Topic: Aristotle Onassis

Aristotle Sokratis Onassis (Greek: Αριστοτέλης Ωνάσης, Aristotelis Onasis; 15 January 1906 – 15 March 1975), commonly called Ari or Aristo Onassis, was a prominent Greek shipping magnate of the 20th century. Some sources claim he was born in 1900 but that he later changed his date of birth so as to avoid deportation from Turkey.

Onassis was born in Karatass, a suburb of Smyrna (now İzmir, Turkey) to Socrates and Penelope Onassis (maiden name Penelope Dologu). At the time of his birth, Smyrna had a very significant and prosperous Greek population. Aristotle had one full-sister, Artemis, and two half-sisters, Kalliroi and Merope, who were products of his father's second marriage (after Penelope's death) in 1912. According to the Greek Fire book, released in 2000, Ari's father Socrates Onassis came from a village called Moutalasski, near Cappadocia of Asia Minor, which is the present-day Nevsehir province, in central Turkey. Historically this was an area of king Midas's kingdom, Phrygia.

Aristotle's father had a fleet of 10 ships with 40 sailors. This enterprise was a financial success enabling him to send Onassis and his sisters to prestigious schools. At the age of 16, Aristotle spoke four languages: Spanish, Turkish, English and Greek, while he graduated from the well known Evangelical Greek School of his home town.