Theophanis Manias

Researcher, Taxiarch, Veterinarian, Scholar (1912 – 1985)

Theophanis Manias’ work is multifarious given that he was a very versatile and passionate man. Most of all, he was a scientist and most importantly, a researcher who brought to light some of the most significant discoveries on the ancient Greek language, the ancient Greek mathematics and the geodesy of the ancient Greek monuments. He is called the “Father of Greek Geodetic Trigonism”.

Manias received his Veterinarian degree in Italy and during the outbreak of the Second World War he returned to Greece where he fought in the front of fort Roupel. Manias held the titles of Doctor, Taxiarch and Professor in various universities in Greece, both in medical and in military schools, including the title of Academic as member of the Academy of Veterinary sciences in Spain. In 1965 he abandoned his post as brigadier to focus on writing and research, for which he would remain in history.

After years of costly and meticulous studies, Manias discovered groundbreaking things which had been forgotten by history for thousands of years and which overturned conventional dogmas not just on the Greek history but also on the human civilization. He discovered the Geometric Geodetic Trigonism, a system of imaginary triangles which are formed by ancient Greek monuments and cities. Manias went deeper and discovered that it expanded to many and much more intricate shapes which defied even logic. Manias developed a topographic map depicting these shapes and later proved the existence of a complex interplay of mathematical and astronomical harmony between the monuments and the topographical shapes.

Furthermore, Manias discovered the secret of mathematics behind the Greek miracle and the mathematical and scientific structure of the Greek language, according to which the Greek language is a mathematical code where a word corresponds to a mathematical value, either numerical or geometric. Its decoding unveils religious and philosophical meanings of astounding wisdom. The secret of the Egyptian pyramids and the origin of poetry were also Manias’ discoveries.

Manias was also an important and innovative stock-farming reformer. Some of his other works include the introduction of mathematics in the curriculum of veterinarian studies, the foundation of the first factory of synthetic animal food production in Greece in 1955, the foundation of a veterinary school in the university, the passing of important legislature on stock-farming, 380 lectures throughout the globe on historical, scientific and veterinarian topics and numerous other innovations which unfortunately the Greek government never implemented.

Manias’ discoveries proved four important things. First, that the Egyptian pyramids were built by the Greeks, if not using the knowledge of the Greeks. Second, that the Greek language is unlike any other language in the world. It is an artificial language built by sages on mathematical principles. Third, that the Greek language expresses a wise science which dates back to a world that existed thousands of years ago before its disappearance. Hence the Greek language, as well as the Greek race, is much more ancient than currently asserted by conventional history. Finally, the Greek language is a massive library of incredibly ancient mathematical symbolism, an archive of the past of the civilization of man.

Manias believed that if one studied the ancient Greek language and deciphered it correctly (s)/he would gain the golden keys for the ancient spiritual paradise and would repair the damage that was done to humanity by the great fire of the Library of Alexandria. Manias’ work was continued by many of his spiritual successors and is to this day.

Bibliography

1. Manias, Theophanis. The Holy Geometry of the Greeks and the Mathematical Structure of the Greek Language. Athens: Pyrinos Kosmos, 2006. Print.

Christos Kapsalis

Hero of the Greek War of Independence (1751 – 1826)

Christos Kapsalis was one of the most notable heroes of the Greek War of Independence. He was born in 1751 in Mesolonghi. He was one of the initial fighters who declared the war in Mesolonghi. Kapsalis was a flaming patriot and idealist who dedicated his entire fortune to the Greek War of Independence. He would always encourage the freedom fighters together with Joseph Rogon in between battles. He remained in history for his heroic stance during the sortie of Mesolonghi in 1826.

He participated in several important battles during the Greek War of Independence but his most notable one was the third and final siege of Mesolonghi in 182. On April 8^th, 1826 when the defence of the city was no longer feasible, the last council was held to decide what would be done. It was agreed that Demetrios Makris, Kitsos Tzavelas, Notis Botsaris, Athanasios Razikotzikas, Nikolaos Stournaris and Alexander Mavrokordatos would lead the men and women who were able to fight, as well as children in a sortie in an attempt to save as many lives as possible. The issue that arose was what to be done with the elderly, the injured and those who were unable to fight. Kapsalis then proposed a plan to blow themselves up at the basement of his house, which served as a storehouse of explosives so that they would not be taken alive.

