1. Origin and studies

Pavlos Iordanov was a doctor of Greek origin from Taiganio (Taganrog) while from 1905 until 1909 he served as the town’s mayor. His father Georgios Iordanov was a merchant and an Ottoman subject. Pavlos attended the Gymnasium of Taganrog and was classmates with Anton Chekhov (who was also born in Taganrog) in the first two classes. He graduated from the Medical School of the University of Harkovo in 1884 and became the town’s municipal doctor.

2. Career

He occupied numerous public seats on the town’s committees and the municipal council. In 1896 he began corresponding with Anton Chekhov, who was also a doctor by profession, on the erection of a monument in honour of the “liberator” emperor Alexander I and the establishment of a municipal chemistry laboratory and municipal library. Chekhov contributed to the establishment of the library by sending books. Iordanov's activity was appreciated in Petersburg and he was called to participate in the State Council, in charge of issues relating to the development of trade and industry. He served in World War I as head of the Board of Health and was awarded the Cross of St. Stanislav and St. Anna. In 1917 he was elected to the Parliament.¹ Following the Russian Revolution he went to Kislovodsk in the Caucasus and worked as a doctor. During the evacuation of Novorossiysk he accompanied wounded and sick soldiers to Constantinople (Istanbul) as head of the Red Cross. He worked in hospitals on the Prince's Islands where he died in 1920 from typhoid fever.