Demetrius Plato Sémélas, was born in Sylivria, Thrace, on May 2/14, 1884. He graduated from the French School and then attended the Commercial School in Istanbul. Following this, he went to Egypt to work and, at around the age of nineteen, went to Athens, Greece, in order to study medicine (1903). There, he married Sophia Plyta, with whom he had a son, Plato (b. 1910).La Mediterranee Orientale, revue bi-mensuelle, 21/4/1917-30/12/1918, ed. D.P.Semelas, Paris, impr. Driary-Cahen.