On the morning of April 10^th, 1826, the gates of Mesolonghi opened and the freedom fighters commenced their exodus. They fought heroically until most of them fell in battle. Meanwhile, the Ottomans and the Egyptians had entered the city and began slaughtering its civilians. Kapsalis had gathered the elderly, the women, the children and the injured in the basement of his house and awaited the enemy to approach. When the Ottomans entered his house in search for treasures Kapsalis said «Μνήσθητί μου Κύριε» (God, put us in your memory) and threw the torch on the explosives causing a massive explosion that wiped out everyone, including 1000 Ottomans and Egyptians that were nearby.

Kapsalis’ act of bravery and the holocaust of the Mesolonghians shook up Greece and the entire philhellenic movement. Their sacrifice proved that the Greeks have retained an incredibly ancient value, their will to sacrifice even their lives in the name of freedom, the highest ideal of the Greek race.

Bibliography

1. “Kapsalis, Christos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. ΟΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ ΣΤΟΝ ΑΓΩΝΑ ΓΙΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ ΤΟ 1821»- Ο Μεσολογγίτης Αγωνιστής ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΚΑΨΑΛΗΣ, (1751-1826). Peritexnislogos.blogspot.bg. Web. March 18, 2015. Retrieved on September 30, 2016.

Pedanius Dioscorides

Physician, Pharmacist, Botanist (40 – 90)

The “Father of Pharmacology” and founder of pharmacy as a science. Dioscorides (or Dioscurides) studied medicine in Tarsus and flourished in Rome, during the years of Emperor Nero and Emperor Vespasian. He was also a botanist and travelled all around the world collecting 600 herbs and plants that he used for medicinal purposes. He preceded Galen by 90 years.

Dioscorides was the first to concoct pharmacochemical substances for experimental and therapeutical purposes, therefore founding also the science of Clinical Pharmacology, an important medical specialty to this day. Moreover, he developed pharmacognosy to a great extent, systematized prescription writing and worked as a surgeon close to the Roman Emperors.

According to Suda, Dioscorides wrote 24 books on pharmacology. His most monumental work is De Materia Medica, a book that served as the primary textbook of pharmacology and pharmacopoeia for 16 centuries in all of Europe and Western Asia and was the greatest book of pharmacology during this millennium and a half. The book consists of 5 volumes. Volume 1 Aromatics contains detailed descriptions of 517 drugs such as plants, roots, extracts as well as recipes for aromas, oils, frankincense, ointments, tree extracts, decoctions, balsams, herbs and fruits for medicinal purposes. Volume 2 Animals to Herbs contains the description of 142 drugs of animal origin. It also presents the animals and their products which can be used therapeutically such as milk, honey, fat etc. Finally, it includes cereals, grains and vegetables. Volume 3 is a book on plants, herbs, plant extracts, oils and seeds. Volume 4 is a continuation of the 3^rd volume and contains descriptions of 69 trees. The fifth volume deals with medicinal vines, wines, water, minerals and numerous inorganic drugs. Anaesthetics, opioids, sedatives and hypnotics, the cannabis and the mandragora, all of natural origin are described in Dioscorides’ book. In addition, there are descriptions of 600 herbal drugs and botanies and their pharmacodynamics from different parts of the world. In total, the colossal book De Materia Medica contains descriptions of more than 1000 drugs.

Other surviving books of Dioscorides include Peri Jobolon, Pharmacognosia, a book on pharmacognosy, On Crude Drugs, which consists of 2 books containing descriptions on the diseases of organs of the human body and the drugs which correspond to the treatment of each disease and On the benefits or disadvantages of the actions of the drugs, which contains the side effects of drugs.

Dioscorides’ influence on the medical world was immense, especially through his book De Materia Medica, which was translated into most European languages and in Arabic and was first printed in 1499 by Aldus Manutius in Italy. With this book Dioscorides undoubtedly taught pharmacology to the Romans, the Venetians, the Hebrews, the Arabs, the French etc. Most of the drugs presented in his books are used by medicine effectively to this day.

