Souliotes
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The Souliotes were an Orthodox Christian Albanian tribal community in the area of Souli in
Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, who via their participation in the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
came to identify with the Greek nation. They originated from Albanian clans that settled in the highlands of
Thesprotia Thesprotia (; el, Θεσπρωτία, ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the ...
in the
Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Ren ...
and established an autonomous
confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical iss ...
dominating a large number of neighboring villages in the mountainous areas of Epirus, where they successfully resisted Ottoman rule for many years. At the height of its power, in the second half of the 18th century, the Souliote confederacy is estimated to have consisted of up to 4,500 inhabitants. After the revolution, they migrated to and settled in newly independent
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
, and assimilated into the
Greek people The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, othe ...
. The Souliotes were followers of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
. They spoke the Souliotic dialect of Albanian and learnt Greek through their interaction with Greek-speakers. They are known for their military prowess, their resistance to the local ruler Ali Pasha, and later for their contribution to the Greek cause in the revolutionary war against the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
under leaders such as Markos Botsaris and
Kitsos Tzavelas Kyriakos “Kitsos” Tzavelas ( el, Κυριάκος “Κίτσος” Τζαβέλας, 1800–1855) was a Souliot fighter in the Greek War of Independence and later a Hellenic Army General and Prime Minister of Greece. Early years and Greek ...
. * Balázs Trencsényi, Michal Kopecek: ''Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): The Formation of National Movements''. Central European University Press, 2006, , S. 173. “The Souliotes were Albanian by origin and Orthodox by faith”. *
Eric Hobsbawm Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm (; 9 June 1917 – 1 October 2012) was a British historian of the rise of industrial capitalism, socialism and nationalism. A life-long Marxist, his socio-political convictions influenced the character of his work. ...
: ''Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality''. 2. Edition. Cambridge University Press, 1992, , S. 65 “Swiss nationalism is, as we know, pluri-ethnic. For that matter, if we were to suppose that the Greek mountaineers who rose against the Turks in Byron's day were nationalists, which is admittedly improbable, we cannot fail to note that some of their most formidable fighters were not Hellenes but Albanians (the Souliotes).” * Richard Clogg:
Minorities in Greece: Aspects of a Plural Society
'. Hurst, Oxford 2002, S. 178. ootnote“The Souliotes were a warlike Albanian Christian community, which resisted Ali Pasha in Epirus in the years immediately preceding the outbreak the Greek War of Independence in 1821.” * Miranda Vickers: ''The Albanians: A Modern History''. I.B. Tauris, 1999, , S. 20. “The Suliots, then numbering around 12,000, were Christian Albanians inhabiting a small independent community somewhat akin to that of the Catholic Mirdite tribe to the north”. * Nicholas Pappas: ''Greeks in Russian Military Service in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries''. Institute for Balkan Studies. Monograph Series, No. 219, Thessaloniki 1991, . * Fleming K. (2014), p.59 * André Gerolymatos: ''The Balkan Wars: Conquest, Revolution, and Retribution from the Ottoman Era to the Twentieth Century and Beyond''. Basic Books, 2002, , S. 141. “The Suliot dance of death is an integral image of the Greek revolution and it has been seared into the consciousness of Greek schoolchildren for generations. Many youngsters pay homage to the memory of these Orthodox Albanians each year by recreating the event in their elementary school pageants.” * Henry Clifford Darby: ''Greece''. Great Britain Naval Intelligence Division. University Press, 1944. “… who belong to the Cham branch of south Albanian Tosks (see volume I, pp. 363–5). In the mid-eighteenth century these people (the Souliotes) were a semi-autonomous community …” * Arthur Foss (1978). ''Epirus''. Faber. pp. 160–161. “The Souliots were a tribe or clan of Christian Albanians who settled among these spectacular but inhospitable mountains during the fourteenth or fifteenth century…. The Souliots, like other Albanians, were great dandies. They wore red skull caps, fleecy capotes thrown carelessly over their shoulders, embroidered jackets, scarlet buskins, slippers with pointed toes and white kilts.” * Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer (1983), "Of Suliots, Arnauts, Albanians and Eugène Delacroix". ''The Burlington Magazine''. p. 487. “The Albanians were a mountain population from the region of Epirus, in the north-west part of the Ottoman Empire. They were predominantly Muslim. The Suliots were a Christian Albanian tribe, which in the eighteenth century settled in a mountainous area close to the town of Jannina. They struggled to remain independent and fiercely resisted Ali Pasha, the tyrannic ruler of Epirus. They were defeated in 1822 and, banished from their homeland, took refuge in the Ionian Islands. It was there that Lord Byron recruited a number of them to form his private guard, prior to his arrival in Missolonghi in 1824. Arnauts was the name given by the Turks to the Albanians”.
The first historical account of rebellious activity in Souli dates from 1685. During the 18th century, the Souliotes expanded their territory of influence. As soon as Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman ruler in 1789 he immediately launched successive expeditions against Souli. However, the numerical superiority of his troops was not enough. The siege against Souli was intensified from 1800 and in December 1803 the Souliotes concluded an armistice and agreed to abandon their homeland. Most of them were exiled in the Ionian Islands and with the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence they were among the first communities to take arms against the Ottomans. Following the successful struggle for independence, they settled in parts of the newly established Greek state and assimilated into the Greek nation, with many attaining high posts in the Greek government, including that of
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
. Members of the Souliote diaspora participated in the national struggles for the incorporation of Souli to Greece, such as in the revolt of 1854 and the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...
(1912–1913) with Ottoman rule ending in 1913.


Geography


Name

The Souliotes ( gr, Σουλιώτες; sq, Suljotë) were named after the village of Souli ( sq, Suli), a hilltop settlement in modern
Thesprotia Thesprotia (; el, Θεσπρωτία, ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region. Its capital and largest town is Igoumenitsa. Thesprotia is named after the Thesprotians, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the ...
,
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
. Souli gradually became the name of the entire region where the four main Souliot settlements are located (Souli, Avariko, Kiafa, Samoniva). Souli as a region is not attested in any sources before the 18th century.
François Pouqueville François Charles Hugues Laurent Pouqueville (; 4 November 1770 – 20 December 1838) was a French diplomat, writer, explorer, physician and historian, member of the Institut de France. First as the Turkish Sultan's hostage, then as Napoleon Bo ...
, the French traveler, historian and consul in Ioannina, and others in his era theorized that the area was the ancient Greek Selaida and its modern inhabitants descendants of the Selloi, an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. This hypothesis was fueled and proposed in the context of the rise of
romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
in Europe and the ideological return to the ancient past. Such views had little acceptance in historiography and were already rejected as early as the publication of the ''History of Souli'' (1815) by Christoforos Perraivos. The origin of the toponym ''Souli'' is uncertain. Perraivos attributed the name to an Ottoman official in the region who was killed in a battle against the Souliotes, who gave his name to their village. In contemporary historiography, this theory is considered to be a constitutive myth designed to link the name of Souli with the narrative of struggles of its inhabitants against Ottoman officials. Historically, this view has been rejected as it would imply that the Souliotes had no name for their main village and region before the killing of a single Ottoman official. Fourikis (1934) goes as far as proposing that Perraivos invented this explanation himself. At the end of the 19th century Labridis proposed that ''Souli'' may derive from one of the earliest
Cham Albanian Cham Albanians or Chams ( sq, Çamë; el, Τσάμηδες, ''Tsámidhes''), are a sub-group of Albanians who originally resided in the western part of the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece, an area known among Albanians as Chameria. Th ...
clan leaders who settled in the area and gave his name to it as was the habit in tribal settlements. Fourikis (1934) rejected an origin of the toponym from a personal name and proposed that it simply derived from the Albanian word ''sul'' (mountain peak) which is found as a geographical toponym in other areas where medieval Albanian clans settled. It may also be interpreted as 'watchpost', 'lookout', or 'mountain summit'. The view of Fourikis is the most commonly accepted theory in contemporary historiography. Psimouli (2006) considers the etymological aspects in the theory of Fourikis acceptable, but rejects the view the toponym Souli emerged from the region's geomorphology, because of the fact that none of the four settlements of the ''tetrachori'' is placed on a mountaintop or an outlook but at an altitude of no more than 600 m. The author notes that while the mountain peaks which surround Souli have Albanian toponyms, none of them was actually named ''sul'' by the clans which settled there. Hence, Psimouli (2006) proposes that "Souli" or "Siouli" refers to a personal name -the first name or cognomen of the progenitor of the Albanian immigrant group that settled there - as happened in other settlements like Spata or the neighbouring Mazaraki or Mazarakia. The name itself metaphorically may have referred to his height as a tall person.


Settlements

The core of Souli consisted of four villages ( el, Τετραχώρι), namely: Souli (also known as Kakosouli), Avariko (also known as Navariko), Kiafa and Samoniva.Biris, K. ''Αρβανίτες, οι Δωριείς του νεότερου Ελληνισμού: H ιστορία των Ελλήνων Αρβανιτών''. Arvanites, the Dorians of modern Greece: History of the Greek Arvanites" Athens, 1960 (3rd ed. 1998: ). In time the confederation expanded and included additional seven villages ( el, Επταχώρι). The latter became the outer defensive ring in case of an attack. Both groups of villages were also collectively called Souli. At the peak of their power, in 1800, Souliot leaders estimated that their community numbered c. 20,000 inhabitants. Vasso Psimouli estimates a total population of c. 4,500 for the Souliot villages. Of these, she estimates that up to 1,250 were living in the "eptachori", among whom 500 were armed, according to Perraivos, organized in 18 clans, while the other 3,250, in 31 clans, were living in the "tetrachori" and provided c. 1200 armed men. Several surrounding villages, c. 50–66, which became part of the Souliote confederation were known as Parasouli. Parasouliotes could join the Souliotes to armed operations but they had no representation in the Souliote government. In case they displayed distinction in warfare they received permission to settle in Souliote villages and enjoyed the same rights and duties as the Souliotes.


Early history

Most scholars agree that the first inhabitants of Souli settled there in the middle of the 16th century as groups of shepherds. The earliest inhabitants came from southern Albania and the plains of Thesprotia. Vasso Psimouli holds that Souli was chosen as a place of permanent settlement by a subgroup of one of the two Albanian immigrant pastoralist populations that arrived in the area organized in large kinship groups ( Albanian: ''fis'') in the mid-14th century, a time of power vacuum after the death of Stefan Dušan and demographic decline of the Greek agrarian population due to the
plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...
. One Albanian immigrant group, that of the Mazarakaioi, could reach the area from the north through Vagenetia, while the other from the south via Rogoi. Authors who traveled in the region in the late 18th and early 19th centuries argue that the initial core of clans which formed the Souliotes gradually grew and expanded in other settlements. George Finlay recorded that "the Chams reserve the name Suliote for 100 families who, by virtue of birth, belonged to the military caste of Suli". According to Finlay, this population increased from other immigrant clans which joined them. Modern sources argue that the gradual settlement of families and tribes of different origins in Souli unlikely, because of the lack of sources testifying the abandonment of villages in the 17th century and also due to the limited abiity of the pastures of Souli to maintain superfluous population and to the closed character of tribal organization, which is not open to accepting outsiders in mass. The Souliote population was located in inland Thesprotia and for much of the 16th century remained away from the plagues and military events which affected coastal Epirus. This was an era of demographic increase for the area. The Souliote clans were pastoralist communities. Demographic pressure, environmental conditions and lack of grazing grounds gradually created social conditions, which led many Souliote clans to engage in pillaging and raiding other Souliote clans and primarily the neighbouring, lowland peasant communities as a means to combat lack of means of subsistence. In the 18th century, the occasional use of raiding as a means of subsistence became an institutionalized activity of Souliote clans which systematically raided the lowland peasants. The price of weapons in the 17th century had decreased which made their acquirement much easier and the naturally defensive position of Souliote clans in their hilltop settlements made immediate intervention by the Ottoman authorities difficult.


