The Sicilian Vespers

written by Marco Maria(http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utente:Rocker85)

the Sicilian vespers

The term Sicilian Vespers refers to the historical event that took place in the thirteenth century when Sicily became independent from Angevin occupation. The word literally means the vesper hour of sunset.

Historical Facts

We are in Sicily during the reign of the Angevins. The tyranny of King Charles lasted so long, the Sicilian people was tired and harassed by the constant abuses inflicted by the Angevin kingdom. Meanwhile, King Charles prepared for war against Constantinople and set up militia to attack the castles  strategic places and the main towns of the island.

The Angevin King was assisted by the vicar Herbert d'Orleans in Messina, while Palermo was assisted by Minister John of San Remigio. Authorized by them, the army officers were responsible for violence, robberies and spreading terror throughout the island.

King Charles Capet

The inhabitants of Sicily reached their limits. During Easter, the citizens of Palermo gathered to pray in the Church. Also in this sacred place they were forced to tolerate the abuses by agents of the IRS ,who with no respect  burst into the temple and draw by force debtors who had not paid their taxes.

After this they handcuffed them and carried them in jail, the officers denounced and insulted  the crowd which meanwhile was rushed. Episodes of outrage on the part of the French against the local population were followed, but the most serious incidents in the historic revolt of the "Sicilian Vespers" took place on the Tuesday after Easter, on March 31, 1282.

In Palermo's Church of the Holy Spirit, a religious celebration was held. In the hours of evening  many people rushed: they are women, men, families who wanted to pray in peace and quiet. Some were held  back in the meadows that surrounded the Church taking advantage of the first warm days of spring, others danced accompanied by the sound of musical instruments. During these joyful festivities suddenly appeared some Frenchmen who mingled with the people,  behaving arrogantly and not very friendly towards the women who were present.

Soon some men reacted to the foreigners and ordered to give up their women. The French, however, had no intention of going away, and continued their provocations. At one point, a French rummaged  the breast of a woman in search of any hidden weapons, and she fainted  to the ground from fear. Outraged her husband, began to cry, "Death to these Frenchmen."

the pretext for the uprising

The hatred and anger which for so long repressed in the souls of the Sicilians exploded violently. Near the church was created an unspeakable scrum, and the French, although they were armed, succumbed. 

The revolt was not suppresed and reached the city of Palermo. Roger Mastrangelo initiated a fierce battle of the Sicilians and the Angevins that at some point,  had such frightening ferocity that none of the belligerents could even react and beg for mercy.

The church of the holy spirit

There was no escape even for those French who sought shelter in churches and convents, because once found they were slaughtered anyway. John of San Remigio, the minister of King Charles, defended himself in his palace, but the crowd broke through the main gate with the intention of killing him. However he managed to escape and flee with his family.

About four thousand French died during the uprising. The corpses were left on the streets or thrown into large pits dug here and there. On the night of March 31, 1282 the Sicilians gathered in the parliament and declared the city of Palermo free from Angevin rule.In the  following days they organized a federation under the protection of the Church. Approximately a month after the episode of the Sicilian Vespers, almost the whole island was free from Angevin oppression .

People who refused to die

Through history humanity has exceeding a lot of times its limits.Here are some examples of people who either from luck ,duty or desire to live succeeded to survive through lethal circumstances.

Hiroo Onoda

Hiroo Onoda

A Japanese soldier who remained in a Philippine jungle for 30 years after the end of WWII.

On December 17, 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda left for the Philippines to join the Sugi Brigade (the Eighth Division from Hirosaki). Here, Onoda was given orders by Major Yoshimi Taniguchi and Major Takahashi. Onoda was ordered to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare. As Onoda and his comrades were getting ready to leave on their separate missions, they stopped by to report to the division commander. The division commander ordered:

You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.

Onoda took these words more literally and seriously than the division commander could ever have meant them.

Onoda remained in the jungle along with his comrades for 30 years. During these years all the others died except him. When he was found, he refused to believe that Japan lost the war. He needed to hear it from his commander himself. Thus his commander, a booksheller travelled to the Philippines to order Onoda to surrender.

Poon Lim

Poon Lim

A WWII castaway in the Atlantic ocean. He was on a British navy ship which was sunk by a German U-boat. He survived on a raft for 133 days!

On April 5, 1943, after 133 days in the life raft, Poon Lim neared land and a river inlet. A few days earlier, he had known that he was close to the land because the colour of the water had changed; it was no longer the oceanic deep blue. Three Brazilian fishermen rescued him and took him to Belém three days later.

Steven Callahan

Steven Callahan

He survived for 76 days inside a life-raft having consumed only 8 glasses of water and 3 kgs of food.

Uruguayan air force flight 571

15 passengers of the flight survived for 72 days after their plane crashed on the Andes mountains.They had to feed from dead passengers in order to survive.

