of Independence.
By the 1790s French shipping had virtually disappeared. The established Greek merchant class within the empire invested in shipping, and Greek owned (often Greek built) ships began to fill the gap left by the Europeans.
By 1798 one third of the ships landing in Marseilles were Greek owned, in Alexandria over 50 percent, and in Odessa over 60.
All this activity led to the spectacular expansion of Greek merchant houses dealing with the cargoes these ships contained. Treaties between the Ottomans and England in 1838 and 1843 ensured continuing economic successes and not ones necessarily favouring the Ottomans. Between 1839 and 1877, Constantinople saw an influx of over 100,000 European would be entrepreneurs and Smyrna became an important economic hub. By 1810 Greek commercial houses had taken over a large part of Smyrna’s trade and by 1870, the Greek population outnumbered the Turks in Smyrna.
Of course, not all of those taking advantage of this situation were Greek but the Greek merchant class inside the empire as well as Greeks like Immanouil Benakis who gravitated to it during this period excelled because of natural talent, social cohesion, a long time familiarity with the Ottoman regime, and that corollary of social cohesion - close family ties. Wherever Greek merchant princes prospered a thriving Greek community of doctors, lawyers, bankers, builders, and technicians grew up to support them.
Greek merchant houses branched out wherever trade was profitable: Livorno, Marseilles, London, and Egypt. And that brings us back to Immanouil Benakis and the Greeks of Alexandria.
Cotton and Egypt
Cotton came to Egypt in 1822. It was introduced by Muhammad Ali (1769-1849) who focused on the production of cotton to raise the financial resources to modernise the Egyptian economy and realise his own imperial ambitions. He was an interesting character: a wily Albanian from Kavala who, like Ali Pasha of Ioannina, had, by 1805, managed to carve out a dynasty for himself in Egypt and coerce the Porte into accepting the arrangement. Ali gained control of the economy of the country by the simple expedient of nationalizing all of the land.
Ali looking like everyone’s favourite uncle
Greek merchants were present in Ali’s Egypt early on. Epirot Michael Tositsas (1787-1856), in particular, had forged a close working relationship with Ali who rewarded him with money and land for managing his holdings. It is strange to realise that Tositsas was working hard for Muhammad Ali at the same time Muhammad’s son Ibrahim was wreaking havoc in the Peloponnese during the War of Independence. Ali had been promised Crete if he was successful.
Athens has its equestrian statue of war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis and Cairo has one of Ibrahim Pasha in Opera Square. They are eerily alike and most certainly represent a very different historical perspective.
Tositsas was not the only Greek to prosper in Egypt under Ali nor were the Greeks the only beneficiaries of Ali’s modernizing policies. But it was Greeks like Tositsas who paved the way for future entrepreneurs like Ioannis Choremis and Immanouil Benakis.
By 1839 Greek merchant houses controlled 38% of the Egyptian cotton trade and by 1872, more than 200 million pounds of raw cotton were being shipped to Europe. The civil war in America made Egyptian cotton even more valuable in the 1860s when the American civil war closed off that source of raw materials.
Benakis in Egypt
Benakis arrived in Alexandria in 1863 and had a few lean years. Apparently He and his brother, Loukas, established a small cotton trading company in 1868.
Benakis, the young entrepreneur
He was then offered a position with the Choremis-Davis company, the largest in Egypt, to run the firm’s business in Liverpool. In 1870 Immanouil married Virginia, Ioannis Choremis’ daughter, and arrived back in Egypt in 1876 to become an equal partner in the new firm of Choremis- Benakis.
Virginia Choremi (1848-1928)
Women were traded within the Greek community with regularity and an eye to practicality that might make even royalty gasp. Fully 90 percent of Greek marriages in this era were Greek to Greek. Such marriages promised a comfortingly similar outlook and social cohesion within the community. As in the case of Virginia Choremi, marriage was one way to bring in promising young men who would then became part of the family enterprise.
Many Greek entrepreneurs, including Benakis, hired only Greeks in their business and it is easy to understand how a nucleus of business, technical, and social interests reached critical mass by 1900. Other Greek industries such as tobacco and textiles entered the welcoming Egyptian scene and Greek owned theatres and nightclubs began catering to the Greek community. In terms of theatre and concerts, Alexandria became part of the circuit of Greek artists from the mainland to the Greek diaspora.