Society


Patrilineal clans

The Souliotes were organized in patrilineal clans which they called in Albanian '' farë'' (def. ''fara'', pl. ''farat'' "tribe"). Membership in the fara was exclusively decided via patrilineality. Indicative of this condition is the translation of M. Botsaris of the Greek term ''genos'' which is the exact equivalent to ''fara'' as ''gjish'' which in Albanian means grandfather. Each fara was formed by the descendants of a common patrilineal progenitor whose personal name became the clan name of the entire fara. It was led by a single clan leader who was its representative, although this practice was under constant negotiation as a leader may not have been acceptable by all members of the fara. Each clan was further divided in brotherhoods. As such, in time, it had the tendency to branch out in new clans which were formed as the original one grew in size and could no longer hold its cohesion as one unit under one leader. Members of the fara enjoyed privileges of settlement in specific villages and had the right to use in common specific natural resources (water springs, grazing grounds) which had been assigned to it. All heads of clans gathered in the general assembly which
Lambros Koutsonikas Lambros Koutsonikas ( el, Λάμπρος Κουτσονίκας, 1799 – 2 June 1879) was a Greek general and fighter of the Greek Revolution of 1821, army officer and amateur historian of the Revolution. Biography He was the son of Yiannos, fr ...
(himself a Souliot) recorded in Greek as ''Πλεκεσία'', a term that can be linked to the Albanian '' pleqësia'' (council of elders). This acted as the highest political structure of Souliot society which was responsible for solving disputes, formulating tribal laws, arbitrage between clans in dispute and the enforcement of decisions of the council against members of the community. It was a space where the different ''fara'' of Souliot society negotiated with each other their position in Souliotic society. The assembly was held in the open courtyard next to the church of St. George in Souli. The decisions of the ''pleqësia'' were not written down but agreed upon via the oral pledge of '' besë'' (def. ''besa'') to which all heads of clans were bound. The concept of ''besa'' was the foundation for agreements not only within Souliot society but functioned as the basis for any agreements which Souliotes made with outsiders, including hostile forces in times of war. The significance of this concept is highlighted by the fact that M. Botsaris translates ''besë'' in Greek as ''threskeia'' (religion) and ''i pabesë'' ("without ''besë'') as ''apistos'' (unbeliever). As each clan acted autonomously of the general assembly of their leaders, they could sign agreements with outsiders which contradicted the agreements which the Souliot community signed as a whole and this was a common cause of friction among the Souliot clans. A detailed recording of the Souliot clans appears for the first time by Perraivos. According to his notes, at the end of the 18th century, 450 families which belonged to 26 clans lived in the village of Souli. In Kiafa, there were 90 families which belonged to four clans. In Avariko, five families which belonged to three clans and in Samoniva 50 families which belonged to three clans. As the Souliot population, new clans were established from existing ones and formed the population of the seven villages around core Souli. There was an informal hierarchy among Souliot clans in the second half of the 18th century which was determined by the fighting power (men) of each ''fara'' and its size. The Botsaris clan was one of the oldest and most powerful in all four villages of core Souli. Georgios Botsaris in 1789 claimed that his clan could field 1,000 men against Ali Pasha followed by the Tzavellas and Zervas clans each of which could field 300 men and other smaller clans with 100 men each. George Botsaris presented himself as "the most respected individual among the Souliots" and his son Dimitris presented his father as the ''captain of the Souliots'' and himself as the ''commissioner of the Albanians''(in Greek, ''ton Arvaniton epitropikos''). It is evident that in this period of Souliot history, social stratification among the clans had created an environment which led weaker clans to coalesce around stronger ones and be represented by them. The role, however, of the ''pleqësia'' was to stop such differentiation and maintain relations of equality in the community. Until the fall of Souli in 1803, the Souliot community never accepted to have a single leader from one clan and even in times of war each clan chose its leader from its own ranks. Thus, the Souliot tribal organization remained one which preserved the collective autonomy of each clan until its end. Social stratification was expressed since the second half of the 18th century in social practices of the Souliots, but was never institutionalized. The Souliotes wore red skull caps, fleecy capotes over their shoulders, embroidered jackets, scarlet buskins, slippers with pointed toes and white kilts.Arthur Foss (1978). ''Epirus''. Faber. pp. 160–161. “The Souliots were a tribe or clan of Christian Albanians who settled among these spectacular but inhospitable mountains during the fourteenth or fifteenth century…. The Souliots, like other Albanians, were great dandies. They wore red skull caps, fleecy capotes thrown carelessly over their shoulders, embroidered jackets, scarlet buskins, slippers with pointed toes and white kilts.”


Economy

In the mid-sixteenth century Souli is listed in a Ottoman tax register as a village inhabited by 244 taxpayers, located in the Christian ''
nahiye A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
'' of Ai-Donat, part of the homonymous ''
kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...
'' of the sanjak of Delvina. In a 1613 tax list, however, Souli is one of the settlements in which some taxpayers paid ''
resm-i çift The Resm-i Çift (''Çift Akçesi'' or ''Çift resmi'') was a tax in the Ottoman Empire. It was a tax on farmland, assessed at a fixed annual rate per çift, and paid by land-owning Muslims. Some Imams and some civil servants were exempted from the ...
'' and '' resm-i bennak'', taxes paid by Muslim subjects, newcomers or converts to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...
. The Souliots were subject to a ''
sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial '' timarli sipahi'', which constituted ...
'', who had a degree of jurisdiction in Souli, represented them, as testified in a 1794 document, and collected a small amount of tax. The incorporation of the Souliots in the timariot system through the payment of taxes certified their legal standing, guaranteed them representation through the ''sipahi'' and allowed the continuation of their control and enrichment through activities such as brigandage and the provision of protection to subjugated populations. Perraivos records that the "
sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial '' timarli sipahi'', which constituted ...
of Soli", Beqir Bey, was settled in Yannina and went to Souli once every year to collect taxes. Taxation archives show that the economy of the Souliotes was based on small-scale subsistence pastoralism which due to few available grazing grounds never increased enough to become a source of commercial activity. The spahis of Souli generated little profit from their position. It seems that no Ottoman official or timariot holder of Souli lived there. This likely happened not because of Souliot hostility but because of the extended practice of Ottoman officials since the 17th century to not live on the territories they were assigned to, but in the closest large urban settlement. All archival sources show that throughout its existence the Souliotic community paid its taxes regularly and complied with Ottoman economic laws in their transactions and as such was represented in the Ottoman system, but it was not integrally included in it as its remote position and lack of natural resources didn't lead to any Ottoman presence within Souli. As a result, Psimouli (2016) describes the status of Souli as a "community without Turkish presence, but not necessarily autonomous".


Blood vengeance

Blood vengeance was one of the core social practices in Souliot society. It regulated relations between clans, the social hierarchy of Souli and the attribution of customary justice in cases of violations of clan property. Blood vengeance was ideologically linked with the concepts of honour-dishonour which was a collective trait of the entire clan. The pervasiveness of blood vengeance in Souliot society is highlighted in Souli's architecture: all houses were essentially fortified towers which were placed in strategic positions which could be defended from attacks which started from other fortified towers of Souli and even the churches had
embrasure An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
s. M. Botsaris uses the terms ''hasm'' (enemy) and ''hak'' which literally means vengeance in Albanian as the equivalent of Greek ''dikaiosyne'' (justice). The term linked to the actual practice of blood vengeance which he uses is ''gjak'' ( Gjakmarrja).


Language

The Souliots spoke Albanian, being the descendants of an Albanian pastoral group that had settled in the area, while, due to their communication and exchanges with the mostly Greek-speaking population of surrounding areas and the importance of their economic and military presence during the eighteenth century, learnt to use also Greek. For the social use of each language,
William Martin Leake William Martin Leake (14 January 17776 January 1860) was an English military man, topographer, diplomat, antiquarian, writer, and Fellow of the Royal Society. He served in the British military, spending much of his career in the Mediterrane ...
writes that "Souliot men spoke Albanian at home and all men could speak Greek as they were their neighbours, while many women could speak Greek too". For the movements of Souliots to the villages of
Lakka Souliou Lakka Souliou ( el, Λάκκα Σουλίου is a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Dodoni, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal uni ...
in the 18th century, the Greek Orthodox Bishop Serafeim Byzantios notes that "as the Souliotes speak Albanian, most villages of Lakka speak Albanian, but Greek is not unknown to them". The closest existing variant of Souliotic Albanian is that of the village Anthousa (Rapëza) and also
Kanallaki Kanallaki (, ) is a settlement in the regional unit of Preveza, Epirus. It belongs to the municipality of Parga and is simultaneous the seat of it. The number of inhabitants of the town amounts to 2,491. History Kanallaki was one of the Christia ...
. This dialect is spoken only by few people in modern times. Further evidence on the language of the Souliotes is drawn from the Rhomaic (Greek)-Albanian dictionary composed in 1809 mainly by Markos Botsaris and his family members. The Albanian variant in the text shows lexical influence from Greek, Turkish and other languages. Of 1494 Albanian words of the vocabulary, 361 are loanwords from Greek, 187 from Turkish, 21 from Italian and two from other languages. The Albanian entries correspond to 1701 Greek entries. Many entries are related to religion and church organization. For Jochalas who edited and published the dictionary, despite the influence of Greek on Souliotic Albanian in the entries, it is evident that Botsaris and his family members who helped him lacked structural knowledge of Greek and were very inexperienced in writing. He also observes that the Albanian phrases are syntaxed as if were Greek (Yochalas, p.53). Similar lack of knowledge of Greek grammar, syntax and spelling is observed for all of the very few written documents by Souliotes.
Robert Elsie Robert Elsie (June 29, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was a Canadian-born German scholar who specialized in Albanian literature and folklore. Elsie was a writer, translator, interpreter, and specialist in Albanian studies, being the author of numerou ...
noted that the 1,484 Albanian lexemes "are important for our knowledge of the now extinct Suliot dialect of Albanian". In the early twentieth century among the descendants of Souliotes in the Kingdom of Greece, there was an example of Souliote still being fluent in Albanian, namely lieutenant Dimitrios (Takis) Botsaris, a direct descendant of the Botsaris' family. The correspondence of the Souliotes to both Christian and Muslim leaders was either written in Greek or translated from Greek. Greek was commonly used in Ottoman Epirus for writing not just between Christians (including Souliotes) but even between Muslim Albanian-speakers who employed Greek secretaries as is, e.g., the case with the correspondence between the Cham beys and Ali pasha. A written account on the language Souliotes used is the diary of Fotos Tzavellas, composed during his captivity by Ali Pasha (1792–1793). This diary is written by F. Tzavellas himself in simple Greek with several spelling and punctuation mistakes. Emmanouel Protopsaltes, former professor of Modern Greek History at the University of Athens, who published and studied the dialect of this diary, concluded that Souliotes were Greek speakers originating from the area of Argyrkokastro or Chimara. Εmmanuel Protopsaltis asserted based on his reading of the texts that the national sentiment and the basic ethnic and linguistic component of Souli was Greek rather than Albanian. Psimouli criticizes the publication by Protopsaltis for its lack of critical analysis.


