Leon Melas

Leon Melas (, 1812–1879) was a Greek politician, representative to the National Assemblies of 1843 and 1862 and writer. His greatest work was the novel Gerostathis. He excelled as Minister of Justice, Ecclesiastical Affairs and Education, as a university professor, magistrate and lawyer.

Biographical information Leon Melas was born in 1812 in Istanbul and was the eldest son of the merchant Georgios Melas. His childhood coincided with the preparation of the Greek Revolution of 1821 by the Filiki Etaireia and the environment in which he grew up comprised the Etaireia's most eminent members.

After the beginning of the Revolution his family fled to Odessa in the Russian Empire. There Leon received his general education. Then, after studying at the Ionian Academy of Corfu (then in the United States of the Ionian Islands) and the University of Pisa (then in the Papal States), he was acclaimed a doctor of law. Furthermore, he was a distinguished scholar and educator. His most important work is considered the Gerostathis or memories of my childhood (1858), which was used for decades as a textbook. and his nephews were Demetrios Vikelas and Pavlos Melas.