Slavomir Rawicz

Slavomir Rawicz

He was a Polish lieutenant who was imprisoned by the Soviets.In 1942 he escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked on foot along with six other persons through Siberia, Gobi desert and Tibet to reach British India.

Juliane Koepche

Juliane Koepche

A German Peruvian school student who fell from a height of 10.000 feet(3.2 kms) and survived. Her plane was hit by a thunder and broke up, she survived the fall perhaps because she was strapped in her seat and somehow it buffered the crash.The real adventure would start after the fall as her glasses were broken and she was in an unhospitable jungle.She followed the survival principle her father taught her. She followed a water stream that eventually led her to civilization.

 Leonid Rogozov

Leonid Rogozov

A Russian scientist in Antarctica. He carried out an apendectomy on himself.His condition was urgent and the nearest research station where he could ask for help was 1600 km away. With the help of a driver and a meteorologist who were giving him surgery tools and holding the mirror he removed the appendix after a 2 hours long self-surgery.

Cyprus: The Eastern Roman province

Cyprus since the beginning of the Eastern Roman empire's history was a province that belonged to the administration of the east.The capital of this authority was in Antioch.Cypriots were involved in dynastic wars as Licinius obliged them to help him against Constantine the Great.Licinius' defeat rendered the whole empire under Constantine's control.

One of the first moves of the new emperor was to reinforce the defences of the island in order to be able to deal with the constant pirate raids.He also sent a trusted person to govern the it called Kalokairos. Kalokairos failed Constantine as he was incapable and additionally he declared himself independent hegemon of Cyprus.This rebelion was suppressed and Kalokairos was executed.

The island tried to recover under the authority of Constantinople.However in parallel with the rebellion, Cyprus was also hit by a natural disaster as many earthquakes caused much devastation at the main cities of the island.The successor of Constantine emperor Constantius, took the initiative to rebuilt Salamina the capital of the island. As an honour for doing this, the citizens of Salamina renamed the city  Constantia

After the earthquakes, a starvation followed which during the 4rth century wiped out the majority of the population.

During the 5th cen. there is no event worth of rememberence except some ecclesiastical develpments as during emperor Zeno's rule Cyprus was an autocephalus archbishopric.

Since the 6th century under the emperor Justinian I Cyprus was under military administration along with the northern territories of the state and the islands of the Aegean.The historians presume that this weird administrative unit was created in such way so that the safe islands of the mediterranean would support economically the northern territories which suffered from barbarian raids.

During emperor Herakleios' reign Cyprus functioned as a shelter of refugees from Palestine and Egypt as a result from the constant wars of the Byzantines with the Sassanid empire.In the same period Islam started to spread in the Levant and Cyprus gradually was turned into a border province.

The first raids against Cyprus(7th cen.)

The Arabic conquests were really fast since the adoption of Islam as their main religion(622).The crucial battle in Yarmouk(638) was the deathblow for the Byzantines in the Levant.Consequently Jerusalem and Egypt fell some years after.

Thus the Arabs acquired rich territories with much population for making bigger armies and having higher tax income.Their next step was the creation of a strong fleet in order to attack the islands of the mediterranean.They used the knowledge of the conquered people who had long naval tradition.

The nearest and easier target for the Arabs in the area of the Eastern mediterranean was Cyprus.The first recorded raid of Arabs occured in 632 when Abu Bakr was still leader of the Arabs.However this source is strongly doubted as the Arabs hadn't finished conquering Syria during that time.

It is around 641 that we have certain information about an invasion on Cyprus.The leader of the Arab fleet consisted of 1700 ships was Muawiyah the governor of Syria and later the 5th caliph.During this invasion even Constantia the capital of the island was destroyed.The Arabs didn't intend to settle in the island and when the Byzantine fleet arrived they returned back to Syria. 

Generally the territorial advantage of the Arabs helped them conduct numerous raids during the 7th cen. which were not recorded in Byzantine chronicles but only in biographies of Cypriot saints and Arab archives.

During Constantine IV Pogonatos reign the Byzantines agreed on various peace treaties with the Arabs.Essentially there is no change of the status quo until the reign of Justinian II who renewed the peace treaty by offering as a tribute 365 thousand gold coins, 365 horses and 365 slaves. It was agreed then that the income from the bordering provinces between the Arab caliphate and the Byzantine empire.Therefore Cyprus would also be turned into a "grey zone".However this changing of status would be really destructive for Cyprus in the future.

The suffering came really early. During even Justinian's II reign in 691 the emperor himself decided to break the peace treaty and forced the majority of the island's population to migrate to Asia Minor. By doing this the emperor thought that he would give an economic blow to the caliph as there would be no population in Cyprus to pay him taxes.The consequenses for the island were devastating as most of the island was deserted and much of the transferred population died of starvation and diseases.

