Simon Sinas was born on August 15, 1810, in
Vienna. The
Sinas family came from the
Aromanian settlement of
Moscopole in southern
Albania. The son of
Georgios Sinas, also a benefactor and diplomat, Sinas expanded his father's business. His ethnic origin has been described as Aromanian,
Hellenized Aromanian, or
Greek. Regardless of his ethnic origin, Sinas was part of the social-cultural Greek merchant class which maintained close relations with the newly founded Greek state of his era. He served as Greek consul in Vienna, and later as minister to
Austria, the
Kingdom of Bavaria, and Germany. He also made major donations to various educational and scientific foundations in
Austria,
Hungary, and
Greece. During his time as
Greek ambassador in Vienna,
Johann Strauss II composed the Hellenen-Polka (Hellenes Polka) op. 203, at Simon's request, in 1856, for an annual ball of the ethnic Greek community in the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. At his father's funeral, he told
Ferenc Deák that, unlike his father—who had been a universal philanthropist—Simon wanted to use his wealth in the interests of Hungary and the Hungarian people. However, the Sinas family was not accepted by the
Hungarian nobility; he tried to marry his daughters to Hungarian nobles, to
Magyarize the family, but he was rejected. He also hosted a party at his castle in
Gödöllő for the nobility, but almost no one attended. The Hungarian nobles didn't regard the Sinas family as their equals, dismissing them "a family of
bazaar-owners". Feeling insulted, Sinas left
Hungary and moved to
Vienna, choosing to dedicate his wealth for the benefit of the Greek nation and the Greek state. Despite his philanthropy towards the Greek state, he never visited Greece. Sinas became director of Austria's central bank
Oesterreichische Nationalbank and established the Simon Georg Sina banking house in Vienna. the
Metropolitan Cathedral of Sibiu, the Athens Orthodox Cathedral, the Athens Academy, and others. Since Sinas was also a patron of astronomers, the crater
Sinas on the
Moon was named after him. He died in Vienna on April 15, 1876. ==References==