"Epitaphios" (

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

: Επιτάφιος, "Epitaph") is a

poem Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

Yiannis Ritsos Yiannis Ritsos ( ; 1 May 1909 – 11 November 1990) was a Greek poet and communist and an active member of the Greek Resistance during World War II. While he disliked being regarded as a political poet, he has been called "the great poet of th ...

published in 1936.

Inspiration

In May 1936, Ritsos had read about the great strike and demonstration of the tobacco workers of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

in the newspaper ''

Rizospastis ''Rizospastis'' (, "The Radical") is a Greek daily newspaper based in Athens. It is the Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece. It has been published daily since its first issue in 1916. Liana Kanelli is currently one ...

''. The peaceful protest had been drowned in blood by the dictatorial government of Ioannis Metaxas, with a total of twelve dead workers. The article included a photograph depicting a mother mourning over her dead child. This photo had a huge impact on Ritsos, and inspired him to write the poem: ''I was locked in the attic of my house for two days and nights and I was writing, without eating and sleeping, on the third day, I couldn't stand it, I started to collapse...'' He then delivered the first three poems to Euthyfronas Iliadis, who published them in ''Rizospastis''.

Editions

The poem first appeared as a work of 44 verses in ''Rizospastis'' on 12 May 1936, with a dedication to the workers of Thessaloniki. Soon after, a fuller version of 224 verses was published. A first edition of 10,000 copies sold out almost entirely, a record number for these years. However, in August 1936

Ioannis Metaxas Ioannis Metaxas (; 12 April 187129 January 1941) was a Greek military officer and politician who was dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941. He governed constitutionally for the first four months of his tenure, and thereafter as th ...

established the anti-communist

4th of August Regime The 4th of August Regime (), commonly also known as the Metaxas regime (, ''Kathestós Metaxá''), was a dictatorial regime under the leadership of General Ioannis Metaxas that ruled the Kingdom of Greece from 1936 to 1941. On 4 August 1936, ...

, and the 250 remaining copies were burned at the Temple of Olympian Zeus at

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, along with other "subversive" books. The final text was published in a second edition in 1956, and runs to 324 verses divided into 20 parts or cantos, each with 16 verses in eight couplets, except for the last two, which run to 15 verses in nine couplets. "Epitaphios" is Ritsos' most celebrated poem, as well as the work that made him known to the public.

Musical setting

In 1960, composer

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

set the poem to music. His composition combines ''"elements of the old Byzantine traditions, based on church plainsong and the Greek modes, with folk music and its more recent vocal and instrumental styles"''. With

Grigoris Bithikotsis Grigoris Bithikotsis (Greek Γρηγόρης Μπιθικώτσης, ; December 11, 1922 – April 7, 2005) was a Greek folk singer/songwriter with a career spanning five decades. He is considered one of the most important figures in Greek popular ...

(vocals) and

Manolis Chiotis Manolis Chiotis (Greek: Μανώλης Χιώτης; March 21, 1921 – March 21, 1970) was a Greek rebetiko and laiko composer, singer, and bouzouki player.English translation He is considered one of the greatest bouzouki soloists of all time. H ...

(

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

), the recording featured two famous

Rembetiko Rebetiko (, ), plural rebetika ( ), occasionally transliterated as rembetiko or rebetico, is a term used to designate previously disparate kinds of urban Greek music which in the 1930s went through a process of musical syncretism and develope ...

masters. Due to the seemingly popular style, Ritsos' 'high-art' lyrics became well known to Greeks across all social classes.

References

Greek poems Poems about death Protest-related deaths {{poem-stub