The majority of the Cypriots were resettled in the area of Kyzikos near the Hellespont straits.There the emperor found a city called Justinianopolis. The reduction of the population cut off the prosperous economy of Cyprus.After 7 years in "exile" under order of emperor Tiberius II most of the Cypriots returned in Cyprus.

Tiberius thought that he should reinforce a border province with populations that were loyal to the Byzantine crown in order to defend better against the Arabs who continued to expand in Northern Africa really fast.

The Arab raids in 8th-9th century

Remains of Salamis the capital of Cyprus(Known as Constantia)

After the sufferings of their exile, the Cypriots thought that a time of peace and prosperity would come. Indeed until the first half of the 8th century this happened.The rise of the house of Isauroi in the Byzantine throne and the failed siege of Constantinople by the Arabs in 717-718 gave the upper hand to the Byzantines who counter attacked. The crucial battle in Akroinon in 740 made the Arabs leave from Asia minor.Thus Cyprus remained away from the main war theater all these years.Additionally the transferring of the capital in Baghdad lowered the interest of the Arabs for the Mediterranean sea.

During those years we know that the Arabs attempted this time to transfer the Cypriots in Syria without success.In 746 we know that the Byzantine fleet arrived in Cyprus and by using the Greek fire they defeated an Arab fleet of 1000 ships from which only 3 managed to escape.

During this period we may assume that Cyprus was not under full Byzantine control as it was a land for exiled persons and for iconoclast monks.

In the beginning of the 9th century the emperor Mickael I sent priests in Cyprus to assist the pilgrims who were returning from the Holy lands.New tensions followed by Arab raids restart during Harun al Rashid's rule(786-809). The Arabs do not find any resistance as the Byzantines were involved in internal conflicts.

In 790 a rumour spread in Constantinople about a powerful arab fleet ready to attack Cyprus.Empress Irene who was regent of her son the emperor Constantine VI ordered the Byzantine fleet to confront them.In one of the naval battles around Cyprus the admiral of the Byzantine fleet was caught and sent to Baghdad. There he died as a martyr because he declined to convert.

The period of weakness for the empire would end when the emperor Nikephoros Phokas(802-811) would take the throne. Meanwhile Harun al Rashid himself conducted raids in Asia minor and detachments of the Arab army reached even Ankara.As a result Nikephoros used diplomacy once again to stop the Arab exapansion. The Arabs agreed to a peace treaty where they would receive large sums  of gold coins as tribute and a term that the Byzantines wouldn't rebuilt the destroyed castles in the border provinces.Nikephoros thinking that the castles were crucial for the defence of the state started to rebuild them.The Arabs considering that this was a violation of the treaty prepared extensive retaliation campaigns.The most highlighted was a destructive raid of Cyprus in 806.

The supremacy of the Arab fleet allowed the army to disembark on the island and loot. Cities were looted the rural areas were deserted and monasteries were destroyed.Many Cypriots were caught as hostages and were tranferred in Syria. Despite the ferocity of this invasion the Arabs didn't settle in the island. Contrary we have clues about the de jure control of the island by the Byzantines proved by a letter  sent from the patriarch Photios in 878 to the governor of the island called Stavrakios.

During the reign of Basil I(867-886) Cyprus became a theme of the Byzantine empire but not for long time as the Arabs restored the previous status quo of Cyprus as a grey zone.

10th century: Cyprus reclaimed by the Byzantines

In the 10th century the Byzantine interest for Cyprus was renewed.The emperor Leo the wise considered Cyprus of high strategic importance as the Byzantine fleet could gather there and attack Arab targets using the Greek fire.The Byzantines tried to maintain control of the area but not so successfully.In 904 for instance the Arab fleet of Leontas Tripolites which sacked Thessalonika used Paphos as its port.

The sacking of Thessalonika was just one episode of the numerous raids conducted by Leontas Tripolites who took advantage the absence of the Byzantine fleet which was sent to defend Sicily which also fell to the Arabs in 902.

Emperor Leo sent the admiral Himerios to pursue Leontas and after much wandering he found inveded Cyprus. There he treated the Arabs of Cyprus with cruelty as a retaliation for the raids.

The fleet of Leo Tripolites sacks Thessalonika

This act was considered by the Arabs as a violation of the neutrality of the island and an Arab  fleet under admiral Damianos invaded Cyprus pillaging and looting everything on their path,capturing  Cypriots as slaves or exchange hostages.Although there is no involvement of Cypriots in what Himerios did to the Arabs of Cyprus,  Damianos' cruelty cannot be justified as the Cypriots continued to pay their regular taxes to Baghdad.

In 913 most of the Cypriot hostages returned back to Cyprus grace to the bishop of Kythraia Demetrianos and the patriarch of Constantinople Nikolaos Mystikos.In the next years the Arabs faced many internal problems and stopped their raids against Cyprus.On the other side the Byzantines with skilled military leadership under Nikephoros Phokas restored their supremacy in the eastern mediterranean and in 965 under order of Nikephoros Phokas the general Niketas Chalkoutzes liberated Cyprus.

