1.
Eleftheria i thanatos
–
Eleftheria i thanatos is the motto of Greece. It arose during the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s and it was adopted after the Greek War of Independence. It is still in use today, and is a theory regarding the use of 9 stripes in the Greek flag, the five blue stripes for the syllables Έλευθερία. The motto symbolized and still symbolizes the resolve of the people of Greece against tyranny, the Filiki Eteria at its emblem had the letters ΗΕΑ and ΗΘΣ. These are the letters of the words Ή ΕλευθερίΑ Ή ΘάνατοΣ, also, this is the motto of the 4th Infantry Division of the Greek Army. Nikos Kazantzakis novel Captain Michalis was subtitled Freedom or Death, which became its title in the United States, Germany, France, and other countries. Greek War of Independence Hymn to Liberty Live free or die God Save the South Give me liberty or give me death Liberté, égalité, fraternité Thanatos
Eleftheria i thanatos
–
Greek flag
2.
Greek War of Independence
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The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1832 against the Ottoman Empire. Even several decades before the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, during this time, there were several revolt attempts by Greeks to gain independence from Ottoman control. In 1814, an organization called the Filiki Eteria was founded with the aim of liberating Greece. The Filiki Eteria planned to launch revolts in the Peloponnese, the Danubian Principalities, the first of these revolts began on 6 March 1821 in the Danubian Principalities, but it was soon put down by the Ottomans. The events in the north urged the Greeks in the Peloponnese into action and on 17 March 1821 and this declaration was the start of a spring of revolutionary actions from other controlled states against the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the month, the Peloponnese was in revolt against the Turks and by October 1821. The Peloponnesian revolt was followed by revolts in Crete, Macedonia, and Central Greece. Meanwhile, the makeshift Greek navy was achieving success against the Ottoman navy in the Aegean Sea, tensions soon developed among different Greek factions, leading to two consecutive civil wars. In the meantime, the Ottoman Sultan negotiated with Mehmet Ali of Egypt, although Ibrahim was defeated in Mani, he had succeeded in suppressing most of the revolt in the Peloponnese, and Athens had been retaken. Following years of negotiation, three Great Powers—Russia, Britain and France—decided to intervene in the conflict and each sent a navy to Greece. Following news that combined Ottoman–Egyptian fleets were going to attack the Greek island of Hydra, the battle began after a tense week-long standoff, ending in the destruction of the Ottoman–Egyptian fleet. As a result of years of negotiation, Greece was finally recognized as an independent nation in the Treaty of Constantinople of May 1832, the Revolution is celebrated by the modern Greek state as a national day on 25 March. The Fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453 and the subsequent fall of the states of the Byzantine Empire marked the end of Byzantine sovereignty. After that, the Ottoman Empire ruled the Balkans and Anatolia, Orthodox Christians were granted some political rights under Ottoman rule, but they were considered inferior subjects. The majority of Greeks were called Rayah by the Turks, a name referred to the large mass of non-Muslim subjects under the Ottoman ruling class. Demetrius Chalcondyles called on Venice and all of the Latins to aid the Greeks against the abominable, monstrous, however, Greece was to remain under Ottoman rule for several more centuries. The Greek Revolution was not an event, numerous failed attempts at regaining independence took place throughout the history of the Ottoman era. Throughout the 17th century there was resistance to the Ottomans in the Morea and elsewhere
Greek War of Independence
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Theodoros Vryzakis (oil painting, 1852,
Benaki Museum, Athens) illustrates Bishop
Germanos of old
Patras blessing the Greek banner at
Agia Lavra on the outset of the national revolt against the Turks on 25 March 1821.
Greek War of Independence
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Portrait of a Greek armatolos by
Richard Parkes Bonington (oil painting, 1825–1826, Benaki Museum).
Greek War of Independence
–
Adamantios Korais
3.