Bibliography

1. “Dioscorides”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Athens: Georgiades, 1995. Print.
3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ”Pedanius Dioscorides”. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. September 25, 2016.
4. Tziropoulou Eustathiou, Anna. O en tei Lexei Logos. Athens: Georgiades, 2011. Print.
5. Tziropoulou – Eustathiou, Anna. The Destruction of the Greek Libraries. Georgiades: Athens, 2014. Print.

Adamantios Koraïs

Teacher of the Greek Nation, Physician (1748 – 1833)

Physician, surgeon, linguist, writer and philologist, Adamantios Koraïs was one of the leading representatives of the Enlightenment of Greece of the 18^th century and one of the most renowned Teachers of the Greek Nation.

He was born in Smyrna and from a young age he expressed an inclination toward letters. He studied in the Evangelical School of Smyrna and later in Amsterdam where he learned Latin, Italian, French, German and English. Being a philologist he indulged on the works of the ancient Greek philosophers as well as his contemporary philosophers. He then travelled to France where he studied medicine. Upon receiving his certificate, Koraïs was sent to Paris to work as a doctor. Soon, however, he retired from his profitable profession to dedicate his life in awakening the Greek nation from the Ottoman yoke.

He began publishing anonymously political pamphlets, namely Adelphic Didascaly (1798), Hasma Polemisterion (1800) and Salpisma Polemisterion (1801), in an effort to inspire the Greeks and urge them to rise and fight for their freedom as well as publishing the works of ancient Greek philosophers in order to educate them. His first publications of ancient Greek philosophers included Hippocrates and Theophrastus. Over the years 1807 – 1826 he published the Greek Library consisting of 16 volumes. It contained works of Isocrates, Plutarch, Strabo, Aristotle, Plato and Xenophon. Koraïs also published 9 volumes of Parerga throughout the years 1809 – 1827 which further contained philosophical, historical and political works of the ancient Greeks. Among the hundreds of works he published were the first 4 rhapsodies of Homer’s Iliad. Concurrently he translated Greek literature into French and Italian and wrote poetry. His dedication was such that when he was offered the department of Classical Studies in the University of Paris, Koraïs declined.

When the Greek War of Independence broke out in 1821, Koraïs was 73 years old. Nevertheless, he wholeheartedly continued his political and philologic struggle. He communicated with philhellenes my mail throughout Europe in attempt to persuade them to assist Greece in its struggle and to raise it to a pan-European issue. Koraïs participated in various committees in Paris concerning the Greek War of Independence. He co-founded the Greek County, a philhellenic society which gathered funds and contributed weapons, supplies, medicines as well as doctors and generals to Greece. Furthermore, the Greek refugees of war of Paris found asylum, including the children of the Greek heroes, which were educated under Koraïs’ personal supervision.

During his last years, Koraïs published his autobiography and Atakta, consisting of 5 volumes on the Greek language, literature and alphabet. He frequently wrote in the patriotic magazine “Logios Hermes” where even after his death Koraïs’ articles were still being published there. Furthermore he worked on the restoration of several ancient Greek treatises, frequently helping others who consulted him for his wisdom. His radical ideas on religious, political and educational reforms often made him a controversial figure among the Church and the rest of the literary society. His views that the French intellectuals should be implicated in the governance of Greece, their involvement in the educational system, his belief that contemporary Greeks did not derive from the ancient Greeks and his feud with Ioannis Kapodistrias have all been critisized to this day, rendering him a controversial figure within Greece’s modern history.

Adamantios Koraïs, a man who had an opinion on everything, is highly respected and admired today in Greece. He remained immortal in the history of the Greek nation for his central role in the Greek Enlightenment, together with Rhegas Pherraios and for his tireless contribution to the education of Greece and its rebirth as a nation of Western standards. Today, his statue stands proudly in front of the gates of the University of Athens.

Bibliography

1. “Koraes, Adamantios”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. ”Adamantios Koraïs”. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Web. September 25, 2016.
3. Cretetv Antithesis. Από την Ελληνική Επανάσταση στον 21ο αιώνα. YouTube. May 22, 2020. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PjGL-3ZWhY

Terpander

Musician, Lyric Poet (7^th century BC)

Terpander’s life and work are intermixed with mythical elements. According to Suda he was a descendent of Homer while according to other legends he was a descendent of Hesiod. When and where Terpander was born is also not known but is estimated to have been born in the island of Lesbos around the 7^th century BC. He was one of the greatest ancient Greek musicians and one of the founders of lyric poetry.