Egyptian born Constantinos Cavafy, Greece’s great poet, was a child of this culture. His father Petros had had a thriving cotton exporting business in Alexandria with branches all over Europe until it ran into financial difficulties. But, their sons could be absorbed into the system. Work was found in other Greek businesses or with the British who were running the Egyptian civil service at the time.
Alexandria in the 1880s looking very European indeed
Wealthy Alexandrian Greeks formed their own quarter in the eastern part of the city, and hired French, English and Italian servants and nannies. Their quarter had a cosmopolitan vibe which had nothing to do with the native Egyptians whose work was generating their wealth.
In her memoires, Benakis’ daughter Penelope wrote:
We had the greatest contempt for the fellahs and regarded them almost as cattle; not only was it permitted to hit an Arab, it was almost required.
The Benakis family, moved to a mansion on the Rue Rosette in 1884 and quickly became an integral part of the city’s Greek aristocracy. Immanouil Benakis who spoke French and English well, still preferred to speak Greek and to socialize with Greeks. He believed passionately in the civilizing influence of Greek culture and the importance of education for all Greeks. The very cohesiveness of this colonial culture engendered a sense of Greek nationalism that sometimes bordered on the extreme.
Penelope wrote:
Anything Greek was considered holy and sacred
It seems to be an ingrained part of the colonial mindset that people benefitting at the expense of others, could still believe that fair play and democracy should prevail in their own home country (at least to the extent that it did not harm their own class). But, to be fair, the Greeks had been exploited by the Ottomans for 400 years, so had no apparent qualms about benefitting from a system that had, in fact, been exploiting them. Still it was hard on the native Egyptians who did not manage their own revolution until 1952.
By 1902 the Greek community could boast 9 primary schools, 2 hospitals, 2 orphanages, a sports club, and their own Chamber of Commerce. Immanouil Benakis became the president of the Greek Community of Alexandria between 1901 and 1911.
Benakis and Greece
Benakis never lost sight of his homeland. During the 1882 troubles when the British were quashing an Egyptian led rebellion, he had travelled home with his family and bought a villa outside of the capital. With the pinnacle of financial success having been reached in Egypt, a 1909 coup in Athens resulted in Cretan Eleftherios Venizelos becoming prime minister, an event that caused Benakis to consider returning to Greece to actively participate in the reforms which Venizelos had promised. He had investigated Venizelos and liked what he had learned. The two corresponded about reforms in Greece beginning in February 1910. Benakis would also have approved of Venizelos embracing the ‘great idea’ of Greek expansionism. He and his family were great supporters of the effort to add Macedonia to Greece and the effort to continue expanding the country until all ethnic Greeks were included in the nation.(2)
Benakis bought an imposing neoclassical mansion on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue opposite the royal palace, became a member Greek parliament and an advisor to Venizelos. In a flurry of reforms during that heady period (including 53 constitutional amendments) a new Ministry of National Economy was initiated by Venezelos especially for him.
The Benakis mansion, built in 1967 and bought by Benakis in 1910
In 1914, Benakis changed course and became mayor of Athens, a position he would hold until 1919. He remained, however, a staunch Venizelist and supported Venizelos when he set up a rival government in northern Greece against the King. Venizelos had wanted to join the Entente during the First World War and the king wanted to remain neutral. Passions ran high and, in 1916, Benakis came very close to being lynched by a royalist mob who beat him and looted his mansion. After spending 41 days in prison, he was released.
Venizelos returned to Athens in triumph in May of 1917 and it was the turn of royalists to be exiled or imprisoned. When Venizelos lost the elections in 1920 and royalists brought back the exiled king, Benakis left for Nice and then Paris. He did not return until 1924, well after the Asia Minor catastrophe had ended Greek expansionism.
The Last Years
For the last five years of his life Immanouil Benakis continued to support Greece and his will ensured that his generosity would continue after his death. The family supported Asia Minor refugees, funded hospitals and orphanages and were instrumental in the founding of Athens College (still going strong). The Benaki Phytopathological Institute established in 1929 enabled Greek farmers to make the most of their land. It is respected worldwide and is now under the supervision of the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food.