Odessa
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Odessa or Odesa is the third most populous city of Ukraine and a major seaport and transportation hub located on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. Odessa is also a center of the Odessa Oblast and a multiethnic cultural center. Odessa is sometimes called the pearl of the Black Sea, the South Capital, the predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement, was founded by Hacı I Giray, the Khan of Crimea, in 1440 and originally named after him as Hacıbey. After a period of Lithuanian control, it passed into the domain of the Ottoman Sultan in 1529, in 1794, the city of Odessa was founded by a decree of the Empress Catherine the Great. From 1819 to 1858, Odessa was a free port, during the Soviet period it was the most important port of trade in the Soviet Union and a Soviet naval base. On 1 January 2000, the Quarantine Pier at Odessa Commercial Sea Port was declared a free port, during the 19th century, it was the fourth largest city of Imperial Russia, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Warsaw. Its historical architecture has a style more Mediterranean than Russian, having heavily influenced by French. Some buildings are built in a mixture of different styles, including Art Nouveau, Renaissance, the city of Odessa hosts both the Port of Odessa and Port Yuzhne, a significant oil terminal situated in the citys suburbs. Another notable port, Chornomorsk, is located in the same oblast, together they represent a major transport hub integrating with railways. Odessas oil and chemical processing facilities are connected to Russian and European networks by strategic pipelines, the city was named in compliance with the Greek Plan of Catherine the Great. It was named after the ancient Greek city of Odessos, which was believed to have been located here. Although Odessa is located in between the ancient Greek cities of Tyras and Olbia, Odessos is believed to be the predecessor of the present day city of Varna, Catherines secretary of state Adrian Gribovsky claimed in his memoirs that the name was his suggestion. Some expressed doubts about this claim, while others noted the reputation of Gribovsky as an honest and modest man, Odessa was the site of a large Greek settlement not later than the middle of the 6th century BC. Some scholars believe it to be a settlement established by Histria. Whether the Bay of Odessa is the ancient Port of the Histrians cannot yet be considered a settled question based on the available evidence, archaeological artifacts confirm extensive links between the Odessa area and the eastern Mediterranean. In the Middle Ages successive rulers of the Odessa region included various nomadic tribes, the Golden Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Yedisan Crimean Tatars traded there in the 14th century. During the reign of Khan Hacı I Giray of Crimea, the Khanate was endangered by the Golden Horde and the Ottoman Turks and, in search of allies, the site of present-day Odessa was then a fortress known as Khadjibey. It was part of the Dykra region, however, most of the rest of the area remained largely uninhabited in this period
Odessa
–
Odesa (Одеса) Odessa (Одесса)
Odessa
Odessa
–
Remains of ancient Greek settlement [
citation needed] (under glass roof) on Primorsky Boulevard in Odessa
Odessa
–
Russian and
Cossack troops take the fortress of Khadjibey, defeating the Ottomans and thus providing the impetus to found Odessa.
4.
Emmanuil Xanthos
–
Emmanuil Xanthos was a Greek merchant, He was one of the founders of the Filiki Eteria, a Greek conspiratorial organization against the Ottoman Empire. Xanthos was born on the Aegean island of Patmos in Ottoman Greece and he emigrated to Italy as a youngster and was initiated in the Masonic Lodge of Lefkada, before finally settling in Odessa, Russia. While there, he acquainted with Nikolaos Skoufas and Athanasios Tsakalov. The three men came up with the idea of founding an organization to prepare the ground for Greek independence. In 1818, the three moved to Constantinople to further their cause. There in July, Skoufas fell ill and died leaving Xanthos as one of the two leaders of the organization, Xanthos was dedicated to the Greek War of Independence which started in 1821. During the war Xanthos organized from Austria the escape of Alexander Ypsilantis, the leader of Filiki Eteria. Before his death he wrote his Memoirs which was published in 1854 and are now an important source of information about the inner workings of the Greek War of Independence. Memoirs for the Friendly Society, Vergina
Emmanuil Xanthos
–
Emmanuil Xanthos
Emmanuil Xanthos
–
The grave of Emmanuel Xanthos in the
First Cemetery of Athens.
5.
Nikolaos Skoufas
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Nikolaos Skoufas was a member of the Filiki Eteria, a Greek conspiratorial organization against the Ottoman Empire. Skoufas was born in 1779 in the village of Kompoti near Arta and he worked at various times as an apothecary, a commercial secretary and a hatter. Skoufas left as a merchant for Russia for business purposes, while there, he became acquainted with Athanasios Tsakalov and Emmanuil Xanthos. The three men came up with the idea of founding an organisation to prepare the ground for Greek independence. So, the Filiki Eteria was founded in 1814 in Odessa, Skoufas dedicated the rest of his life to the cause. For this purpose he went to Moscow but his ideas did not meet with the approval of people of the local Greek community. In 1818, the three moved to Constantinople to further their cause, but in July of that same year Skoufas fell ill
Nikolaos Skoufas
–
Nikolaos Skoufas
6.