Emperor Nikephoros Phokas

Cyprus in the following years got rid of the Arabs but internal conficts in Byzantium made the Cypriots rebel and seek independence which was achieved for some years before the island would fall under Latin/crusader rule

The battle of Matzikert:The astounding victory of Arp Aslan and the beginning of the end of the Byzantines in Anatolia

The Seljuk Turks first entered the Middle East some time during the 10th century and conquered the eastern Islamic lands that included Persia at that time. Although there were battles and skirmishes along their borders, they never seemed to have had any intention of advancing into Anatolia and conquering the Byzantines. They were far more interested the lands along the Mediterranean like Syria, Lebanon and eventually Egypt – actually they were particularly interested in Egypt, which was ruled by the Fatimid dynasty and was Shiite Muslim while the Seljuk Turks were Sunni Muslims.

The Seljuks had to contend with nomadic Turkish tribes who were entering the Middle East and they developed a policy of encouraging these people to continue on West into the pseudo no man’s land that had developed between the Byzantines and the Seljuks. There the nomads could fight each other, rather than unite and rebel against the central authority. In fact a peace treaty had even been signed by the Seljuks and Byzantines in 1069. 

Seljuk warriors

The Byzantine army, under the direct command of Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes, was a mixture of elite Byzantine, mercenaries of various sorts including Turks, and an enormous imperial baggage train; it numbered anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000. Some sources give the number as 100,000. The emperor’s intent was not to actually fight the Seljuk Turks. In fact he thought the Turks were engaged in military action in Syria with a view of conquering Egypt. Romanos actually wanted to retake a number of Armenian cities that the Seljuk Turks had conquered from the Byzantine Empire. As Lars Brownworth has written about this period in time, “There was no Armenia, just a collection of princes, a population sharing common dialects, and vague, shifting borders.”

Reaching Manzikert

Byzantine Emperor Romanos in 1071 decided the Seljuks under Sultan Alp Arslan were busy elsewhere allowing him to retake the area of what had been Armenia and was, at that time, under Byzantine control. Romanos offered to renew the treaty between them to make sure the sultan would move in the direction of Aleppo. And the latter laid siege to Aleppo as a result. But when he caught wind a large Byzantine army was approaching, the Seljuk Tukish ruler Sultan Alp Arslan raised his siege of Aleppo and marched into Anatolia to fight the advancing force. It was August 1071. 

Romanos was so sure of himself and his abilities as an army commander that he assembled an army at Constantinople in March1071 and went on the march until August, losing his German mercenaries along the way and his Turkish allies, when the army reached Manzikert north of Lake Van. There it easily overpowered the Seljuk force manning the fortress. Romanos didn’t lack for military intelligence.
 
Now he heard that Alp Arslan had abandoned his siege of Aleppo and was moving eastward along the Euphrates River but received no further information. So Romanos split his army in two and sent one half South to head the Seljuk army off because he thought the Seljuks would come from that direction. 

What happened to those soldiers is a matter of speculation as the force that went south disappeared. Either it was totally annihilated or the Byzantines spotted the advancing Seljuks and retreated without informing Romanos. Yet a third theory has it that the commander of this force was Turkish and so were his men who hadn’t been paid in some time. They may have deserted to the Seljuks. Whatever happened, it left the Byzantine Emperor with only half his army although he didn’t know it. He also wasn’t aware that Alp Arslan had led his force north and come up around the eastern side of Lake Van. 

The battle of Manzikert took place on a plain set in rocky, hilly terrain. On Aug. 24 advance scouts from the Byzantines made contact with the Seljuk army and lost part of their cavalry. The next day, the Seljuks sent an offer of a peace treaty to the Byzantines, but this was rejected. So on Aug. 26 Romanos drew up his army on the plain in fighting order. He took charge of the central section and placed two commanders on his right and left flanks. His reserves were kept back under the command of Andronikos Doukas who happened to be his enemy. Opposite the Byzantine army Alp Arslan arranged his men in the form of an arc so that when the enemy advanced, it could hit the soldiers with arrows and cause considerable damage. 

The battle of Matzikert(from a french manuscript)

The center of the Turkish line retreated, drawing the Byzantine center further in as the archers who were on horseback attacked and retreated on the sides, inflicting further damage. Towards evening the Byzantines were even able to capture the Turkish camp, but then the center turned back since it hadn’t been able to force a decisive engagement on the enemy. However, the Byzantine right flank didn’t retreat and this opened up a chance for Alp Arslan to attack. Meanwhile the reserves under Doukas didn’t go cover the emperor’s retreat; instead he had his men leave the field, abandoning the Byzantine center and the emperor. The latter fought until he was injured and couldn’t hold his sword and so he was captured. 