According to tradition, Terpander travelled around Greece singing the works of Homer and Hesiod, as well as songs that he had written. After the 1^st Messenian War that plaged Sparta, Terpander was called by the Oracle of Delphi to go to Sparta in order to alleviate their passions with his music. Around 676 BC Terpander won first place in the Carnean musical contest in Sparta. He won 1^st place 4 times in the Pythean musical contest, which were held only every 9 years. His fame skyrocketed to the point where being placed second after Terpander as a musician was a high privilege.

Terpander was a musical genius who brought many innovative changes to music and lyrical poetry. He reconstructed and perfected the lyrical element of music, introduced the 7-string kithara (lyre) into music, invented the varviton, a musical intrument and founded a musical notation system and the Terpandreian Laws of music, which were musical tracks used to sing Homeric verses and verses from other epics. Tradition also marks him as a very special reformer of literary lyricism. He founded a new type of lyrical poetry which he termed “Νόμοι” (Laws) and was the first to write poems accompanied with musical notes. He wrote numerous lyrical poems almost none of which survive today.

Bibliography

1. “Terpandros”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. “Terpandros”. Live-pedia.gr. Web. Retreived on September 23, 2016.
3. «Ποιος ήταν ο Τέρπανδρος;». Τέρπανδρος Λόγος και Τέχνη. WordPress.com. Web. Retrieved on September 23, 2016.

Carneades

Philosopher (214 BC – 128 BC)

Carneades was born in Cyrene, a Greek colony of North Africa. He came to Athens to study in Plato’s Academy and later served as headmaster of the Academy from 156 BC until 131 BC when he was succeeded by Cleitomachus. He was of the probabilistic school. His philosophy was primarily involved with skeptisicm, epistemology (the science of knowing) and ethics and received influences from Chrysippus, whose school he liked proviking. He was also an excellent rhetorician.

Carneades stated that definitive knowledge cannot exist because nor our senses nor proofs can provide us with certain truth. Even though truth and false existed, Carneades believed that man could not distinguish between the two because our senses deceive us while proofs are based on unproven axioms. This could only happen in illusions or dreams.

Carneades’ skepticistic philosophy placed all of his philosophic predecessors under his critisicm, especially the Stoics. Carneades spoke against God, saying that the Stoic’s dogmas on God had contradicting arguments (antinomy). The Stoics claimed that the fact that all the peoples of the world believed in God was a proof of God’s existence. Carneades, however, stated that this did not prove God’s existence rather that there is a common belief in man to believe in God. God was not a living being, because otherwise he would decay, he was not virtuous or brave because he did not face any situations in which he could prove so, and was not anthropomorphic, but a transcendental being inconceivable by human thought.

The probabilistic theory, which Carneades established, stated that only the knowledge of probability is perceivable to man. Probability has three grades which accompany the images of the external world. The first grade is made up of images which seem probable without their reliability being supported by that of other images. The second grade contains images whose probability does not come into conflict with other images while the third grade is made up of images that when examined in full detail are not contradicted in any way with even the most unrelated images.

It can be said that Carneades was in a way the founder of critical philosophy, not so much because his predecessors did not examine or judge ideas or arguments but rather because Carneades’ philosophic examination was the subject of a new philosophical wave. His philosophy turned man to mysticism because when he could not find the truth using logic, he would try to find it using the illogical part of his soul.

Bibliography

1. “Carneades”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. “Carneades”. Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Stanford.edu. Web. Retreived on September 21, 2016.
3. Pleures, Konstantinos. Greek Philosophers. Athens: Hilektron Publications, 2014. Print.

Apollonius of Perga

Mathematician, Astronomer (c.262 BC – c.190 BC)

He is known as “The Great Geometer”. He was a contemporary of Apollonius of Rhodes, Eratosthenes and Archimedes, who was 25 years older than him. He studied in Alexandria and later became a scholar there. His works, primarily on the conic sections, influenced hundreds of mathematicians throughout history, from Pappus, Hipparchus and Proclus to Vieta, Descartes, Dessargues and Fermat. He is the third greatest mathematician of antiquity next to Archimedes and Eudoxus and the third greatest Greek mathematician of all time.