Toponyms

In a study by scholar Petros Fourikis examining the onomastics of Souli, most of the toponyms and micro-toponyms such as: ''Kiafa'', ''Koungi'', ''Bira'', ''Goura'', ''Mourga'', ''Feriza'', ''Stret(h)eza'', ''Dembes'', ''Vreku i Vetetimese'', ''Sen i Prempte'' and so on were found to be derived from Albanian. A study by scholar Alexandros Mammopoulos (1982 concludes that not all the toponyms of Souli were Albanian and that many derive from various other Balkan languages, including quite a few in Greek. In a 2002 study, Shkëlzen Raça states that Souliote toponyms listed by Fourikis can only be explained through Albanian. "Për më tepër, shumë nga suljotët sot vazhdojnë të përkujtojnë rrënjët e forta në viset shkëmbore të Sulit dhe nëpërmjet toponimisë nuk e kontestojnë origjinën shqiptare të tyre. Në këtë kontekst, siç bën të ditur albanologu grek me prejardhje shqiptare, Petro Furiqi (Πέτρο Φουρίκης), toponimet si: Qafa, Vira ose Bira, Breku i vetetimesë (Bregu i vetëtimës), Gura, Dhembes (Dhëmbës), Kungje, Murga e Fereza, nuk kanë si të shpjegohen ndryshe, përveçse nëpërmjet gjuhës shqipe." [Moreover, for many Souliotes today continue to commemorate the strong roots in the mountainous areas of Souli and through toponymy it does not dispute their Albanian origins. In this context, as knew the Greek albanologist of Albanian descent, Petro Furiqi (Πέτρο Φουρίκης), those toponyms are: Qafa, Vira or Bira, Breku i vetetimesë (Bregu i vetëtimës), Gura, Dhembes (Dhëmbës), Kungje, Murga and Fereza, have no other way of being explained, except through Albanian.] Vasso Psimouli states that many of the placenames of the wider area of Souli are Slavic or Aromanians, Aromanian (Zavruho, Murga, Sqapeta, Koristiani, Glavitsa, Samoniva, Avarico), while those of the core of the four Souliotic settlements are mostly Albanian.


Clashes with Ottoman officials


1685–1772

The first historical account of anti-Ottoman activity in Souli dates from the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1684–89. In particular in 1685, the Souliotes together with the inhabitants of Himara revolted and overthrew the local Ottoman authorities. This uprising was short-lived due to the reaction of the local Ottoman beys, agas and pashas. Perraivos (1815) based on oral stories he collected proposed that the first attack against Souli by the Ottoman authorities occurred in 1721. Archival sources show that the campaign occurred more likely in 1731-33 and didn't have Souliotes as its specific target. In the early 18th century, the Muslim Cham beys of
Margariti Margariti ( el, Μαργαρίτι; sq, Margëlliç) is a village and a former municipality in Thesprotia, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Igoumenitsa, of which it is a municipal unit. The ...
and the Souliotes promoted Venetian interests in certain areas of Epirus. In this context, an
armatolos The armatoles ( el, αρματολοί, armatoloi; sq, armatolë; rup, armatoli; bs, armatoli), or armatole in singular ( el, αρματολός, armatolos; sq, armatol; rup, armatol; bs, armatola), were Christian irregular soldiers, or mi ...
of Preveza known by the name Triboukis who supported French commercial interests was murdered. At the same time, the beys of Margariti launched a raid campaign as far as south as
Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...
. The Souliotes who also promoted Venetian goals, either jointly or independently of the Cham beys, launched their own pillaging raids. The local Ottoman authorities gathered 10,000 troops under Aslanzade Hadji Mehmet Pasha who attacked the Cham beys and the armatoloi who engaged in pillaging and destroyed Margariti. Souli itself wasn't attacked in this campaign. The second recorded attack against Souli in oral history occurred in 1754 by Mustafa Pasha of Yanina. This oral story is confirmed in archival sources and has been recorded in a text in the Church of St. Nicholas of Ioannina. During the transfer of some brigands from Margariti to Yanina the Souliotes attacked the guards and freed them. The text preserved in the Church of St. Nicholas notes that the person who had captured them was a Muslim from Margariti who was collaborating with them as he was the buyer of the stolen goods. This network of brigandage which the Muslim agas and beys of Margariti and the Souliotes had created in the region was the cause of the attack by Mustafa Pasha. Other attacks in the same era include that Dost Bey, commander of Delvinë (1759) and Mahmoud Aga, governor of Arta (1762). During 1721–1772 the Souliotes managed to repulse a total of six military expeditions. As a result, they expanded their territory at the expense of the various Ottoman lords. In 1772, Suleyman Tsapari attacked the Souliotes with his army of 9000 men and was defeated. In 1775, Kurt Pasha sent a military expedition to Souli that ultimately failed. During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74), the inhabitants of Souli, as well as of other communities in Epirus were mobilized for another Greek uprising which became known as Orlov Revolt. In 1785 it was the time of Bekir pasha to lead another unsuccessful attack against them. In March 1789, during the
Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) The Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 involved an unsuccessful attempt by the Ottoman Empire to regain lands lost to the Russian Empire in the course of the previous Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774). It took place concomitantly with the Austro ...
the chieftains of Souli: Georgios and Dimitrios Botsaris, Lambros Tzavellas, Nikolaos and Christos Zervas,
Lambros Koutsonikas Lambros Koutsonikas ( el, Λάμπρος Κουτσονίκας, 1799 – 2 June 1879) was a Greek general and fighter of the Greek Revolution of 1821, army officer and amateur historian of the Revolution. Biography He was the son of Yiannos, fr ...
, Christos Photomaras and Demos Drakos, agreed with Louitzis Sotiris, a Greek representative of the Russian side, that they were ready to
fight Combat (French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
with 2,200 men against the Muslims of
Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians from the Byzantine rite, was the name of a hi ...
. This was the time when Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman lord of Ioannina. Perraivos (1815) notes that by the end of the 18th century the central settlement of Souli had increased to 26 clans with a total of 450 families. The Greek peasants who were farmers in the lands which the Souliots had acquired were distinguished by the name of the village in which they dwelt. Clan, class and territorial labels had significance in addition to religion.


Resistance against Ali Pasha

As soon as Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman ruler, he immediately launched an expedition against Souli. However, the numerical superiority of his troops was not enough and he met a humiliating defeat. Ali was forced to sign a treaty, and under its terms he had to pay wages to the Souliote leaders. On the other hand, as part of the same agreement he held five children of prominent Souliote families as hostages.Vranousis, Sfyroeras, 1997, p. 249 Ali Pasha launched successive spring-summer campaigns in 1789 and 1790. Although some Parasouliote settlements were captured, the defenders of Souli managed to repulse the attacks. Despite the end of the Russo-Turkish War, Ali Pasha was obsessed to capture this centre of resistance. Thus, he looked forward to implement indirect and long-term strategies since the numerical superiority of his troops proved inadequate. In July 1792 Ali dispatched an army of c. 8,000–10,000 troops against the Souliotes. It initially managed to push the 1,300 Souliote defenders to the inner defiles of Souli and temporarily occupied the main settlement of the region. However, after a successful counterattack, the Ottoman Albanian units were routed with 2,500 of them killed. On the other hand, the Souliotes suffered minimal losses, but Lambros Tzavelas, one of their main leaders, was mortally wounded. The 1792 attack ended in Souliote victory and in the negotiations, the Botsaris clan managed to be recognized by Ali Pasha as the lawful representative of Souli and George Botsaris as the one who would enforce the terms of peace among the Souliotes. During the following seven years Ali Pasha undertook preparations to take revenge for the defeat. Meanwhile, he besieged the French-controlled towns of the Ionian coast. Especially two of them, Preveza and
Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...
, were vital to Souli for the supply of livestock and ammunition. Perraivos records that, in his pursuit to gather all incomes of all large estate holders of the area in order to augment his political power, Ali tried to buy from Bekir bey, the
sipahi ''Sipahi'' ( ota, سپاهی, translit=sipâhi, label=Persian, ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuks, and later the Ottoman Empire, including the land grant-holding (''timar'') provincial '' timarli sipahi'', which constituted ...
of Souli, the timariot rights in Souli and, facing his obstinate refusal, killed him.. At the fall of Preveza in late 1798, Ali Pasha managed to secure the neutrality of Souliotes through bribery. The biggest of the Souliot clans which negotiated and eventually collaborated with Ali Pasha and integrated itself in the local Ottoman hierarchy were the Botsaris clan. Perraivos (1815) is one of the contemporary historians who recorded the collaboration of Botsaris with Ali Pasha since the spring of 1800. Perraivos attributes this shift to the "madness of greed" of George Botsaris (grandfather of Markos Botsaris) whom he calls a "paid traitor". Other historians of the 19th century follow the same assessment. In modern historiography, the explanation of his political stance through "greed" is considered an oversimplification. Like all other Souliot clans, the Botsaris first and foremost worked for the interests of their own clan, and sought to improve the wealth and political position of their clan, hence the stance of George Botsaris and all Souliot leaders is interpreted in this framework. For the Botsaris clan, since 1799 when Ali Pasha took control of the villages of Lakka Souli which were previously under the sphere of influence of the Botsaris clan, integration in the Ottoman system was the only viable political option. In 1800, George Botsaris received a large sum and the position of the
armatolos The armatoles ( el, αρματολοί, armatoloi; sq, armatolë; rup, armatoli; bs, armatoli), or armatole in singular ( el, αρματολός, armatolos; sq, armatol; rup, armatol; bs, armatola), were Christian irregular soldiers, or mi ...
of
Tzoumerka Tzoumerka ( el, Τζουμέρκα) is a former municipality in the Ioannina regional unit, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality North Tzoumerka, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit ...
, and the Botsaris clan left Souli and settled in
Vourgareli Vourgareli ( el, Βουργαρέλι) is a Greek village in Arta prefecture. It is located in the north-east of Arta prefecture, built at a height of 900 meters in the slope of Tzoumerka Mountains. The village is the seat of Central Tzoumerka muni ...
of Arta. This was the first time that a Souliot clan became part of the Ottoman political system. The departure of the Botsaris clan weakened Souli as they were a significant part of its force. In June–July 1800 a new campaign was mounted by Ali involving 11,500 troops. When this direct assault failed, Ali resorted to long-term measures to subdue the warrior community. In order to isolate the seven main villages of Souli from the Parasouliote villages as well as Parga and Preveza, Ali ordered the construction of tower fortifications around Souli. For two years the Souliotes were able to survive this encirclement by the smuggling of supplies from Parga and from nearby Paramythia and Margariti. Nevertheless, a lack of food and supplies was taking its toll. In April 1802 the Souliotes received a supply of food, weapons and ammunition by a French corvette stationed in Parga. This intervention by the French offered Ali the pretext for a new expedition against them with the support of the agas and beys of Epirus and southern Albania.