When Romanos was brought before Alp Arslan, the latter put his foot on the Byzantine emperor’s neck and forced him to kiss the ground as a sign of his having been conquered. Afterwards, the sultan had him treated with respect and even dined with him at his own table. He held him for a week and demanded a ransom of ten million, an amount that was reduced to 500,000 thousand plus 360,000 annually. The cities of Manzikert, Edessa, Antioch and Hieropolis were to be surrendered to the Turks. And one of Romanos’ daughters was to be married to one of Alp Arslan’s sons. 

Treaty signed after the battle

The Byzantine and Seljuk empires at the aftermath of the battle

Following this disastrous defeat, Romanos was dethroned, his eyes were blinded and he was sent to a monastery. He died in 1072 as a result of an infection that he acquired when he was blinded. Alp Arslan also died in 1072 under suspicious circumstances while he was a prisoner of a fortress commander.

The treaty signed after the Battle of Manzikert was never honored on the Byzantine side under the circumstances and Alp Arslan was more interested in Fatimid Egypt than in Anatolia. But the sultan instead encouraged the several nomadic tribes to enter Anatolia proper and, due to the power struggles going on in Constantinople, these groups were not only able to reach the Aegean but went as far north as Nicaea (Iznik) which became the capital in 1077 of the nomads who became known as the Rum Seljuks. They later established their capital at Konya. 
How ironic that 941 years after the Battle of Manzikert Sunnis are still fighting Shiites, and Aleppo is again a battle zone and Turkey’s southeast region is still troubled

source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/on-the-anniversary-of-a-critical-battle-manzikert.aspx?pageID=238&nID=28534&NewsCatID=438

The Greeks in Soviet Russia and the Greek Soviet culture of the interwar period.

John Pasalidis with his wife and son in Sochumi.

An unknown subject of Greek historiography is the activity of Greek communist organisations in Soviet Union until 1937.

 Thousands of Greek refugees fled in USSR after the Asia minor disaster of the Greek army and the subsequent victory of Turkey.From the beginning, a Greek Bolshevik leadership organised to develop culturally and politically these Greek communities.

Thus a significant and populous Soviet hellenism was created, fully autonomous from the Greek state's influence(which was under Western influences). This Soviet Hellenism became a special Greek center with an unconventional social structure. It became a refuge for leftish Greeks from Greece . The Greek communities were governed by Greek communist party organisations which took bold decisions such as the implementation of a simplified Greek language and the reduction of the letters of the Greek alphabet in the education system.

Over than 300.000 Greeks

The Greeks  were one of the 160 ethnic groups that lived in the Soviet Union.The Greeks themselves belonged to distinct regional groups like the Pontian refugees , the Greek immigrants, the native Greeks of Mariupol , the refugees from the Asia Minor tragedy and self exiled Greek communists from mainland Greece.

Their exact numbers are difficult to be calculated. It is estimated that they numbered between 300.000 and 400.000 from which the 80% were farmers and one third had Greek citizenship .

This part of history remains unknown for the Greeks because later even though the Greeks embraced the principles and values of communism, they fell victims of the racist policies of Stalin and secondly Greek historiography was always introverted and state oriented(not nation oriented). Greek history never accepter the ecumenism and the cosmopolitan character of the Greeks beyond the Greek state's borders. The history of Greeks outside of Greece stops in 1922 for the Greek historiography.Generally this is a widely accepted technique in the science of historiography as we proceeded into a world were multi-ethnic empires crumbled and solid nation states were created.

In the interwar period the Greek communists governed the Greek communities for at least 20 years.The national policy of the Soviet union favoured the political representation of the different nations .Thus the greek communist party organisations essentially shaped new social structures altered  the cultural development and generally created a Soviet Greece at the coasts of the Black sea(where the majority of the Soviet Greeks were settled).

The Greek society of Soviet Union was reduced in numbers during 1919-1922 when many Greeks decided to repatriate.Those who remained back tried to combine the necessity for Greek education with the dominant ideology of communism.Those intellectuals who starred at this effort were Georgios Skliros, Giannis Passalidis, Giorgos Fotiadis, Giagkos Kanonidis,Vladimir Triantafilov, Nikolaos Anastasiadis and Orionas Alexakis.They made a remarkable effort to explain the Greek cultural and political heritage from a communist point of view..

Already since the October revolution(1917) there was activity of bolshevik friendly societies in the Greek communities.Especially the Greeks of Georgia and Kars supported with all heart this revolution.

The period after the victory of the Bolsheviks was characterised by the efforts of the Soviet-Greek scholars to construct a Greek-Soviet education system and an independent GrecoSoviet culture.Initially the center of this effort was in southern Russia,the valley of Kouban and the region of Krashnodar.This attempt was developed in the context of a national policy over the organisation of the Greeks as special groups in the communist party.

Significant centers of the Greek community were in the area of Kouban around the town of Krimskaya and in the area of Mariupol.20.000.Many Greeks were living in Crimea in cities like Kerch , Eupatoria and Sevastopol. In Caucasus most of the Greeks were living in Georgia.90 villages in Georgia were Greek.