While in his youth Apollonius wrote his treatise Conics. It is considered his magnum opus and consisted of 8 books. Books 1 to 4 survive in Greek, books 5 to 7 in Arabic while book 8 is lost. They were written in Alexandria and were further furnished in Pergamum before being published. They provide the first systematic study on the conic sections. The mathematical terms “eclipse”, “hyperbola” and “parabola” are first established. He was the first to show that the conic sections are actually curves from sectioned cones and planes, regardless of their angles and managed to solve second degree equations using conic sections.

Apollonius is the founder of Analytical Geometry. Professor Max Simpson writes in his book History of Mathematics in Antiquity: “As untrue as it is, that Galileo, Fermat, Leibnitz, Newton discovered Calculus, while they exist in the works of Archimedes, […] that much untrue is that the modern scientists discovered Analytical Geometry, which are found in the works of Archimedes and Apollonius”.

The only other book that has survived from Apollonius’ collection is a book on the solution of the doubling of the cube. The works that did not survive are namely the following: De Rationis Sectione, consisting of two books in Arabic translation, De Spatii Sectione (Cutting of an Area), De Tactionibus, De Inclinationibus, a book which contained 125 theorems and which Halley attempted to re-synthesize and De Locis Planis. All these books have been grouped under the name “Geometrical Analysis”. In addition, Apollonius wrote On the Cylindrical Helix, On the Comparison of the dodecahedron and the eicosahedron, Peri Atakton Alogon. Furthermore, he wrote the Ὠκυοτόκιον (Quick Bringing-to-Birth) was a book containing Apollonius’ method of finding the true value of π with greater precision than that of Archimedes, the Not–At–All Treatise (Ἡ Καθόλου Πραγματεία), which contained the foundation of the geometric science, On the Burning Glass, which was about parabolic mirrors used to light fire and finally a treatise on astronomy whose name did not survive concerning phenomena of the sun and the moon as well as the anomalous motion of celestial bodies. Ptolemy references him as having proven two significant astronomical theorems. Finally, Apollonius invented two machines: the first clock, a sundial-like clock and the hydraulus, a musical instrument.

The contributions of Apollonius as a mathematician, astronomer and inventor are unique. Conics is one of the greatest treatises of higher mathematics from the ancient world to have survived, together with Euclid’s Elements and Archimedes’ Palimpsest. It is also the most perfect work on conic sections ever written, with none of his successors ever having surpassed its perfection. While the Ὠκυοτόκιον (Quick Bringing-to-Birth) is considered by modern scientists to be the prodrome of the theory of arithmomechanics (calculators). He is also considered to be one of the founders of mathematical astronomy, together with Eudoxus. He was portrayed on the 50 drachma banknote of Greece and today, a lunar crater bears his name.

Bibliography

1. Apollonius of Perga. School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St. Andrews, Scotland. History.mcs.st-and.ac.uk. Web. September 18, 2016
2. Georgakopoulos, Konstantinos. Ancient Greek Scientists. Athens: Georgiades, 1995. Print.
3. Koutoulas, Diamantis. The Ancient Greek Religion and the Mathematics. Thessaloniki: Psaras, 2001. Print.
4. Δημόφιλος, Ίων. ΟΙ ΒΑΣΕΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΑΝΑΛΥΤΙΚΗΣ ΓΕΩΜΕΤΡΙΑΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙΟ ΤΟΝ ΠΕΡΓΑΙΟ. 23.09.2009. freeinquiry.gr. Web. September 18, 2016.

Manuel Komnenos

Byzantine Emperor (1118 – 1180)

A brave warrior, skilled strategist and great patriot, Manuel Komnenos (or Comnenus) was born as the Komnenos dynasty’s third heir to the Byzantine throne during years of terrific political turmoil in the Empire. His efforts to revive the Byzantine Empire from the darkness in which it was plunged by his predecessors as well as to fix their mistakes and restore the Empire’s glory, even though they failed rendered him as one of the most important Byzantine Emperors in Greek history.

