Born to a merchant family in Veliko Tărnovo in 1792, of possibly Bulgarian extraction (the name by which he is known originated as a nickname owing to his small stature), Nikolaos Pikkolos studied at the St Sava Lyceum in Bucharest, where he taught himself French and became an instructor in French. Pikkolos was to follow St Sava’s director, Kōnstantinos Vardalachos, to later postings in Chios (1815-18) and Odessa (1818-19), where he joined the Filiki Eteria and became active in the theatre, staging Sophocles'tragedy Philoctetes and writing an original play on the death of Demosthenes. The 1821 uprising saw him canvassing support in Paris (where he started his medical studies) and London (at the request of Koraīs). He briefly taught philosophy at the Ionian Academy of Corfu (1823-24), translating Descartes into Greek for the purpose, before continuing his medical studies in Bologna (1825-29). He practised as a doctor in Bucharest (1829-40) and then in Paris, where he lived from 1840 until his death in 1865. There he continued his literary work, gaining fame for his translations from and into Greek. He was also in touch with Slavicists like Cyprien Robert, pleading the cause of Bulgarian independence during the Crimean War and supporting the campaign for an autocephalous Bulgarian church. In his will he endowed a school and a church in his native town.