The end

When Stalin rose to power the national policy was shifted.The Stalinist policy promoted the Sovietization of all the minorities and ordered the closing of schools churches and printing press enterprises.Most of the Greeks of Russia who came there as refugees persecuted by the Ottomans suffered a new persecution. Most of the Greek community was displaced in the depths of Asia(Kazackstan and Siberia) and the prominent members died in labour camps in Siberia.

The autonomous Greek regions

The concentrations of big populations of the Greek community in certain areas favoured the creation of autonomous Greek administrative areas.

Assembly of the Greek workers in Kolchoz(Soviet guild).The poster in Soviet Greek writes the motto of the guild."Ready for implementing the five years plan"

Until 1938 there were 4 autonomous Greek regions. Initially in 1928 there were three autonomous regions in southern Ukraine in Donnetsk and in Mariupol. This decision was taken by the central executive comittee of the Soviet republic of Ukraine.However the most significant Greek administration was in the region of Kouban were a Greek town called Krimsk became the center of the Greek region(Gretseski Rayion). In this area Greek was spoken everywhere and even the street the shop and school signs were written in Greek.

The majority of the population were Greeks and was estimated at 60.000. It's characterization as Greek area rendered Krimsk a magnet that attracted many Greek immigrants.In 1937-38 though most of the Greek party members would be executed as part of Stalin's persecutions.

source:http://kafkasios-pontokomitis.blogspot.gr/,

Agtzides Vlassis.2013.Οταν οι Ελληνες Κομμουνιστές πήραν την εξουσία.Ελευθεροτυπία.January 27 2013

• translation done by the blog owner

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.

Ancient Greek mythological elements engraved on Chinese princess' stone grave

Chinese archaeologists have found new evidence of international cultural exchange on the ancient Silk Road.

Four European-looking warriors and lion-like beasts are engraved on an empress’s 1,200-year-old stone coffin that was unearthed in Shaanxi Province, in northwestern China.

The warriors on the four reliefs had deep-set eyes, curly hair and over-sized noses — physical characteristics Chinese typically associate with Europeans.

The 27-tonne Tang Dynasty (618-907) sarcophagus contained empress Wu Huifei (699-737), Ge Chengyong, a noted expert on Silk Road studies, said Tuesday.

Ge said one of the warriors was very much like Zeus, the “father of gods and men” in Greek mythology.

The coffin was also engraved with deer, tigers and goats.

“It’s noteworthy that goats signify tragedy in Greek mythology. The word ‘tragedy’ itself means ‘song of the man-goat singer’,” he said.

He said the tragic element coincides with the empress’s unhappy life: several of her children died young and she herself lived constantly in fear.

Ge said the exotic sarcophagus is rare for China, where ancient coffins almost always had Buddhist-themed reliefs and murals depicting harmony, happiness and peace.

The elements of Greek mythology on Empress Wu Huifei’s coffin suggest cross-cultural exchange was common in Chang’an, capital of the Tang Dynasty, located in today’s Xi’an, he said. “There could have even been clergymen from Western countries serving in the Tang imperial court.”

Wu Huifei was Emperor Xuanzong’s favorite concubine and was posthumously known as Empress Zhenshun, meaning “the virtuous and serene empress.”

Her sarcophagus – 4 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters high – was stolen from her tomb in the southern suburbs of Xi’an in 2006.

Police said it was then smuggled out of China and sold to a businessman in the United States for 1 million U.S. dollars.

It returned to China in April and has been housed at the Shaanxi History Museum from June.

source:http://www.medievalarchives.com/

The Asklipios(Asclepius) sanctuary in Epidaurus

Askleipios the healer god of Ancient Greece. Son of Apollo

Ithmonica an ancient Greek girl from Pellana slept in the altar of the God Asklipios to get pregnant.Through insight Asklipios told her that her wish would be done and indeed after some days she got pregnant.

Someone else had stomach ulcer. When he was in the altar he saw a dream where the god ordered to restrain him while he was trying to go away. When he was caught by the god's servants Asklipios cut his his belly and extracted the ulcer. Afterwards he sew his belly which looked like it was never cut.

The temple of Askleipios

Last Thursday the professor Vasileios Labrinoudakis gave lecture in the music hall of Athens stating various examples such as the aforementioned.He didn't argue about the process of sleeping in the god's altar, but also  the eternal agony of human about his health status and the description of the Epidaurus archaeological complex.

A votive offering from the Roman era by someone called Curtius

Asklipeios was probably a human who had some basic or experiential knowledge on medicine.He became a divine person as generations passed and exaggerated his accomplishments.At the first millenium BC in the area of Epidaurus existed a sanctuary of the god Apollo. From the various archaeological findings in the area such as double axes, swords, sacred pots(in the shape of horn for rituals) and many small clay figurines we find out that since that time the sanctuary was not just of local importance. The ashes. the broken mugs the animal bones and other offerings found near the altar indicated that the ritual involved dinner in the altar and sacrifice of animals.

