Dimitrios Meletopoulos ( el, Δημήτριος Μελετόπουλος,

Aigio Aigio, also written as ''Aeghion, Aegion, Aegio, Egio'' ( el, Αίγιο, Aígio, ; la, Aegium), is a town and a former municipality in Achaea, West Greece, on the Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipali ...

, 1796 –

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, 1858) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

revolutionary leader 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 ...

and later a politician.

Biographical information

Meletopoulos was born in Vostitsa (

) and was one of the six children of Aggelis Meletopoulos and Anastasia Charalampi. His grandfather was Christodoulos Meletopoulos, a notable who actively participated in the Orlov Revolt of 1770. Before 1821, Dimitrios Meletopoulos worked as a raisin merchant. He became member of

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends ( el, Φιλικὴ Ἑταιρεία ''or'' ) was a secret organization founded in 1814 in Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow the Ottoman rule of Greece and establish an independent Greek state. (''retr ...

in 1819 through his father, who served in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

vekil Vakel was the Arabic term used in the meaning of "representative" or "proxy". This term used for the deputies and ''de facto'' prime ministers of the Mughal Emperor in Mughal administration. He was considered the most powerful person after Emperor ...

and participated in the assembly of Vostitsa. Together with

Andreas Londos Andreas S. Londos ( el, Ανδρέας Λόντος, 1786–1846) was a Greek military leader and politician. Born in Vostitsa in 1786, he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria in 1818, and was one of the first military leaders to raise the ba ...

and Leontas Messinezis, the younger Meletopoulos supported the proposal of

Papaflessas Grigorios Dimitrios Dikaios-Flessas (; 1788 – 25 May 1825), popularly known as Papaflessas () was a Greek priest and government official who became one of the most influential figures during the Greek War of Independence. The prefix () in th ...

for the immediate start of the Revolution. During the Revolution he initially supported the Londos family. On 26 March 1821 he seized Vostitsa from the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. He also participated in the battles of Patras, in the repelling of the army of Dramali Pasha and in the military operations in Central Greece. He eventually rose to head his own military force and in 1823 he was appointed a lieutenant general. During the Greek civil wars of 1823–25, although initially he took the side of Londos, he shifted to support the government faction of

Georgios Kountouriotis Georgios Kountouriotis ( el, Γεώργιος Κουντουριώτης) (1782 – 13 March 1858) was a Greek ship-owner and politician who served as prime minister from March to October 1848. Life He was born in 1782 on the Saronic island of H ...

. In 1824 he was promoted to general. Later, he participated in the operations against the army of

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Ibrahim Pasha ( tr, Kavalalı İbrahim Paşa; ar, إبراهيم باشا ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Ottoman Albanian general in the Egyptian army and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised K ...

, and the subjugation of the regions of the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge whi ...

that had surrendered to the Ottomans. Meletopoulos participated actively in the

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

and Fifth National assemblies in the following years. He continued in politics in the independent Greek state, where he was elected as mayor of Aigio. He was appointed as Minister of the Interior, Minister of Military Affairs, and twice served as prefect of the

Attica and Boeotia Prefecture Attica and Boeotia Prefecture ( el, Νομὸς Ἀττικοβοιωτίας) was a prefecture of Greece. History Attica and Boeotia Prefecture was first established in 1833, abolished in 1836 and split up into Attica and Boeotia Boeotia ( ) ...

. During the reign of King

Otto of Greece Otto (, ; 1 June 181526 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the monarchy on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed on 23 October 1862. The second son of King Lu ...

, Meletopoulos was appointed lieutenant general in the regular army. He died in 1858 in Athens from apoplexy (or stroke). At the end of his life, he was destitute. From his marriage to a daughter of

Anagnostis Deligiannis In some Christian denominations, a reader or lector is the person responsible for reading aloud excerpts of scripture at a liturgy. In early Christian times the reader was of particular value due to the rarity of literacy. Catholic Church In ...

, he had three sons: Leonidas, Angelos and Charilaos.

References

External links

Papageorgiou, Stephanos. «Μελετόπουλος Δημήτριος» “Meletopoulos Dimitrios”. Retrieved on May 26th 2015
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meletopoulos, Dimitrios 1796 births 1858 deaths Ottoman-era Greek primates Greek military leaders of the Greek War of Independence Hellenic Army generals Members of the Filiki Eteria People from Aigio Ministers of the Interior of Greece Ministers of Military Affairs of Greece