Prior to Manuel Komenos’ ascension to the throne, the Byzantine Empire was facing one of the darkest times in its history. The war against the Greeks had once again begun after a period of remission by his grandfather Alexios Komnenos and his son, both of whom served as Byzantine Emperors. Massacres, tortures, destruction and religious fanaticism were rampant in the entire Greek peninsula. When Manuel Komnenos ascended to throne he found himself confronted with an army mobilized by Alexios Komnenos consisting of militarized monks that had gained so much power that even the Emperor himself was enslaved to them, destroying everything in their path and imposing their power.

Manuel’s rise to power signaled a new era for Hellenism. Due to his love for the Greeks, for the first time in years Greek literature and astrology began to be republished while hostility toward the Greeks ceased. In addition, he proved himself to be a courageous man in battle. Michael Acominatus wrote that “(Manuel) was courageous by nature, reckless in battle and daring in the deeds worked by his hands” while John Kinnamos said “Whenever he appeared unexpectedly to them (the Turks), he seemed veritably a thunderbolt to them, and thousands, they say, should it be so, even tens of thousands, armed and armored men, shamelessly fled”.

Manuel’s attempt to diminish the power of the Venetians in the Byzantine Empire failed when he was obliged to compensate them after they retaliated by taking control of Chios. He made numerous campaigns in the East, travelled to Antioch where he fought against the Turks and the Franks and imposed the Byzantine rule while regaining the lands of Asia Minor. Moreover, he fought the Serbians, the Hungarians, fended off the Italian invaders from Greece during the second Crusade and signed a peace treaty with the enemy states.

Constant wars, however, led to the defeat of the Byzantine army in the Battle of Myriocephalon against the Turks and Manuel barely fled from captivity. This brought great exhaustion to the Empire, slowly after which began its downfall. By the time of Manuel’s death, the Byzantine Empire occupied all the lands below the river Danube, the north and south parts of Asia Minor as well as the eastern part of it until Phrygia and Pisidia.

Bibliography

1. “Manuel, Komnenos”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. Manuel I Komnenos (1143 – 1180). God’s Regents on Earth: A Thousand Years of Byzantine Imperial Seals. Cloacks.org. Web. September 15, 2016.
3. Misyris, Vasilis. Komnenoi the Anthellenic Emperors and the Exception of Manuel. Retreived from «ΙΧΩΡ», issue 18, February 2002, pages 58-68.
4. Ο Μανουήλ Α’ Κομνηνός και η μάχη του Μυριοκεφάλου 1176. Ψήγματα απὸ τὴν Ελληνική ιστορία. Blogspot.bg. Web. September 15, 2016.

 

Athanasios Diakos

Commander, Hero of the Greek War of Independence (1788 – 1821)

Athanasios Diakos was one of the major heroes of the Greek War of Independence and today a  national hero of Greece. Born in 1788 into a family of klephts as Athanasios Grammatikos, Diakos became a monk and then a deacon at the monastery of Saint John the Baptist. Following a feud with a Turk and his rising revolutionary spirit, Diakos left the monastery and became a harmatolos in the mountains, hunting and taking down the Turkish army, mainly in Central Greece.

In 1818, Diakos joined the army of Odysseus Androutsos, another prominent hero of the War of Independence, in Ioannina, formed his own army of klephts and harmatoles and joined the secret society for the liberation of Greece, the Philiki Hetairia. For the next two years, Diakos organized armies of klephts and harmatoles to reclaim cities in Central Greece; most notably, on April 4th 1821, he besieged Levadeia and the city of Thebes, forcing the entire Turkish population to flee.

Following the liberation of Leviadeia, Diakos joined fellow fighters Panourgias and Dyovouniotes to stop Omer Vrioni and his 8.900-10.000 men from reaching the city of Roumeli in Peloponnese, where the Turks planned to suppress another major revolt. Repeating Leonidas‘ plan against the Persians almost 2.000 years ago, Diakos decided to block Omer Vrioni’s army at Thermopyale. An army of 1500 Greeks was divided into 3 parts: Panourgias in Chalcomata, Dyovouniotes in Gorgopotamos and Diakos in Alamana, a significant  battle which would become known as the Battle of Alamana. The Greek army suffered heavy losses and was forces to retreat. Diakos and his remaining 48 warriors chose to fight to the last stand.