Towards the end of the 7th century BC the sanctuary was transferred to where the archaeological place is today. The ritual would now be more complex as it would take place in two buildings  through two parallel and concurrent processes. The first one was related with a ritual of eating something that would prepare the candidate for the next phase. Perhaps the food would have some hallucinogenic  ingredients.

The second was the sleeping process.This was the prominent curing process that was connected with Asclipeios' worship.For this process in the 4rth cen. BC a stoa(covered walk) with gradual descent was built. This gradual descent was deliberate and not and architectural mistake. This stoa was leading to a room called avaton(noone could go there without divine permission. The candidate was walking there in midst of religious singing by the priestesses of the temple. In this room he would be prepared to sleep and watch a dream involving his cure.

The Avaton

As the prof. Labrounidakis said: The patient would be affected by the hallucinating process of eating and listening the singing. Afterwards before falling asleep he would proceed in a sacrifice of an animal. In his dream the patient would either be cured by the god or he would be given advice or a drug to cure himself.
Although this process continued until the 2nd century BC in Epidaurus, this didn't obstruct the development of scientific medicine. From findings around the archaeological complex it is proven that physicians dwelled around there with their families offering their services to people with health problems.

The Theater

The theater pf Epidaurus. Nowadays it still hosts performances.

The prosperity brought by the Asklepieion enabled Epidaurus to construct civic monuments too: the huge theatre that delighted Pausanias for its symmetry and beauty, which is used once again for dramatic performances, the ceremonial Hestiatoreion (banqueting hall), baths and apalaestra. The theater was designed by Polykleitos the Younger in the 4th century BC. The original 34 rows were extended in Roman times by another 21 rows. As is usual for Greek theatres (and as opposed to Roman ones), the view on a lush landscape behind the skênê is an integral part of the theatre itself and is not to be obscured. It seats up to 15,000 people.

The theatre is marveled for its exceptional acoustics, which permit almost perfect intelligibility of unamplified spoken word from the prosceniumor skênê to all 15,000 spectators, regardless of their seating (see Ref., in Greek). Famously, tour guides have their groups scattered in the stands and show them how they can easily hear the sound of a match struck at center-stage. A 2007 study by Nico F. Declercq and Cindy Dekeyser of the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that the astonishing acoustic properties are the result of the advanced design: The rows of limestone seats filter out low-frequency sounds, such as the murmur of the crowd, and amplify high-frequency sounds from the stage

sources
M. Thermou.2013.Ασκληπιείο Επιδαύρου: Εκεί όπου γίνονταν "θαύματα".Το Βήμα.March 30.2013 http://en.wikipedia.org

The tragic end of the heroes of the war for the Greek independence.

(an article from Greekreporter.com)

The Greek War of Independence commenced in 1821 and waged until 1832 when the Greek free state was finally established under the blessings and the needs of the then powerful allies of the Greek revolutionaries, the British, the French and the Russian. The national day celebrated on March 25th pays tribute to all men, women and children who lost their lives for the dream of a sovereign free country, and especially to the heroes of the Greek Revolution that risked their lives for freedom from the Ottoman Empire. But as always, there are black pages in every history book of the world, and Greece’s were not an exception. Although it goes mostly unnoticed, the fact is that many Greek captains of the Revolution were sent to jail during and after the war against the Ottomans. Others were pushed aside by the newly formed state as too dangerous for the common good or too unpredictable for the reigning forces.

Here follow some of the most exemplary and tragic stories of the Greek captains of 1821, who ended up underprivileged, captured, begging on the streets and even dead.

Nikitaras

Nikitas Stamatelopoulos or Nikitaras or the Turk-eater died in September 25, 1849, totally forgotten and poor.The brave and honorable man who stood out in the battle of Dervenakia and was told to have broken three swords with his fury in the battlefield, was groundlessly accused of conspiracy against King Otto and was sent to prison first in Palamidi (along with his uncle and Revolution captain Theodoros Kolokotronis) and then on the island of Aegina.

When the then Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kolettis asked him to kill a rival and former captain of the Greek Independence war, Odysseas Androutsos, in exchange for a government position, Nikitaras refused the offer and became angry with Kolettis. He also refused to take booty after the victorious battle of Tripolis, a normal practice of Balkan irregulars at the time.

Odysseas Androutsos

Nikitaras was released from prison in 1841, but the period in jail broke his health and he was almost blind due to diabetes problems. The Greek state refused to grant him and his family any descent pension to make a living, but instead allowed him to beg before a Virgin Mary church every Friday. In 1843, when King Otto was forced to sign the Constitution, Nikitaras was given the title of major general and an insignificant pension. He died in 1849 in Piraeus.