The Benakis Children
Virginia and Immanouil Benakis had six children, five of whom survived childhood: Alexandra (1871-1941), Antonis (1873-1954), Penelope (1874-1941), Alexandros(1878-1922) and Argine (1883-1973). (Αλεξάνδρα Αντώνιος, Πηνελόπη, Αλέξανδρος, και Αργίνη)
Argine
Argine led a life very similar to her mother’s in that she married Michael Salvagos, a wealthy Greek Alexandrian whose family also hailed from Chios and became the so called ‘uncrowned queen’ of the Alexandrian aristocracy until the era ended. Her palace in Alexandria was so grand that, when the Greek king in exile visited during the Second World War, he was so dazzled by its sumptuousness he wrote that, after seeing it, he would hesitate to entertain her in his own Palace. Argine collected Egyptian and Arabic art and some of her vast collection can be seen in the Benaki Islamic Museum at Ag. Asomaton 22 and Dipilou streets near Kerameikos, the ancient cemetery of Athens. She died in Alexandria in 1973 at the age of 90.
Argine ‘at home’, very much the grand dame.
Antonis
Antonis Benakis fought for Greece during the war with the Ottomans in 1897 and in the Balkan wars. Because of his father’s wealth he lived an advantaged and cosmopolitan life. As an avid antiquarian and collector, he donated the family home for the now famous Benakis Museum which opened to the public in 1931 and contains many of the family treasures. When he died in 1954, the museum could boast over 26,000 artifacts and over 10,000 books and manuscripts. Its library is open to the public and well worth a visit if research is on your mind.
Antonis Benakis
Penelope
Penelope was the third child, imaginative, highly sensitive, and not at all suited emotionally for a life like her mother’s. Nonetheless, she reluctantly did the ‘right thing’ at the age of 21 and married Stephanos Delta, a man who seems to have been more suited to her parents than to her. Almost immediately she produced three daughters and seemed destined to lead a life like her two sisters until she met Ion Dragoumis, a diplomat at the Greek consulate in Alexandria and fell in love.
The family interfered (then again, perhaps her own sense of what was required of a Benakis daughter was a big factor) and the relationship ended at great psychological cost. As she later wrote: My happiness did not last long, goodbye my Paradise, goodbye sweet dreams that flew away like cigarette smoke blown by the wind. Penelope spent some time in an Austrian sanitarium in 1908 trying to adjust to life without Dragoumis. Apparently she met with him for three short days before she returned to her husband, a man whom she clearly respected and honoured but did not love in the way she had loved Dragoumis.
When Dragoumis was shot and killed in 1920, she wore black for the rest of her life and became the keeper of his writings. She herself was a wonderful writer of well researched children’s books which both entertained and educated young children about their country. All her life she took a lively interest in Greek politics, education, and culture.
Penelope Delta
Penelope was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1925, a disease which caused a slow deterioration of her health. Nonetheless, she continued writing until in 1941 when, on the day the Germans invaded, she took poison and died a few days later. At her own written request, she was buried in the garden of her villa and the single word on her tombstone is silence. (3)
Stephanos Delta and two of his daughter’s at Penelope’s grave
Her life with all its contradictions, still fascinates. Penelope Delta is considered one of Greece’s most popular writers. In 1930 she was honoured by the Athens Academy. Her daughter Alexandria Papadopoulou donated her home to the Benaki museum in 1977 and it now houses the Benakis museum’s archives.
The Benakis Family Grave
Plaza, Number 64
Perhaps those palms are a nod to Alexandria
The Map
Footnotes
(1) The British invaded Egypt to put down a nationalist revolution in 1882 in order to protect their financial interests. They restored the Muhammid Ali dynasty but were really establishing a kind of veiled protectorate which became an actual one in 1914 when they chose another biddable member of the ruling family to rule. At the same time, they took over the political structure and the economy until the revolution of 1952.
(2) Ironically, the Smyrna catastrophe which resulted in the population exchange between Turkey and Greece after 1922 did mean that most ethnic Greeks had become citizens of Greece, but in a smaller territory. This caused Greeks and their benefactors to look inward and turn their efforts towards making what they did have a better place. Benakis and his family became part of this effort.
(3) Penelope’s story is a poignant one because of her intelligence and her divided loyalties. She did not fit the mould of Alexandrian aristocracy and paid the price. It may have been this very issue that prompted her to write books that are still delighting generations of young Greeks.
Some Sources:
A Presence without a Narrative: The Greeks in Egypt, 1961-1976 Une présence sans récit : la communauté grecque en Égypte, 1961-1976. Eftychia Mylona
http://www.andro.gr/empneusi/to-paradeigma-tou-antwni-mpenaki/:
Greek Dominance in the Levantine Boom from A Brief History of Commercial Capitalism by Jairius Banaji