Diakos was caught and tortured by Omer Vrioni and his men. Admiring Diakos’s commanding and fighting abilities, he offered him the rank of officer in his army, to which he replied:

I was born a Greek, and I will die a Greek!

Diakos was then impaled and left under the burning sun to die. A fellow Greek who tried to save him from the martyrdom shot him but missed and wounded Diakos’s arm. Diakos was then burned, still alive.

Although the battle at Alamana was lost, Diakos’ brave stand against the enemy strengthened the Greek’s  belief in the War more than anything at the time. Like Leonidas, Diakos instantly became a symbol of patriotism and a national hero. Today, a monument stands at the site of his final stand and the Greek Army posthumously honored him with the rank of general, while numerous folk songs have been written to his memory.

Bibliography

1. “Diakos, Athanasios”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. GPITRAL5 Education Culture e-learning. Athanasios Diakos. Youtube. November 16, 2012. Web. September 15, 2016.

Ion Dragoumis

Statesman, Diplomat, Philosopher, Writer (1878 – 1920)

Ion Dragoumis is the “Father of Hellenic Nationalism”. With his work as writer and diplomat he became the leading figure, organizer and inspirer of the Macedonian Struggle during the beginning of the 20^th century. A flaming patriot and revolutionary, Dragoumis was a prominent supporter of the Megali Idea (Great Idea) and envisioned a Greater Greece in which all the Greeks could live together united as one and free. His pure motivations, continuous struggles and his assassination proved that he was an intellectual diplomat and one of the very few great politicians of Modern Greek history.

Dragoumis’ ethnic work began in 1902 when he served as consul in Bitola. He also served as consul in Alexandria, Dedeagatch and Constantinople. In Constantinople he founded the “Organization of Constantinople” with the purpose of communication and co-operation of all ethnicities subjugated to the Ottoman Empire, regardless of religion, and their peaceful development under a common Greek element. Afterwards he went to Bulgaria where he served as vice consul in Philippoupolis. Together with his brother-in-law Pavlos Melas, he organized the orthodox communities against the Bulgarian forces. Moreover, he organized a conference in 1911 for the reclaiming of the Dodecanese from the Italians. During the Balkan Wars, Dragoumis enlisted in the army and together with Victor Dousmanis and John Metaxas they negotiated over the surrender of Thessaloniki to Greece. He was elected member of the Parliament in 1915 and would frequently express his nationalistic ideas through newspapers, magazines and books that he wrote, prompting the Greeks to reawaken and embrace the dawn of New Hellenism.

Ion Dragoumis represented the major exponent of Greek nationalism. His numerous works and his actions prove that he was a patriot not just in words but in actions as well, for every move he made was in accordance to his nationalistic beliefs. Dragoumis’ nationalism was not like communism, fascism or any other kind of pseudonationalism of modern day’s society. It originated from the Greek Civilization and placed the Greek as an individual in its epicenter. The modern Greek was part of the Greek race that had retained all its special characteristics and values throughout the ages of its existence. Dragoumis firmly believed in the spiritual Renaissance of the Greek nation (which is the topic of his magnum opus «Ὅσοι Ζωντανοί» (Hosi Zontani)), the continuation and evolution of the Greek heritage, the values of direct democracy and in a nation of freedom. If based on the Greek traditions, language and way of life, the Greeks could once again thrive. Furthermore he did not reject the influence of other nations nor did he consider them as a negative influence toward Greece. For him, the Greek race and the Greek nation are one and the same.

Originally a proponent of Eleutherios Venizelos, Dragoumis turned against him as he saw that his political motivations were against the betterment of Greece. His actions resulted to his exile by the Venizelic government in Scopelos. On July 31^st, 1920, just one day after the assassination attempt of Prime Minister Eleutherios Venizelos, Ion Dragoumis was murdered by the Venizelic security battalions in Athens. His assassination deprived Greece of one of its most valuable statesmen and most dedicated patriots.

Bibliography

1. “Dragoumis, Ion”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
2. ION DRAGOUMIS. Greece.com. Web. September 3, 2016.
3. Ίων Δραγούμης ο πατέρας του Ελληνικού Εθνικισμού!. Antepithesi.gr. Web. September 3, 2016.