Fall of Souli (1803)

In 1803 the position of the Souliotes became desperate with the artillery and famine depleting their ranks. On the other hand, the defenders in Souli sent delegations to the Russian Empire, the Septinsular Republic and France for urgent action but without success. As the situation became more desperate in the summer of the same year, Ali's troops began assaults against the seven core villages of Souli. Meanwhile, the British turned to the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen their forces against
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
, and the weapons and ammunition supplies were interrupted. Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Souliote clans started to split. As such two chieftains, Athanasios Koutsonikas and Pilios Gousis, withdrew from the defense. However, the rest in Souli gathered together in Saint George's
Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (d ...
and decided either to fight or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2,000 armed men. The main leaders were Fotos Tzavellas, Dimos Drakos, Tousas Zervas, Koutsonikas, Gogkas Daglis, Giannakis Sehos, Fotomaras, Tzavaras, Veikos, Panou, Zigouris Diamadis, and Georgios Bousbos. They won all the decisive battles. Without food and ammunition, they were forced to withdraw to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kougi, where they lost the last battle on December 7, 1803.Nikolopoulou, 2013, p. 239 Following that, the Souliotes concluded an armistice with Veli Pasha, Ali's son and commander of the expedition. Finding their defense untenable in the long run, they agreed upon a treaty on 12 December which obliged them to abandon their homeland. They were allowed to leave with arms, the necessities of war, foodstuffs and whatever else they wished to take. When the last Souliot tribes left, monk Samuel stayed with 5 Souliots in the fortified monastery of Saint Paraskevi in Kugi, in order to surrender war supplies to deputies of Veli, son of Ali, but the gunpowder exploded during the surrender. According to Perraivos, Samuel, enraged at the insult of one of Veli's deputies, set himself ablaze opting for death instead of surrender, while according to the '' Alipasiad'' and to a "remembrance" written on a fresco in a church of Seliani, the blow-up was an action of Fotos Tzavelas, in compliance with Ali's orders. The Ottoman Albanian troops violated this treaty and attacked groups of Souliotes. In one instance a group of Souliote women was attacked when heading to Zalongo and c. 22 of them being trapped decided to turn towards the cliff's edge together with their infants and children rather than surrender. According to tradition (see
Dance of Zalongo The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of women from Souli and their children that occurred in the aftermath of the invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War o ...
) they did this one after the other while dancing and singing. Other Souliotes reached Parga, which was under Russian control at the time. They either settled down there or set off for the Ionian Islands.


Exile (1803–1820)

After the surrender of Souli, Souliote clans chose divergent paths but many were ultimately led to move to the Ionian Islands and in south Greece.
Kitsos Botsaris Kitsos Botsaris (; 1741 in Missolonghi – 1813, in Arta), was a leader of the Souliotes, an autonomous community in Ottoman-ruled Epirus. He played a leading role in the aftermath of the last war between the Souliotes and the Ottoman ruler of ...
who had succeeded his father as armatolos of Tzoumerka became a target. Botsaris gathered his clan and 1,200 Souliotes who retreated to Agrafa. In January 1804, they were attacked by Ali Pasha's army under Beqir Bey with support from the local armatoloi Zikos Michos, Tzimas Alexis and Poulis. As the Botsaris clan was given the important armatolik of Tzoumerka, other armatoloi had targeted them. The Souliotes were besieged for 3 months on the grounds of the monastery of the Assumption of Mary. In the final battle, on April 7, most Souliotes were killed and of those who survived many were taken hostage. About 80 escaped from this battle. Ali Pasha at the same time published a firman which targeted the Botsaris clan which was hunted down. Kitsos Botsaris and his family with a few others managed to escape to
Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...
and later settled in the Ionian Islands. He returned to the Pashalik of Yanina in 1813 when Ali Pasha gave him again the armatolik of Tzoumerka but as soon as he returned he was murdered by a Gogos Bakolas. Many Souliotes entered service with the Russians on
Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
, where they became an important component of the " Greek Legion". This was a regiment of irregulars organized by the Russians among mainland refugees; it not only included Souliotes, but also Himariotes, Maniots, and other Greek
klepht Klephts (; Greek κλέφτης, ''kléftis'', pl. κλέφτες, ''kléftes'', which means "thieves" and perhaps originally meant just "brigand": "Other Greeks, taking to the mountains, became unofficial, self-appointed armatoles and were kno ...
s and '' armatoloi''. The formation of this unit was undertaken by the Greek-born Russian colonel Emmanouil Papadopoulos. Its organization was laid down by Papadopoulos in a leaflet in Greek titled "''Explanations on the establishment of a legion of Epiro-Souliotes and Himaro-Peloponnesians in the service of His Imperial Majesty Alexander I ...''". He recognized that Souliotes and the others were already naturally trained in irregular tactics and did not have to conform to the Western regular tactics. This unit was eventually named "Legion of Light Riflemen". The Souliotes participated in campaigns in
Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
in 1805,
Tenedos Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos'', ), or Bozcaada in Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Province. With an area of it is the third l ...
in 1806,
Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, str ...
in 1806, and during the defense of Lefkada in 1807. With the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and the détente between Russia and France, the Russian forces withdrew from the Ionian Islands and the French occupied them. The Souliotes and other components of Russian units entered service with the French in various units, such as the ''Battaglione dei Cacciatori Macedoni'' and the '' Régiment Albanais'' (Albanian Regiment), terms which did not have their later ethnic connotation, but were instead stylized terms that described the soldiers' general origins or mode of fighting.
Colonel Minot, the commander of the regiment, appointed as battalion captains mostly the leaders of Souliote clans who enjoyed the respect among the soldiers. Among them were: Tussa Zervas, George Dracos, Giotis Danglis, Panos Succos, Nastullis Panomaras, Kitsos Palaskas, Kitsos Paschos. Fotos Tzavellas, Veicos Zervas. During the Anglo-French struggle over the Ionian Islands between 1810 and 1814, the Souliotes in French service faced off against other refugees organized by the British into the Greek Light Infantry Regiment. Since the Souliotes were mostly garrisoned on Corfu, which remained under French control until 1814, very few entered British service. The British disbanded the remnants of the Souliot Regiment in 1815 and subsequently decommissioned their own two Greek Light Regiments. This left many of the Souliotes and other military refugees without livelihoods. In 1817, a group of veterans of Russian service on the Ionian Islands traveled to Russia to see if they could get patents of commission and employment in the Russian army. While unsuccessful in this endeavor, they joined the '' Filiki Etaireia'' ("Company of Friends"), the secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 for the purpose of liberating Greek lands from Ottoman rule. They returned to the Ionian Islands and elsewhere and began to recruit fellow veterans into the ''Philike Etaireia'', including a number of Souliot leaders.


Participation in the Greek War of Independence


Return to Souli (1820-1822)