Athanasios Tsakalov
–
Athanasios Tsakalov was a member of the Filiki Eteria, a Greek patriotic organization against Ottoman rule. Tsakalov was born in 1790 in Ioannina, todays Greece, at a young age, he left Greece to be with his father in Russia. He studied physics in Paris, where he founded the Hellenoglosso Xenodocheio, returning to Russia in Odessa, he became acquainted with Nikolaos Skoufas and Emmanuil Xanthos. The three men the proceeded in 1814 in Odessa to the founding of Filiki Eteria, an organisation to prepare the ground for Greek independence. In 1818, the three moved to Constantinople to further their cause. There in July, Skoufas fell ill and died leaving Tsakalov as one of the two leaders of the organization, Tsakalov was dedicated to the Greek War of Independence which started in 1821. During the war Tsakalov served as a lieutenant to Alexander Ypsilantis. He died in 1851 in Moscow
Athanasios Tsakalov
–
Athanasios Tsakalov
7.
Alexander Ypsilantis
–
He should not be confused with his namesake grandfather, a Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia at the end of the 18th century. The Ypsilantis family hailed from the Pontian population of Trabzon and he was born on 12 December 1792 in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, as the eldest of three brothers. With the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in 1805, his father fled with family to Imperial Russia, the young Alexander had received a thorough education, becoming fluent in Russian, French, German and Romanian. At the age of 15, he was presented to the Russian Court, on 12 April 1808, he entered a commission in the prestigious Chevalier Guard Regiment with the rank of cornet. Moving rapidly up the ranks, he was promoted to lieutenant on 27 September 1810, during the French invasion of Russia, he fought in the battles of Klyastitsy and Polotsk. Promoted to full Rittmeister on 20 February 1813, he went on to participate in the Battle of Bautzen. On 6 July, he was transferred to the 6th Klyastitsy Hussar Regiment as lieutenant colonel, and participated with his new unit in the Battle of Dresden, although he was immediately promoted to full colonel, it meant that Ypsilantis would not be able to see action again. However, he attended the Congress of Vienna, where he was a figure in society, and earned the sympathy of Tsar Alexander I. In late 1817, at the age of 25, he became a major general, Ypsilantis issued a declaration on 8 October 1820, announcing that he would soon be starting a revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Ypsilantis began his declaration by praising ancient Greece, writing, Cast your eyes toward the seas, look to he land, and everywhere you will see Leonidas at the head of the patriotic Spartans. Ypsilantis went on to say that the Greeks did not need help as they could defeat the Turks on their own before going on to say that Russian support was assured. Legally, the Ottomans could not move their forces into Wallachia or Moldavia without Russias permission, therefore, on 22 February 1821 or March 25, accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service, Ypsilantis crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Principalities. Two days later, at Iaşi he issued a proclamation, announcing that he had the support of a great power, soon after, Capodistria himself had to take an indefinite leave of absence from his post. These moves emboldened the Turks, who began assembling a number of troops to quell the insurrection in Wallachia. Ypsilantis marched from Iaşi to Bucharest, trying to enlist volunteers, Ypsilantis was constantly short of money and his men turned to plundering the region. It was then that the Sacred Band was formed, comprising young Greek volunteers from all over Europe, Ypsilantis advanced slowly, not entering Wallachia until early April, by which time Tudor Vladimirescu had seized Bucharest. He further took the Russian renunciation of Ypsilantis to mean that his commitment to the Filiki Eteria was over, and as result, in the end, Vladimirescu was tried and executed by the pro-Greek faction and the Eteria. There followed a series of battles that lead to the defeat of the Eterias forces
Alexander Ypsilantis
–
Ypsilantis in
Filiki Eteria attire
National Historical Museum of Greece
Alexander Ypsilantis
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Ypsilantis in the uniform of a senior officer of the Russian Hussars, 1810s.
