Konstantinos Lagoumitzis (; – 1851) was a Greek revolutionary during 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. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

(1821–1830), famous for his ability to dig tunnels during sieges. Lagoumitzis was born in the village of Hormovo, in modern

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

, then part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

; though, his family was originally from the village of Lekli. His real surname was either Papakyriakos (Παπακυριάκος) or Dalaropoulos (Νταλαρόπουλος), but he was also called Hormovitis (Χορμοβίτης; from Hormovo). He is mainly known as Lagoumitzis (

sapper A sapper, also called a combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties, such as breaching fortifications, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, preparing field defenses ...

) due to his successful ability to dig tunnels () beneath the camps of enemies and blow them up. His successes during the siege of Messolonghi and the

siege of the Acropolis (1826–27) The siege of Athens can refer to any of the following battles: * Persian sack of Athens (480 BC) – during which the Persians besieged a group of holdouts in the Acropolis * Siege of Athens (404 BC), the last battle in the Peloponnesian War * S ...

, made him famous. During these sieges, Lagoumitzis successfully countermined the Turkish besiegers. He died in Athens, in 1851; the Greek state paid for his funeral.

Footnotes

References

*
Athens Alive, Or, The Practical Tourist's Companion to the Fall of Man.
Kevin Andrews. Hermes, 1979.
Makrigiannis' memoirs
(in Greek). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagoumitzis, Konstantinos 1780s births 1827 deaths Greeks from the Ottoman Empire Greek people of the Greek War of Independence Greek revolutionaries People from Tepelenë 19th-century Greek military personnel