An uknown heroine of the Greek independence war

Domna Visvizi

Domna Visvizi was a pretty much uknown heroine of 1821. She was the wife of the shipowner Antonios Visvizis.

She followed her husband during in all his military operations on the sea.When her husband died she took the role of the commander of their ship which was called Kalomira(good fortune)."During the siege of Euripos a city in Euboea, Antonios Visvizis was killed by Ottoman fire. At that moment Domna got in front and ordered the crew to continue fighting.Specifically she said: Take my husband down to his sons to cry for him, i'll have time to cry for him after we win this war."

During the independence war her ship was active in the North-eastern Aegean. In 1823 before retiring she put her ship under command of the Greek government which converted it into a fireship. With that ship Andreas Pipinos achieved to burn the Ottoman frigate Hazine Gemisi in 1824.

Domna Visvizi never forgot her role as a mother. She tried to send her son in England for studies but eventually he was sent in Paris.Before leaving for France she left a note for him saying:My dear son, when you return back perhaps i'll be dead. Avenge the death of your father.

After the independence of Greece she had many financial problems.Initially she lived in Nauplion in Hydra in Syros where her son lived and she ended up in Piraeus where she died poor in 1850.Demetrios Ypsilantis described her as a noble and polite woman.

Nowadays there is a statue of her in the "highway of heroes" in Athens.