Alexander Ypsilantis
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Monument of Alexander Ypsilanti, that contains bones, Champ de Mars, Athens, 1869
Alexander Ypsilantis
–
Alexandros Ypsilantis crosses the
Pruth by
Peter von Hess,
Benaki Museum,
Athens.
8.
Alexandros Mavrokordatos
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Alexandros Mavrokordatos was a Greek statesman and member of the Mavrocordatos family of Phanariotes. In 1812, Mavrokordatos went to the court of his uncle Jean Georges Caradja, Hospodar of Wallachia, with whom he passed into exile in the Austrian Empire, where he studied at the University of Padua. He was a member of the Filiki Eteria and was among the Phanariot Greeks who hastened to Morea on the outbreak of the War of Independence in 1821. Mavrokordatos was a wealthy, well educated man, fluent in seven languages. The Epidaurus assembly was largely Mavrokordatoss triumph as he wrote the first Greek constitution, mavorkordatos appointed Normann-Ehrenfels, formerly a captain in the Wurttemberg army his chief of staff. In 1823, Mavokordatos supported the Senate in its dispute with the Executive dominated by supporters of his rival Theodoros Kolokotronis, in 1824, Mavrokordatos welcomed Lord Bryon to Greece and tried to persuade him to lead an attack on Navpaktos. The landing of Ibrahim Pasha followed, and Mavrocordatos again joined the army, barely escaping capture in the disaster at Sphacteria, on May 9,1825, on board the ship Ares. After the fall of Missolonghi he went into retirement, until President John Capodistria made him a member of the committee for the administration of war material, after Kapodistrias murder and the resignation of his brother and successor, Augustinos Kapodistrias, Mavrocordatos became Minister of Finance. He was Vice-President of the National Assembly at Argos, and was appointed by King Otto as his Minister of Finance, and in 1833 Premier. From 1834 onwards, he was Greek envoy at Munich, Berlin, London and, after a short interlude again as Premier of Greece in 1841, going into opposition, he distinguished himself by his violent attacks on the Kolettis government. In 1854-1855 he was head of the government for a few months. He died in Aegina on 18 August 1865
Alexandros Mavrokordatos
–
Alexander Mavrocordatos, Athens, Benaki Museum.
Alexandros Mavrokordatos
–
Alexandros Mavrokordatos by
Peter von Hess.
9.
Theodoros Kolokotronis
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Theodoros Kolokotronis was a Greek general and the pre-eminent leader of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Kolokotroniss greatest success was the defeat of the Ottoman army under Mahmud Dramali Pasha at the Battle of Dervenakia in 1822, in 1825, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Greek forces in the Peloponnese. Today, Kolokotronis ranks among the most revered of the protagonists of Greeces War of Independence, Theodoros Kolokotronis was born at Ramavouni in Messenia, and was baptised in Piana, from a family of klefts, and grew up in Arcadia in the central Peloponnese where his family originated. The Kolokotroneoi were a powerful and respected clan in Arcadia in the 18th century and he was killed in 1780 in an engagement with Turkish troops, along with two of his brothers, George and Apostolis. Prior to the Greek Revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis operated as a kleft, an armatolos, as a kapos, Kolokotronis worked for the Deliyannis family. He acquired wealth by stealing sheep and marrying the daughter of a wealthy Peloponnesian notable, in 1805–1806, Ottoman attacks against the klefts forced Kolokotronis to flee to the island of Zakynthos. From his service in the British Army, he adopted his characteristic red helmet and these he tried to train and organize into something resembling a modern army. In May, he was named archistrategos or commander-in-chief and he was already 50 years old by this time, a fact which contributed to his sobriquet O Geros tou Morea or The Elder of Morea, whereby Morea was another name describing the Peloponnese. Kolokotroniss first action was the defense of Valtetsi, the village near Tripoli where his army was mustering, later, he was also the Commander of the Greek forces during the Siege of Tripolitsa. He next commanded Greek troops in the siege of the town of Nafplion. Panicked, government officials abandoned Argos and began evacuations by sea at Nafplion, only an under-strength battalion under Demetrios Ypsilantis remained to hold Larissa castle, the fortress of Argos. Kolokotronis gathered the klephts together to march to the relief of Ypsilantis and this was quite a feat in itself, considering the near-collapse of the government and the notoriously