In July 1820 the Sultan issued a hatt-ı Şerif against Ali Pasha of Yannina proclaiming him an outlaw and subsequently called Christians and Muslims persecuted by Ali to aid the Sultan's troops promising the return of their properties and villages. As in summer 1820 both the Sultan and Ali sought the military assistance of the Souliots, Ioannis Kapodistrias, the Greek serving as foreign minister of Russia, who had visited his native Corfu in 1819 and was concerned about the predicament of the Souliots, communicated to the Souliot leaders via his two brothers in Corfu his encouragement to take advantage of this opportunity in order to return to their homeland. The Souliots of Corfu promtply submitted a request to Ismail Pasha, the leader of the Sultan's army, and joined his force along with Markos Botsaris and other Souliots dispersed through Epirus. As Ismail Pasha, also known as Pashobey, temporized, fearful of the Souliots's return to their stronghold, they decided, four months later, in November 1820, to change camps and began secret negotiations with their old enemy, Ali.. In part thanks to Ali's appeal to their shared Albanian origin, but mainly after he offered to allow them to return to their land, the Souliots agreed in December to support him to lift the Sultan's siege of Yannina in return for their resettlement in Souli., . Οn December 12, the Souliotes liberated the region of Souli, both from Muslim Lab Albanians, who were previously installed by Ali Pasha as settlers, and Muslim Cham Albanians, allies of Pashobey. They also captured the Kiafa fort. The uprising of the Souliotes, among the first to revolt against the Sultan, like the rest of the other Greek exiles in the Ionian islands, inspired the revolutionary spirit among the other Greek communities. Soon they were joined by additional Greek communities (armatoles and klephts). Later, in January 1821, even the Muslim Albanians faithful to Ali Pasha signed an alliance with them and 3,000 Christian soldiers were fighting against the Sultan in Epirus. The Souliot struggle had initially a local character, but an understanding of the Souliotes and Muslim Albanians with Ali Pasha was in accordance with the plans of
Alexandros Ypsilantis Alexandros Ypsilantis ( el, Αλέξανδρος Υψηλάντης, Aléxandros Ypsilántis, ; ro, Alexandru Ipsilanti; russian: Александр Константинович Ипсиланти, Aleksandr Konstantinovich Ipsilanti; 12 Dece ...
, leader of the Philike Etaireia, for the preparation for the Greek revolution. The Greek revolutionaries wished to lengthen Ali's siege in order to withhold the Sultan's army in Epirus, but the Souliots considered lifting the siege as a precondition for securing their control of Souli and under the military leadership of Markos Botsaris tried to control the road leading from Arta to Ioannina to interrupt the supplies for the Sultan's army.
Christophoros Perraivos Christoforos Perraivos ( el, Χριστόφορος Περραιβός) was a Greek officer of the Greek War of Independence, member of the Filiki Eteria and author. In non-Greek sources his name is usually found as ''Per(r)evo(s).'' Biography P ...
, sent by Ypsilantis to Epirus and aiming to connect Ali's and the Souliots's struggle with the objectives of the Greek revolution, proposed to attack the seaside forts of Preveza and
Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...
, but Markos Botsaris and the Muslim Albanians rejected his plans, operated eastwards of Souli and after occupying a number of positions they managed to interrupt the sending of supplies from Arta and control most of Epirus, greatly advancing the objectives of the Filiki Eteria. In continuation of their cooperation during the summer, the Souliots, Muslim Albanian beys and the Greek
armatoles The armatoles ( el, αρματολοί, armatoloi; sq, armatolë; rup, armatoli; bs, armatoli), or armatole in singular ( el, αρματολός, armatolos; sq, armatol; rup, armatol; bs, armatola), were Christian irregular soldiers, or mi ...
of
Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...
signed in September a tripartite alliance to aid Ali and each other even against Ali, should he become powerful enough to turn against one of them. In October an envoy acting on the instructions of
Alexandros Mavrokordatos Alexandros Mavrokordatos ( el, Αλέξανδρος Μαυροκορδάτος; 11 February 179118 August 1865) was a Greek statesman, diplomat, politician and member of the Mavrocordatos family of Phanariotes. Biography In 1812, Mavrokordato ...
, the Phanariot Greek who had been in
Messolonghi Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...
from July, sought and managed to persuade all three parties to recognize the central administration of the Greek revolutionaries taking shape in Messologhi in return for help against Arta. In November they sent representatives to the assembly that established a constitutional charter for Western Continental Greece and they made a common attack on the city of Arta, which they captured and plundered, provoking the counterattack of Hurshid Pasha, the Sultan's new commander in chief in Yannina. Upon information of massacres of local Muslims in the Peloponnese after the beginning of the Greek revolts and after witnessing anti-Muslim actions in Messolonghi the Muslim Albanian ''agas'' perceived the religious character and divergent aims of the Greek Revolution and apprised of Ali's slim chances of success, they abandoned the Souliots and Ali and joined the Ottomans, accepting the proposals of the Albanian
Omer Vrioni Vizier Ömer Pasha Vrioni (in Greek spelling: Ομέρ Βρυώνης, ''Omer Vryonis'') was a leading Ottoman- Albanian figure in the Greek War of Independence. Early life Omer Vrioni was a Muslim Tosk Albanian from the village of Vrioni nea ...
, a delegate of Hurshid Pasha, which the Christian Souliots, confident in their connection with the revolutionaries, rejected. Distanced from their thitherto Albanian allies, the Souliots turned to the government of revolted Greece, to which they had sent a plenipotentiary, Fotos Bomporis, a man born in Preveza from a family originating from Himara, to represent them in the
First National Assembly at Epidaurus The First National Assembly of Epidaurus (, 1821–1822) was the first meeting of the Greek National Assembly, a national representative political gathering of the Greek revolutionaries. History The assembly opened in December 1821 at Piada (t ...
, the first legislative body of the provisional Greek Government that convened in December 1821 and January 1822, issuing the declaration of independence of the Greek nation. Trying to bind the Souliots in the Revolution, Mavrokordatos, now elected president of the
Executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...
, appointed Notis Botsaris Minister of War, a position he declined, opting to carry on as chieftain in endangered Souli, but his nephew Markos stayed in revolted Greece with a view to a joint operation of Souliots and the revolutionaries against Hurshid. After Hurshid captured Ali and had him decapitated in January 1822, he decided to turn his attention to the rebels at Souli and laid siege to it. In May 1822 the desperate resistance of c. 2,000 defenders of Souli managed to repel a 15,000-strong army, led by Hurshid Pasha, consisting mostly of Albanians, the '' agas'' of Chameria along with
Ghegs The Ghegs (also spelled as Gegs; sq, Gegët) are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Tosks) They are also differentiated by minor cultural, dialectal, social and religious characteristics. The Ghegs live in ...
, Labs and
Tosks Tosks ( sq, Toskët) are one of two major dialectal subgroups of Albanians (the other being the Ghegs) differentiated by their cultural, linguistic, social and religious characteristics. Territory ''Tosk'' may refer to the Tosk-speaking Alb ...
, who secretly aided the Souliots. To secure western Central Greece, his political base, from the Sultan's forces, Mavrocordatos approved the proposal of Markos Botsaris and the Souliots for a military campaign against Arta as a diversion to help Souli and personally assumed its leadership, but the Greek forces met with crushing defeat in the
battle of Peta The Battle of Peta or Battle of Petta was fought between the Greeks (with Philhellenes) led by Alexandros Mavrokordatos with Markos Botsaris and the Ottomans led by Omer Vrioni on 16 July 1822 (4 July Julian calendar). The conflict occurred on a ...
in July. With annual revenue from the
tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...
s of Karleli and Vonitsa, that Botsaris had rented, insufficient to procure food and ammunition and without external assistance, the Souliots, famishing isolated in their mountains, were forced to seek British mediation, signed the surrender of Souli to the Sultan's forces in July and abandoned their lands for a second and final time in September, armed and carrying their movable property, heading to the Ionian islands.


In the revolutionary armies

Markos Botsaris opted to remain in
Acarnania Acarnania ( el, Ἀκαρνανία) is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today i ...
and developed a friendship with Mavrokordatos, who was similarly tainted with failure and in need of a local footing, becoming the head of his political faction () in western Greece, and commonly toured the area trying to dissuade the locals from submitting to the marching Ottoman army under Kütahı. On Mavrokordatos's orders, after the submission of most armed chiefs from Western Roumeli to the Ottomans, Botsaris was promoted to general and successfully assumed command of the defense of Messolonghi during its first siege in late 1822. Meanwhile, the Souliots, unable to secure a living by offering armed service in the Ionian islands, sought to migrate to the Greek mainland and Botsaris, who wanted to form a military unit loyal to himself in order to assert his position, coordinated their gathering at Messolonghi, not far from their homeland, under the aegis of Mavrokordatos, who needed a mercenary army to gain political and military power in western Greece against the local ''armatoloi''. In early 1823 western Central Greece was beset by infighting among
notables An Assembly of Notables (French: ''Assemblée des notables'') was a group of high-ranking nobles, ecclesiastics, and state functionaries convened by the King of France on extraordinary occasions to consult on matters of state. Assemblymen were ...
, armed chiefs and Mavrokordatos, who sought to promote those loyal to him. When the Tzavellas clan, who, according to primary sources "couldn't stand the fame of Markos Botsaris", moved to western Greece from the Ionian Islands, they tried to group with his adversaries. As they were poor and with no salary, they were eventually contracted by Mavrokordatos, who ordered them, in manner similar to the practices of the Ottomans and other Greek armed groups, to wage war against and plunder the provice of Agrafa which was under the control of Georgios Karaiskakis. After they plundered Agrafa, the Tzavellas clan joined Karaiskakis and abandoned Mavrokordatos as he had designated Markos Botsaris "General of Western Greece". The two clans had a very deep hostility to each other that throughout the war they supported opposed factions and refused to fight under the same command. In an effort to release the tension and daily infighting between leaders of armed bands, all of them, including newly arrived from the Ionians Zygouris Tzavellas, were elevated to the generalship, leading Markos to tear apart the certificate of his rank in protest. In August the Roumeliot and Souliot forces of 1,200 men met with the 5,000-strong vanguard of the Ottoman army of Mustafa Pasha of Skodra in
Karpenisi Karpenisi ( el, Καρπενήσι, ) is a town in central Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Evrytania. Karpenisi is situated in the valley of the river Karpenisiotis (Καρπενησιώτης), a tributary of the Megdovas, in ...
and Botsaris, leading 350 Souliots, attempted a nightly surprise attack into the camp of the Muslim Albanians, who bore identical arms and spoke the same language, but, operating alone and, contrary to plan, left to fight unsupported by other armed chiefs, except for the Souliot Kitsos Tzavellas, was killed with a bullet in his head. Botsaris's death immediately provoked universal praise in Greece for his military skill and his prudence, he was acclaimed as "worthy of illustrious Greek forefathers", his feat was popularized by philhellenic committees across Europe and he became a legendary figure, enlisted among Greek national heroes. In December 1823, the philhellene
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
arrived at Messolonghi and, having heard of Markos's and the Souliots's bravery, formed an armed band of 500 Souliots, who were attracted by the money Byron, the administrator of the loans the Greeks had recently contracted with
City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
bankers, was reputed to carry. Bands of Souliot chieftains did not only comprise Souliots, as, to increase their clout, they had allowed their bands to include fighters from Roumeli, who were after higher wages, but, charged by the government, Byron favoured enlisting true Souliots. In contrast with fighters in the bands of Roumeliot armed chiefs, for whom the various provinces of ''Roumeli'' undertook their subsistence, the livelihood of the Souliots as well as that of their families in the Ionian islands, depended solely on the wages they received for their armed services from the revolutionary administration, as was generally the case with fighters from northern Greece, thus steering the Souliots towards a constant, unaccommodable demand for their salaries. The concentration of many Souliot families in Mesologgi was a source of deep concern for the locals. The armed clashes between them were frequent as Souliotes engaged in robberies and even took possession of parts of the houses of locals for their own families, while claiming Greekness as a privilege enjoyed exclusively by themselves and berating other Christians in the city as ''
rayah A raiyah or reaya (from , a plural of "countryman, animal, sheep pasturing, subjects, nationals, flock", also spelled ''raiya'', ''raja'', ''raiah'', ''re'aya''; Ottoman Turkish رعايا ; Modern Turkish râiya or reaya; related to the Arabi ...
''. The locals refused to supply the Souliotes with food, housing and other necessary materials because of the bad relations between them and the ties they had to local forces. Enraged at the troubles they provoked, Byron threatened to leave the city, if the Souliots stayed there, payed them part of the salaries due, accepting a request of the notables, and disbanded them, hiring fighters from various regions in their stead. The Souliots moved to Anatoliko and, after Byron's death, days later, in April 1824, they were enlisted by other captains, leaving western Central Greece. During this period, the Souliots integrated in a new reality, defined by their incorporation in the national, political and military goals of the Greek Revolution and their Hellenization, while maintaining their organization in autonomous, competing clans, remnants of the old clans. Despite their inability to unify under the same command, due to the clan antagonism that determined their accession to opposing armed bands or political factions, the Souliots remained experienced and formidable warriors to be employed by the Greek ''Administration'' on a high pay scale. They took part in all the battles fought against Ibrahim pasha and were sent into besieged Messolonghi. After the failure of the Greek navy to break the siege and bring supplies, the city's defenders, increasingly unified by the experience of a protracted siege, rejected the shameful terms offered by their hatred enemy, the Ottomans, who, unconscious of the revolutionary character of the war, asked them to surrender their arms, their only means of subsistence, and many Souliots died during the
sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining supp ...
in April 1826. Many Souliots, including distinguished officers of important clans, were also killed in the battle of Analatos in 1827. Addressing the Third National Council of the provisional Greek government in 1827
Kitsos Tzavelas Kyriakos “Kitsos” Tzavelas ( el, Κυριάκος “Κίτσος” Τζαβέλας, 1800–1855) was a Souliot fighter in the Greek War of Independence and later a Hellenic Army General and Prime Minister of Greece. Early years and Greek ...
stressed the sacrifice of the Souliotes for a common fatherland.Nikolopoulou, 2013, p. 301 The gradual integration of the Souliots in the Greek national cause was noticed by and perhaps amused their contemporaries, such as the embittered Ahmet Nepravistha, the dervenaga of Kravara, who in a letter replying to Kitsos Tzavellas's request to surrender, took note of their mutation and, pointing out their shared Albanian origin, sarcastically called into question Tzavellas's Greekness. After defeating him next month, in October 1828, Tzavellas had Ahmet's and his men's foreheads stigmatized with the Phoenix, the emblem of the First Hellenic Republic.