A major hero of the Greek War of Independence, Odysseas Androutsos earned the title of Commander in Chief of the Greek forces in Roumeli, but his glory did not last long. His intense personality and constant conflicts with the “kalamarades” as he called the politicians and the clergy resulted in making him suspicious of the politics followed at the time. In spring 1822 Ioannis Kolettis accused him of betrayal and cooperation with the Ottomans, so that Androutsos gave up his title as Commander in Chief but never gave up his fighting against them. Seieng through the scheming of politics, Androutsos retired in a cave, the Black Hole, totally disappointed with the newly emerged state of the Greeks after the independence war.

There, in his cave north of Parnassus Mountain, Androutsos’ isolation made Kolettis and his enemies even more suspicious of his intentions and soon he was accused of making agreements with the enemy against the interests of the Greeks. Androutsos, however, is said to have called for the cooperation of the Ottomans in order to take them by surprise and fight them from the inside. The arrest of Kolokotronis made Andoutsos even more hostile towards politicians. Then the government in 1825 assigned to Yiannis Gouras, a close lieutenant of Androutsos, with the mission to take care of Androutsos. Androutsos finally surrendered to the government forces and was led to an Athens prison. Karaiskakis, another major figure of the Greek Independence war, was outraged by his imprisonment and even attempted to rescue his fellow fighter. The attempt failed and to cool things down Gouras asked for the government’s help.

The trial date for Androutsos was pending now, but on June 5 at midnight Gouras gave the order and five men including an unknown priest entered Androutsos’ cage and killed him after hours of torture. The lifeless body of Androutsos was then pushed off the prison tower of Goula down to the Temple of Athena Nike of the Acropolis. Androutsos’ death was declared as a failed escape attempt.

Lascarina Bouboulina

Laskarina Bouboulina was a Greek naval commander and heroine of the Greek Revolution. Being married twice to prosperous husbands, Bouboulina bought arms and ammunition at her own expense and brought them secretly to the island of Spetses on her ships, to fight for the sake of her nation. Construction of her ship Agamemnon was finished in 1820. She bribed Turkish officials to ignore the ship’s size and it was later one of the largest warships in the hands of Greek rebels. She also organized her own armed troops, composed of men from Spetses. She used most of her fortune to provide food and ammunition for the sailors and soldiers under her command.

The people of Spetses revolted on 3 April, and later joined forces with ships from other Greek islands. Bouboulina sailed with eight ships to Nafplion and began a naval blockade. Later she took part in the naval blockade and capture of Monemvasia and Pylos.

When the opposing factions erupted into the second civil war in 1824, the Greek government arrested Bouboulina for her family connection with now-imprisoned Kolokotronis; the government also killed her son-in-law Panos Kolokotronis. With the order to be arrested, she was exiled back to Spetses poor and disappointed by the new Greek reality. In 1825, while Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt disembarked in Pylos in a final attempt to smother the revolution, Bouboulina began preparing for new battles despite her animosity towards the politicians. However, on May 22 of the same year, Bouboulina would die a tragic death. Her younger son from her first marriage fell in love with the daughter of the powerful Koutsaios family of Spetses and the couple fled to the house of Bouboulina’s first husband. Bouboulina and the Koutsaios soon arrives at the house and after a long and furious dispute, Ioannis Koutsis shot her in the head fatally. The case was closed and no-one ever put the perpetratorson on trial.

Manto Mavrogenous

Manto Mavrogenous was a Greek heroine of the Greek War of Independence. A rich woman,who spent all her fortune on the Hellenic cause. Under her encouragement, her European friends contributed money and guns to the revolution. When the struggle began, she went to Mykonos, the island of her origin, and invited the leaders there to join the revolution.

She equipped, manned and “privatized” at her own expense, two ships with which she pursued the pirates who attacked Mykonos and other islands of the Cyclades. She also equipped 150 men to campaign in the Peloponnese and sent forces and financial support to Samos, when the island was threatened by the Turks. Later, Mavrogenous sent another corps of fifty men to Peloponnese, who took part in the Siege of Tripolitsa and the fall of the town to the Greek rebels. She spent money on the relief of the soldiers and their families, the preparation of a campaign to Northern Greece and the support of several philhellenes. She also sent a group of fifty men to reinforce Nikitaras in the Battle of Dervenakia.

She moved to Nafplio in 1823, in order to be in the core of the struggle, leaving her family as she was despised even by her mother because of her choices. After her unfortunate love story with Dimitrios Ypsilantis, Mavrogenous lived depressed for a while in Nafplion. After Ypsilanti’s death and her political conflicts with Ioannis Kolettis, she was exiled from Nafplio and returned to Mykonos to live in extreme poverty. When the war ended, Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Kapodistrias awarded her the rank of the Lieutenant General and granted her a dwelling in Nafplio, where she moved. She left for the island of Paros in 1840, where she died in July 1848, in oblivion and poverty.