They thrived in the heartlands of the Greek diaspora and, through their generous benefactions, supported the newly founded Greek state—its national center—as well as their places of origin. They built strong communities in Alexandria, Odessa, Vienna, Nizhyn, Livorno, Marseille, Constantinople, and beyond. They forged networks, dominated trade and financial exchanges. Astute, innovative, daring, resourceful, and deeply patriotic, they belonged to a cosmopolitan bourgeoisie that traversed the vast borders of three great empires of their time, in pursuit of opportunity, trade routes—and the wealth that comes with bold journeys to unknown cities, foreign cultures, and different faiths.

The National Benefactors—the Great Benefactors—constitute a vital, albeit relatively underappreciated, chapter of modern Greek history. The Zosimas Brothers, Kaplannis, Arsakis, the Zappas Brothers, Dombolis, Sinas, Tositsas, Stournaris, Averoff, the Benakis, Choremis family, Maraslis, Varvakis, Syngros, Pantos, Harokopos, Aiginetis, and many others left behind a monumental legacy—shaping the capital of the modern Greek state, their native Ioannina, and the cities where they lived and prospered. They made education their foremost priority. They funded schools, churches, girls’ academies, libraries, soup kitchens, hospitals. They believed in and actively supported national rebirth. They championed the Enlightenment. And in a later phase—after the establishment of the modern Greek state—their donations extended beyond education. They contributed to vital infrastructure, to correctional institutions, to the care of the impoverished. To the pursuit of civic modernization. To the advancement of culture. The lives and journeys of these benefactors—lives rich in adventure and vision—become a magnifying lens through which we may reread and rediscover the modern history of Hellenism.

This is the aim of the new ERT documentary series, “Diaspora – Communities – Benefactors: From me to the we”. A true investigation in depth into the revealing, often overlooked, chapter of Greek Benefaction. From the 18th century through the collapse of empires, into the era of emerging nation-states, through the postwar years and into the age of modern institutional philanthropy. The series is directed by journalist and award-winning filmmaker Nikos Megrelis, with the script and journalistic research undertaken by Erifili Maroniti, a journalist specializing in culture, networking, and institutional development. Matoula-Sideri Tomara, Associate Professor at Panteion University, serves as the series’ academic advisor. The camera journeys through the once-thriving Greek communities of Odessa, Alexandria, Vienna, Bucharest, Nizhyn, and Constantinople, capturing the legacy of major benefactions that still endure in those places—while unearthing documented evidence and previously unknown archival material.

The series engages in conversation with the few surviving descendants of great benefactor families. It seeks the living thread of Hellenism in the present. Each episode unfolds with a focus on a single central figure. The narrative begins by exploring the broader historical and social landscape in which the benefactor emerged—his place of origin, his often unpredictable migrations, the cities he settled in. It strays, at times, into the lives and events that played a pivotal role—many of them until now unknown. It traces and reveals Greek roots and distant ancestries behind foreign-sounding names—now altered—of renowned figures in global culture and economy. The series follows the remarkable ascent of these benefactors, both socially and economically. It sheds light on the communities that shaped them, the obstacles they faced, and the unexpected turns of their adventurous lives—where the collective meets the individual, and the personal journey mirrors the national struggle for statehood, identity, and consciousness.

The journalistic research underpinning the series is scientifically documented and rigorously sourced. Across its sixteen documentary episodes, the series features dozens of interviews with professors, academics, specialized researchers, and other experts. It draws on both original visual material and rich archival footage to illuminate the many facets of benefaction—a multifaceted phenomenon where history meets geography, economy intersects with politics, archives converse with private collections, the humble coexists with the exalted, and the origins of things challenge long-standing stereotypes. Where war gives way to peace, where the arts meet scholarship, poverty confronts wealth, and benefaction finds its true meaning in those who are in need. All of this unfolds within a world where borders, consciousness, perceptions, and identities are in constant flux.

What would Athens, what would Ioannina, and so many other cities be without their Benefactors? Could it be that modern Greek history holds radiant chapters of education, thought, and enlightenment in centuries and eras we have yet to fully imagine? Could it be that the Greeks are the people with the most far-reaching diaspora?

The journey into the lives of the people who determined the foundation of the Greek state with their benefactions, continues in the second episode of the series. Journalist and film director, Nikos Mengrelis, along with the journalist Erifyli Maronitis, will be in Bucharest, in Vedea and in Giurgiu of Romania, in Athens and in Epirus, searching for traces of the legacy of the refined personality, the thinker of the Enlightenment, the politician and the businessman, Apostolos Arsakis.

Going from economic migrant to the then El Dorado of the Balkan Peninsula, Moldavia and Wallachia, he entered the circles of the aristocracy as a sought-after doctor and accumulated a very significant property. He entered politics as Foreign Affairs Minister and went on to briefly become Prime Minister in the Danubian hegemonies. The show follows the trail of his tragic family history, but also his first contributions which were directed to education. He built the first schools in several Romanian villages and pursued in Athens, with the well-known Arsakeia schools, as he was a man of action, a spiritual man who believed in the power of education, of language and of the human spirit.

Apostolos Arsakis never came to Greece. Erifyli Maroniti and Nikos Mengrelis bring onto our screens the life and work of this great benefactor while conversing with significant researchers, academics and scientists, such as Giorgos Babiniotis, Manos Stefanidis, Panagiota Atsave, Tudor Dinu, Nikos Vatopoulos, and many others.