Settlement in Greece and legacy

Souliote groups had already moved during the war to areas which would form part of the Greek Kingdom. After the Greek War of Independence, the Souliotes could not return to their homeland as it remained outside the borders of the newly formed Greek state. Different groups of refugees who settled in Greece after the war despite their common status as refugees had their own peculiarities, interests and customs. The Souliotes, alongside people from the area of Arta and the rest of Epirus, in many cases insisted on being represented as a separate group in their affairs with the Greek state and maintain their own representatives. In other cases are grouped together with the other Epirote refugees as "Epirosouliotes" or just "Epirotes". The Souliots were considered to have "a sense of superiority" and were seen by some as being arrogant because they considered themselves to be superior in military affairs in their participation in the war. This feeling of superiority of Souliotes was not only directed towards other groups of refugees but also towards the central authorities. In such conditions, it was difficult for the Souliotes to follow the central government and they were constantly a source of "reaction and mutinies". A local relation from Agrinio (1836) to the central government reports that as the Souliotes were jobless and without land they had resorted to looting and robbing the local population. Since at least 1823 when many of them moved from the Ionian islands to western Greece, the Souliotes had been aiming to settle in
Mesologgi Missolonghi or Messolonghi ( el, Μεσολόγγι, ) is a municipality of 34,416 people (according to the 2011 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis ...
,
Agrinio Agrinio ( Greek: Αγρίνιο, , Latin: ''Agrinium'') is the largest city of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit of Greece and its largest municipality, with 106,053 inhabitants. It is the economical center of Aetolia-Acarnania, although its c ...
,
Nafpaktos Nafpaktos ( el, Ναύπακτος) is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos. It is named for Naupaktos (, Latini ...
. In the area of Agrinio (then Vrachori), the Souliotes asked from the government of
Petrobey Mavromichalis Petros Mavromichalis (; 1765–1848), also known as Petrobey ( ), was a Greek general, politician and the leader of the Maniot people during the first half of the 19th century. His family had a long history of revolts against the Ottoman Empi ...
to be given land in Zapadi. The locals were against this decision and the situation deteriorated to the point of threat of civil war. Thus the ultimate decision by the government was postponed and later abandoned as the position was considered vulnerable to Ottoman attacks from the frontier. In other areas of Agrinio, the Souliotes settled simply by occupying without a legal permit public land and even landed property whose owners weren't there. This move angered the locals, who considered these lands to belong to them. The land distribution affair fueled for many years the dispute between those dubbed as the "autochthonous" (natives) Agriniotes and the "heterochthonous" (foreigners) Souliotes. At the
Third National Assembly at Troezen The Third Greek National Assembly at Troezen ( el, Γʹ Εθνοσυνέλευση της Τροιζήνας) was convened during the latter stages of the Greek Revolution. Convening of the Assembly The long-delayed Third National Assembly was i ...
, the Souliotes requested to be given land in the Peloponnese near
Epidaurus Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city ('' polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: '' Palaia Epidavros'' and '' Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong t ...
but this proposal remained postponed as well. On July 24, 1829, the Souliotes submitted a new report which asked from the government of Ioannis Kapodistrias 1)to find land of their settlement 2)to pay them back wages for the participation in the war 3)to enact measures for widows and orphans. These proposals were met with support by Kapodistrias Since March 1829, many Souliotes had fought for the capture of
Nafpaktos Nafpaktos ( el, Ναύπακτος) is a town and a former municipality in Aetolia-Acarnania, West Greece, situated on a bay on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, west of the mouth of the river Mornos. It is named for Naupaktos (, Latini ...
and their contribution was major in this victory. The Souliotes who fought in this battle believed that the best landed property and housing of Nafpaktos belonged to them since they capture the area so they occupied and took them as their own. There were some negative reactions to their activity from locals, but only to a small degree possibly because the population of the town had dwindled during the war and it had to be repopulated. In Nafpaktos, the locals were rather friendly towards them and supported their request to build their own settlement nearby; as such, according to Kostavasilis (2002) per Raikos (1957) "Nafpaktos became their second homeland". Despite the settlement of groups of Souliotes via the occupation of landed property, a permanent solution to their resettlement didn't exist in 1829 and even during the early years of the reign of Othon I. Friedrich Thiersch, a contemporary of Kapodistrias, writes that he was concerned with resettling Souliotes, Cretans and Thessalians from the area of Mt. Olympus in the same area as members of their own community as he thought that their settlements would become dangerous areas. Such a consideration might be plausible, but modern historiography considers that the issue remained unsolved for a long time due to systemic factors and not because of the individual predisposition of Kapodistrias. At the
Fifth National Assembly at Nafplion The Fifth National Assembly ( el, Εʹ Εθνοσυνέλευση) of the Greeks convened at Argos on 5 December 1831, before relocating to Nafplion in early 1832. The Assembly, the last of a series of similar conventions of the Greek War of In ...
(late 1831- early 1832) the Souliotes were represented by
Kitsos Tzavelas Kyriakos “Kitsos” Tzavelas ( el, Κυριάκος “Κίτσος” Τζαβέλας, 1800–1855) was a Souliot fighter in the Greek War of Independence and later a Hellenic Army General and Prime Minister of Greece. Early years and Greek ...
and Ioannis Bairaktaris. After many debates and requests by Souliotes to be given land, the delegates of the assembly agreed to give land only to Souliotes who fought in the war and to allow them to build their settlements in limited properties in Nafpaktos and Agrinio. In April/May 1834, the new government of Othon as a measure which sought to placate the Souliotes and the locals of the areas which would see Souliot settlement prepared a legal act which was never officially published. The government accepted the Souliot requests for the implementation of the decisions of 1831-32 "to the extent that no unknown obstacles exist". This formulation allowed for local interest groups in these areas to postpone the creation of the settlements which eventually were halted. As a reaction against the new decision, on September 26, 1834, the Souliotes from all three areas (Nafpaktos, Agrinio, Mesologgi) signed a petition and elected
Kostas Botsaris Kostas (Kitsos) Botsaris ( el, Κώστας (Κίτσος) Μπότσαρης, it, Costa Bozzari, c. 1792–1853), also known as Constantine Botzaris, was a Greek general and senator. He was also a captain and a hero of the War of Greek Indepen ...
as a representative to take all necessary measures for their requests to be accepted. This new initiative had no success and reports of Souliotes from this era attest to their claims of great poverty of Souliot families. A Souliot petition to Othon reports that they were forced to" sell their weapons, furniture and even their clothes to get food". The Souliotes informed Othon that "the only science they know is that of weapons" which they offered to him. The petition ends with the statement that if no solution is found for their settlements, they will be "forced to leave their desired ..Greece, in which they fervently fought, and go to a foreign land in search for means to survive". In Nafpaktos, where the population had dwindled during the war, Souliot resettlement moved ahead. Extensive landed properties had been given to Souliotes outside the boundaries of the castle and most of them engaged in agriculture. The locals and the Souliotes had good relations and the municipal authorities petitioned the government to speed up the procedure for the building of the new settlement. In Agrinio, local reactions against the Souliotes caused many delays. The part of the local population which reacted against them accused them that they didn't plan to settle there peacefully but that they would engage in robberies and pillaging against them. In 1836, Souliotes were among the groups who took part in the anti-Bavarian movements in Greece and this caused further distrust towards them from the central authorities. In time, the dispute between Souliotes and locals led to the partial construction of the settlement. In 1854, during the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, a number of Greek military officers of Souliote descent, under
Kitsos Tzavelas Kyriakos “Kitsos” Tzavelas ( el, Κυριάκος “Κίτσος” Τζαβέλας, 1800–1855) was a Souliot fighter in the Greek War of Independence and later a Hellenic Army General and Prime Minister of Greece. Early years and Greek ...
, participated in a failed revolt in Epirus, demanding union with
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
. Until 1909, the Ottomans kept a military base on the fortress of Kiafa. Finally in 1913, during the
Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...
, the Ottomans lost Epirus and the southern part of the region became part of the Greek state. Members of the Souliote diaspora that lived in Greece played a major role in 19th- and 20th-century politics and military affairs, like
Dimitrios Botsaris Dimitrios Botsaris ( el, Δημήτριος Μπότσαρης; 1813–1871) was a Greek Army officer and Minister for Military Affairs. D. Botsaris was the son of Markos Botsaris,University of Chicago''Encyclopædia britannica: a new survey ...
, the son of Markos Botsaris,University of Chicago
''Encyclopædia britannica: a new survey of universal knowledge''
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 1946, p. 957
and the
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
resistance leader Napoleon Zervas.


Identity and ethnicity

In Ottoman-ruled Epirus, national identity did not play a role to the social classification of the local society; religion was the key factor of classification of the local communities. The Orthodox congregation was included in a specific ethno-religious community under ''Graeco-Byzantine'' domination called
Rum millet Rūm millet (millet-i Rûm), or "''Roman nation''", was the name of the Eastern Orthodox Christian community in the Ottoman Empire. Despite being subordinated within the Ottoman political system, the community maintained a certain internal auto ...
. Its name was derived from the Byzantine (Roman) subjects of the Ottoman Empire, but all Orthodox Christians were considered part of the same millet in spite of their differences in ethnicity and language. According to this, the Muslim communities in Epirus were classified as ''Turks'', while the Orthodox (Rum), were classified as ''Greeks''. Moreover, national consciousness and affiliations were absent in Ottoman Epirus during this era. The Souliots's Christian faith became in due time a key element differentiating them from nearby Chams and leading them to connect with and rally around the neighbouring Greek population.


Self-identification

In the eighteenth century common traits in their appearance, such as displaying shaved forehead and temples, their social structure, common mores, and activities such as brigandage and war reinforced the sense of belonging in the same place-based community and gradually caused clan identities to transform into the consciousness of a particular moral and cultural community related to its abode, while distinguishing the Souliots from the surrounding Greek-speaking and Albanian-speaking populations. At the beginning of the
Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...
the Christian Albanian Souliotes were still unfamiliar with ideas of nationalism and they did not see themselves as leading "Greek armies", even declaring in a letter to the Russian Tsar that they do not have anything in common with the other Greeks, feeling closer to fellow Albanian Muslims instead. During the Greek War of Independence the Souliotes identified entirely with the Greek national cause


Descriptions in contemporary and 19th-century accounts


Greek authors

The Souliotes had a strong local identity.
Athanasios Psalidas Athanasios Psalidas ( el, Αθανάσιος Ψαλίδας; 1767–1829), was a Greek author, scholar and one of the most renowned figures of the modern Greek Enlightenment. Life Early years and diaspora Psalidas was born at 1767 in Ioannina, whe ...
(1767–1829), Greek scholar and secretary to Ali Pasha in early 19th century stated that the Souliotes were ''Greeks fighting the Albanians'' and distinguishes Souliotes from "Arvanites". He also stated that they are part of the Cham population and their correspondent region, known as Chameria, was inhabited by both Albanians and Greeks with the later being more numerous, while the villages of Souli were inhabited by "Greek warriors".Kallivretakis, Leonidas (1995).
Η ελληνική κοινότητα της Αλβανίας υπό το πρίσμα της ιστορικής γεωγραφίας και δημογραφίας [The Greek Community of Albania in terms of historical geography and demography
" In Nikolakopoulos, Ilias, Kouloubis Theodoros A. & Thanos M. Veremis (eds). ''Ο Ελληνισμός της Αλβανίας [The Greeks of Albania]''. University of Athens. p. 36, 47: "Οι κατοικούντες εις Παραμυθίαν και Δέλβινον λέγονται Τζαμηδες και ο τόπος Τζαμουριά», δίδασκε ο Αθανάσιος Ψαλίδας στις αρχές του 19ου αιώνα και συνέχιζε: «Κατοικείται από Γραικούς και Αλβανούς· οι πρώτοι είναι περισσότεροι», ενώ διέκρινε τους δεύτερους σε Αλβανούς Χριστιανούς και Αλβανούς Μουσουλμάνους." Στην Τσαμουριά υπάγει επίσης την περιφέρεια της Πάργας, χωρίς να διευκρινίζει τον εθνοπολιτισμικό της χαρακτήρα, καθώς και τα χωριά του Σουλίου, κατοικούμενα από «Γραικούς πολεμιστές».
Adamantios Korais Adamantios Korais or Koraïs ( el, Ἀδαμάντιος Κοραῆς ; la, Adamantius Coraes; french: Adamance Coray; 27 April 17486 April 1833) was a Greek scholar credited with laying the foundations of modern Greek literature and a major ...
, major figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment states in 1803 that the Souliotes are the "pride of the Greeks".


Western authors

Amongst Western European travelers and authors traveling in the region during the nineteenth century, they described the Souliotes in different terms, while most of them were based on claims they have heard or read rather than on research-based evidence, dependent on their guides, without any knowledge of Greek and Albanian and having probably misunderstood the cultural and political reality of the region: In 1813 Hobhouse stated the Souliotes "are all Greek Christians and speak Greek" and resembled more "the Albanian warrior than the Greek merchant". French historian
Claude Fauriel Claude Charles Fauriel (21 October 1772 – 15 July 1844) was a French historian, philologist and critic. Biography He was born at Saint-Étienne, Loire, the son of a poor joiner, but received a good education in the Oratorian colleges of Tourn ...
described the Souliotes in 1814 as "a mixture of Greeks and Albanian Christians" who were originally refugees that settled in the Souli mountains. In the nineteenth century, the ethnic and geographical terms ''Albanian'' and ''Albania'' were used often to incorporate the people of the area and southern Epirus, now part of Greece. British traveller Henry Holland wrote in 1815 that they were of "Albanian origin" and "belonging to the division of that people called the Tzamides" ( Chams). R. A. Davenport stated in 1837 that were some people who believed that the "nucleus of the Suliote population consisted of Albanians" who had sought refuge in the mountains after the death of Skanderbeg, while other people claimed shepherds settled Souli from Gardhiki which in both cases was to escape Ottoman rule. In 1851 British traveler Edward Lear wrote the "mountains of Suli" were "occupied by Albanians" in the early medieval period and stayed Christian after the surrounding area converted to Islam. Traveler Henry Baerlin referred to the Souliotes as shouting their defiance in Albanian to "threatening Greek letters sent by Ali Pasha" during their wars. Traveler Brian de Jongh stated that the Souliots were of Albanian descent and "refugees from Albania ..a branch of the Tosks", that kept "their Albanian mother tongue and Christian faith. A NY Times article from 1880 calls the Souliotes a "branch of the Albanian people" and referred to Souliote women like Moscho Tzavella as exemplary of "the extraordinary courage of the Albanian women... in the history of the country.


Identification by historiography

During the early nineteenth century exile in Corfu, the Souliote population was usually registered in official Corfiot documents as ''Albanesi'' or ''Suliotti'', as ''Arvanites'' in onomastic catalogs for foreigners and as ''Alvanites'' (Αλβανήτες) in a divorce document by the wife of Markos Botsaris. "Αλβανήτες", d.m.th., shqiptare i identifikon edhe Eleni Karakicu, bashkëshortja e pare e Marko Boçarit. Ajo në fakt drejton një kundër akuzë ndaj tij e familjes së tij, si përgjigje rreth një procesi gjyqësor për çështje shkurorëzimi të parashtruar nga vetë Marko Boçari më 1810, në shtatë ujdhesat e Detit Jon. Ndërmjet tjerash, Karakicu akuzon indiferencën e vjehrrive të saj me fjalët: Nëse ai i kishte të gjitha gjërat në duart e veta, se vjehrri dhe vjehrra ime nuk vendosen ta zënë e ta vrasin, sa Kostën e Stathit, po aq edhe këtë ta bëjnë per mua dhe se sipas tyre e kanë tradhtuar, atëherë veprimi i tillë është borxh dhe ligj për shqiptarët, që të lahen nga mëkati." " _According_to_Greek_Corfiot_historian_Spyros_Katsaros,_he_states_that_the_Corfiot_Orthodox_Greek_speaking_population_during_the_period_of_1804–14_viewed_the_Souliotes_as_"Albanian_refugees_..._needing_to_be_taught_Greek"._While_K.D._Karamoutsos,_a_Corfiot_historian_of_Souliote_origin_disputes_this_stating_that_the_Souliotes_were_a_mixed_Graeco-Albanian_population_or_''ellinoarvanites''._The_Hellenic_Navy_Academy_says_that_the_Souliotic_war_banner_used_by_Tousias_Botsaris_and__Kitsos_Tzavellas_before_and_during_the_Greek_War_of_Independence_bore_the_inscription_"descendants_of_Pyrrhus_of_Epirus.html" ;"title="Alvanites", or in other words Albanians is how Eleni Karakitsou, the wife of Markos Botsaris identifies them. It relates to an accusation against his family to answer questions in a divorce case trial filed by Markos Botsaris in 1810 in the Septinsular islands of the Ionian Sea. Among other things, Karakitsou accuses her in-laws of indifference with the words: He had everything in his hands, because my father in law and mother in law decided not catch and to kill him, like Kosta and Stathi, yet they did not do this for me and I believe they have betrayed me and such an action is owed and law for Albanians, so as to brush away those sins."
According to Greek Corfiot historian Spyros Katsaros, he states that the Corfiot Orthodox Greek speaking population during the period of 1804–14 viewed the Souliotes as "Albanian refugees ... needing to be taught Greek". While K.D. Karamoutsos, a Corfiot historian of Souliote origin disputes this stating that the Souliotes were a mixed Graeco-Albanian population or ''ellinoarvanites''. The Hellenic Navy Academy says that the Souliotic war banner used by Tousias Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas before and during the Greek War of Independence bore the inscription "descendants of Pyrrhus of Epirus">Pyrrhus", the ancient Greek ruler of Epirus. Greek historian Vasso Psimouli states that the Souliotes were of Albanian origin, having first settled in Epirus in the 14th century and speaking Albanian at home despite not being isolated from their Greek neighbours. Scottish historian George Finlay called them a branch of Chams, which American ethnologist Laurie Kain Hart interpreted as them having initially spoken Albanian. British academic Miranda Vickers calls them "Christian Albanians". The Canadian professor of Greek studies Andre Gerolymatos has described them as "branch of the southern Albanian Tosks" and "Christian Albanians of Suli". Classicist David Brewer has described them as a tribe of Albanian origin that like other Albanian tribes lived by plunder and extortion on their neighbours. American professor Nicholas Pappas stated that in modern times the Souliotes have been looked upon as Orthodox Christian Albanians who identified themselves with the Greeks. According to Pappas the overwhelming majority of the Souliotic cycle of folksongs is in Greek, which is interpreted by him as a testimony to the Greek orientation of the Souliotes. Arthur Foss says that the Souliotes were an Albanian tribe, that like other Albanian tribes, were great dandies. British historian Christopher Woodhouse describes them as an independent Greek community in the late 18th century during the resistance against Ali Pasha. Richard Clogg describes them as a warlike Albanian Christian community. Koliopoulos and Veremis have described the Souliotes as being "partly hellenized Albanian". According to Koliopoulos and Veremis, when the Albanian-speaking Souliots and other non-Greek speakers had fought in the Greek revolution, no-one thought that they were less Greek than the Greek-speakers. Trencsényi and Kopecek have inferred that they were Orthodox by faith and Albanian by origin. Fleming considers the Souliotes an Orthodox Albanian people, but also Greek-speaking. She also states that the Souliote people, who practiced a form of Orthodox Christianity and spoke Greek, were seen not as Greeks but as Albanians. Peter Bartl says that the Souliotes were an Albanian tribal community of Greek Orthodox religion. Yanni Kotsonis states that the Souliots appear a puzzling case only when contemporary notions of national belonging are projected to them and that their identity was complex, as they were "Albanians, ''Romioi'' and Christians and later Greeks as well", adopting Greekness since the Greek Revolution prevailed and endured. Thus, for Greek authors the issue of ethnicity and origins regarding the Souliotes is contested and various views exist regarding whether they were Albanian, Albanian-speaking Greeks, or a combination of Hellenised Christian Albanians and Greeks who had settled in northern Greece. The issue of the origin and ethnicity of the Souliots is very much a live and controversial issue in Greece today. Foreign writers have been equally divided. "While the Corfiot historian, K. D. Karamoutsos, in his study of Souliot genealogies (or lineages) does not disagree on the question of the vendetta, he has little time for what he considers extensive “misinformation” on the part of Katsaros. Karamoutsos has a more sympathetic view of the Souliots, insisting that no respectable historian could categorize them as members of the Albanian nation simply on the grounds that they had their roots in the centre of present-day Albania and could speak Albanian. On the contrary, he argues, they were 100% Orthodox and bilingual, speaking Greek as well as Albanian; he says that their names, customs, costumes and consciousness were Greek, and that they maintained Greek styles of housing and family structures. He accepts that some historians might place their forebears in the category of akrites, or border guards, of the Byzantine Empire. When they came to Corfu, the Souliots were usually registered in official documents, he says, as Albanesi or Suliotti. They were, he concludes, a special group, a Greek-Albanian people (ellinoarvanites). Vasso Psimouli, on the other hand, takes for granted that the Souliots were of Albanian origin. According to her, they first settled in Epirus at the end of the fourteenth century, but they were not cut off from the Greek-speaking population around them. They spoke Albanian at home but they soon began to use Greek. As these varying opinions suggest, Greek academics have not been able to agree whether the Souliots were Albanian, Albanian-speaking Greeks, or a mixture of Greeks and Hellenized Christian Albanians who had settled in northern Greece. The issue of the origin and ethnicity of the Souliots is very much a live and controversial issue in Greece today. Foreign writers have been equally divided." The Souliotes were called Arvanites by Greek monolinguals,
Thede Kahl Thede Kahl (born 30 March 1971 in Hamburg) is a German ethnographer and ethnolinguist. He is the head of the Institute of South Slavic Studies in the University of Jena (in which he is a professor), in Germany. His research focuses are the S ...
(1999).
Die Zagóri-Dörfer in Nordgriechenland: Wirtschaftliche Einheit–ethnische Vielfalt
he Zagori villages in Northern Greece: Economic unit – Ethnic diversity. ''Ethnologia Balkanica''. 3: 113–114. "Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte hat es mehrfach Ansiedlungen christlich-orthodoxer ''Albaner'' (sog. ''Arvaniten'') in verschiedenen Dörfern von Zagóri gegeben. Nachfolger Albanischer Einwanderer, die im 15. Jh. In den zentral- und südgriechischen Raum einwanderten, dürfte es in Zagóri sehr wenige geben (Papageorgíu 1995: 14). Von ihrer Existenz im 15. Jh. wissen wir durch albanische Toponyme (s. Ikonómu1991: 10–11). Von größerer Bedeutung ist die jüngere Gruppe der sogenannten Sulioten – meist albanisch-sprachige Bevölkerung aus dem Raum Súli in Zentral-Epirus – die mit dem Beginn der Abwanderung der Zagorisier für die Wirtschaft von Zagóri an Bedeutung gewannen. Viele von ihnen waren bereits bei ihrer Ankunft in Zagóri zweisprachig, da in Súli Einwohner griechischsprachiger Dörfer zugewandert waren und die albanischsprachige Bevölkerung des Súli-Tales (''Lakka-Sulioten'') engen Kontakt mit der griechischsprachigen Bevölkerung der weiteren Umgebung (''Para-Sulioten'') gehabt hatte (Vakalópulos 1992: 91). Viele Arvaniten heirateten in die zagorische Gesellschaft ein, andere wurden von Zagorisiern adoptiert (Nitsiákos 1998: 328) und gingen so schnell in ihrer Gesellschaft auf. Der arvanitische Bevölkerungsanteil war nicht unerheblich. Durch ihren großen Anteil an den Aufstandsbewegungen der Kleften waren die Arvaniten meist gut ausgebildete Kämpfer mit entsprechend großer Erfahrung im Umgang mit Dörfer der Zagorisier zu schützen. Viele Arvaniten nahmen auch verschiedene Hilfsarbeiten an, die wegen der Abwanderung von Zagorisiern sonst niemand hätte ausführen können, wie die Bewachung von Feldern, Häusern und Viehherden."
which amongst the Greek-speaking population until the interwar period, the term ''Arvanitis'' (plural: ''Arvanites'') was used to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of their religious affiliations. "Until the Interwar period ''Arvanitis'' (plural ''Arvanitēs'') was the term used by Greek speakers to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of his/hers religious background. In official language of that time the term ''Alvanos'' was used instead. The term ''Arvanitis'' coined for an Albanian speaker independently of religion and citizenship survives until today in Epirus (see Lambros Baltsiotis and Léonidas Embirikos, “De la formation d’un ethnonyme. Le terme Arvanitis et son evolution dans l’État hellénique”, in G. Grivaud-S. Petmezas (eds.), ''Byzantina et Moderna'', Alexandreia, Athens, 2006, pp. 417–448." According to Nikolopoulou, due to their identification with Greece, they were seen as Greeks by their Muslim Albanian adversaries as well.Nikolopoulou, 2013, p. 299, "Still, regardless of ethnic roots, the Souliot identification with Greece earned them the title of "Greeks" by their Ottoman and Muslim Albanian enemies alike... identifies them as Greeks fighting the Albanians" Ali Pasha, on the other hand, established an alliance with the Souliotes in 1820 by appealing to the shared ethnic Albanian origin of the Souliotes and his Muslim Albanian forces. Religiously, the Souliotes were always members of the Christian flock of the bishopric of Paramythia and belonged to the
Church of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople ( el, Οἰκουμενικὸν Πατριαρχεῖον Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, translit=Oikoumenikón Patriarkhíon Konstantinoupóleos, ; la, Patriarchatus Oecumenicus Constanti ...
, part of the larger
Greek Orthodox Church The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...
. Latter Greek official policy from the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle twentieth century, adopted a similar view: that speech was not a decisive factor for the establishment of a Greek national identity.Baltsiotis. ''The Muslim Chams of Northwestern Greece''. 2011. "The fact that the Christian communities within the territory which was claimed by Greece from the mid-19th century until 1946, known after 1913 as ''Northern Epirus'', spoke Albanian, Greek and Aromanian (Vlach), was dealt with by the adoption of two different policies by Greek state institutions. The first policy was to take measures to hide the language(s) the population spoke, as we have seen in the case of “Southern Epirus”. The second was to put forth the argument that the language used by the population had no relation to their national affiliation. To this effect the state provided striking examples of Albanian-speaking individuals (from southern Greece or the ''Souliotēs'') who were leading figures in the Greek state. As we will discuss below, under the prevalent ideology in Greece at the time every Orthodox Christian was considered Greek, and conversely after 1913, when the territory which from then onwards was called “Northern Epirus” in Greece was ceded to Albania, every Muslim of that area was considered Albanian." As such, the dominant ideology in Greece considered as ''Greek'' leading figures of the Greek state and obscured the links of some Orthodox people such as Souliotes had to Albanian. 19th and 20th-century traditional historiography dealing with Souli and the Souliots selectively focused on their late eigteenth century conflicts with Ottoman officials, ignoring the past of the Souliot society, providing a distorted image of the relation of Souliots with their surroundings and presenting their military skills as a racial characteristic. Greek historian
Constantine Paparrigopoulos Constantine Paparrigopoulos ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Παπαρρηγόπουλος; 1815 – 14 April 1891) was a Greek historian, who is considered the founder of modern Greek historiography. He is the founder of the concept of historica ...
(1815–1891) stated that the Souliotes were "a mixture of Greeks and Hellenized Albanians" while "the Albanian tribe fortified the most noble the combatitive spirit of the Greek, and the Greek inspired in the Albanian the most noble sentiments of love of one's country, love of learning and the rule of law".


Souliotes in literature and art

The image of Souliotes in art and literature is capacious. They were at times depicted as remote from European culture, exotic and simple mountaineers as proposed in orientalized prototypes by Lord Byron and later by various British poets who remained under the influence of the former. In the works of the philhellenes, Souliotes and their place were often presented according to the most common 19th-century literary cliché: romanticized and sentimentalized. The scope of the works about the Souliotes was focused on the Greek Revolution, but was not limited to it. As such the philhellenic discourse conceived in this way includes any kind of cultural activity: literature belle-lettres and writings of any kind, visual arts, design (decorations and household articles), music, theater, spectacles and organized events. The romantic image of the wild, exotic Souliotes that
Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
proposed in the second canto of his narrative poem ''
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'' is a long narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. The poem was published between 1812 and 1818. Dedicated to " Ianthe", it describes the travels and reflections of a world-weary young man, who is disi ...
'' (1812) influenced especially the Western image of Souli, while the Greek tradition was to some extent resistant to Byronic trends. Byronism also created a separate thread in the English tradition of imaging Souli, while another one was the outbreak of the Greek Revolution. As a result of Byron's poetic refashioning of Albania as a "wild" landscape in ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'', travelogues from the early 19th century record a series of representations of the Souliots, already known as invincible warriors. One of the most impressive of these images was a watercolour, a creation of British architect
Charles Robert Cockerell Charles Robert Cockerell (27 April 1788 – 17 September 1863) was an English architect, archaeologist, and writer. He studied architecture under Robert Smirke. He went on an extended Grand Tour lasting seven years, mainly spent in Greece. ...
, which was incorporated in 1820 in a book by
Thomas Smart Hughes Thomas Smart Hughes (1786–1847) was an English cleric, theologian and historian. Life Born at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, on 25 August 1786, he was the eldest surviving son of Hugh Hughes, curate of Nuneaton, and rector of Hardwick, Northamptonshi ...
. This depiction of armed mountaineers in a fierce landscape, supposedly encapsulating their warrior qualities, was massively reproduced in the 19th century, symbolizing
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
's Orientalist take of the heroic yet savage Other. Rigas Feraios in his patriotic poem, ''Thourios'' (1797), mentioned the gallantry of the Souliotes and the Maniotes when he called on the Greeks to take up arms against the Ottomans. In 1818 at the Greek quarter of Odessa a ballet performance was organized under the name "The Soulios at Jannina". Theater plays and poems were produced during and soon after the Greek Revolution of 1821 for the Souliotes in general, and for certain heroes or events, such as Markos Botsaris or the
Dance of Zalongo The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of women from Souli and their children that occurred in the aftermath of the invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War o ...
. The Souliotic cycle of folksongs comprises traditional songs in Greek and Albanian. At 1824 the first collection of folk material from Souli was published by Claude Charles Fauriel as part of his first collective work about Greek folk songs. In this work Fauriel presents various songs from the region together with descriptions about the correspondent historic events. In 1852 Spyridon Zambelios published the collection ''Folk Songs of Greece''. The Greek folk songs are mostly compiled from the Ionian Islands, and many of them are about Souli and the struggles of the Souliotes against the Ottoman Turks. In 1878
Thimi Mitko Thimi (Euthimio) Mitko (1820 – March 22, 1890) was an activist of the Albanian National Awakening and folklorist. Mitko was born in Korçë, Albania (then Ottoman Empire), where he attended the local Greek school. His uncle, Peti Mitko, ...
published a collection of Albanian folk material in his ''Alvanikē melissa — Bleta Shqiptare'' ( el, Αλβανική Μέλισσα - The Albanian Bee), which included lyric poems of heroic songs in southern Albanian dialect, including of the heroes of Souli; the Song of Marko Boçari being among them. The Souliotes became the main topic in the works of several Greek poets: Andreas Kalvos, Iakovos Polylas, Christos Christovasilis,
Aristotelis Valaoritis Aristotelis Valaoritis ( el, Αριστοτέλης Βαλαωρίτης; 1824–1879) was a Greek poet, representative of the Heptanese School, and politician. He was also the great-grandfather of Nanos Valaoritis, one of the most distinguishe ...
.


Legacy

At the revolt of 1866–1869 in Crete and the holocaust of Arkadi the Greek military leader Panos Koronaios stated the determination of the Cretan rebels by saying that "Souli lives again in the Arkadi". During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941-1944) female resistance leader,
Lela Karagianni Eleni "Lela" Karagianni ( el, Λέλα Καραγιάννη ; 1898 – 8 September 1944), also written Karayanni, was a Greek resistance leader during World War II. The wife of an Attican pharmacist and the mother of seven children, Karagianni ...
, named her organization "women of Zalongo" and her members "present-day Souliotisses". Also, imprisoned female resistance fighters before their execution by Axis troops used to sing the Song of Zalonggo.


See also

*
Dance of Zalongo The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of women from Souli and their children that occurred in the aftermath of the invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803. The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War o ...
* Epirus Revolt of 1854 * Mandritsa * Souliotic songs


References


External links


Souli, in Wikiquote


Bibliography

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