quarrelsome nature of the klephtic bands. Even the troublesome Souliotes lent a hand, the Ottoman army from the north commanded by Mahmud Dramali Pasha, after taking Corinth, had marched to the plain of Argos. The castle of Larissa was an excellent position, commanding the whole plain, to leave such a stronghold straddling Ottoman supply lines was far too dangerous. Dramali would have to reduce the fortress before moving on, scaling the cliffs, breaching the castles stout walls and overcoming its resolute defenders would be no easy task. Yet, there was one weakness Dramali was unaware of, Larissa, unlike the famous Acropolis in Athens, had no spring, unfortunately for the Greeks, it was July and no rains were falling to fill the cisterns. Ypsilantis bluffed the Ottomans as long as he could, but towards the end of the month had to sneak his men out in the middle of the night. Dramalis men plundered the castle the next day, and he was now free to march them toward the coast to resupply, ypsilantiss defense had bought Kolokotronis and the klephts valuable time
Theodoros Kolokotronis
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Theodoros Kolokotronis. Portrait by
Dionysios Tsokos
Theodoros Kolokotronis
–
Lithography of Kolokotronis by
Karl Krazeisen used for the 5000
drachma banknote
Theodoros Kolokotronis
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Plan of the
Siege of Tripolitsa. The detachments of Kolokotronis's division, which have surrounded the town are symbolized by the letter "O".
Theodoros Kolokotronis
–
The
Palamidi Castle at
Nafplion
10.
Anthimos Gazis
–
Anthimos Gazis was a Greek scholar, philosopher during the Greek Enlightenment, cartographer and one of the heroes of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. He was born in Milies in Ottoman Greece in 1758 and died in 1828 and his real name was Anastasios Gazalis. Gazis studied in Greece and then he went to Constantinople where he was ordained a priest and he became rector of the Greek Church of Vienna in 1797. In 1811 he received his Diploma from the “Philological Institute of Bucharest”, in 1813 Gazis was elected a Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. His efforts were concentrated to the development of an education system in Greece. He was the editor of the very first periodical in Greek, Hermes o Logios, in 1799, he translated and published Benjamin Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar”. Gazis published in 1800 Vienna a map of Greece and the Balkans called Pinax Geographikos tes Hellados and it is a reduced edition of the famous map of Rigas Feraios. He edited also a worldmap called Atlas e Chartes hydrogeiou, owned today by the National Library of Australia. He was a member of the Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece from November 1821, Pinax Geographikos tes Hellados Teca Digitale Ricerca – Home
Anthimos Gazis
–
Anthimos Gazis.
Anthimos Gazis
–
Publications
11.
Emmanouel Pappas
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Emmanouel Pappas, prominent member of Filiki Etaireia and leader of the Greek War of Independence in Macedonia was one of the most heroic figures of the Struggle. Pappas was born in Dovista, Serres regional unit, a village which is now named after him, being one of the founding members of Filiki Etaireia, after the outbreak of the War, he dedicated his fortune to organising and financing guerrilla troops. Quickly, the spread to Polygyros, Arnaia, Ormylia, Sithonia. At first, Kapsas, not having enough forces to advance, retreated to Vasilika, Thessaloniki near the monastery of Saint Anastasia, Kapsas chose not to leave but to fight and with 68 men he put up a desperate struggle of which none survived. His defeat, along with the repression of Karatassos revolution in Naoussa in April,1822 marked the end of the Greek war of independence in North Greece. He is considered one of the most significant members of the Greek Revolution, being proclaimed hero of the Greek nation, Greek War of Independence List of Macedonians Vakalopoulos, Apostolos E. History of Macedonia 1354–1833, Vanias Press, Vakalopoulos, Apostolos E. Histoire De La Grece Moderne, Horvath Press. The Greeks, Their Struggle For Independence”, Hellenic International Press, stratiki, Poti, “To Athanato 1821”, Stratikis Bros
Emmanouel Pappas
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Statue of Emmanouel Pappas in
Serres,
Greece.
Emmanouel Pappas
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Statue of Emmanouel Pappas in
Athens.
12.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
13.
Ottoman Empire
–
After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. Painting from 1523.
Ottoman Empire
–
Flag (1844–1923)
Ottoman Empire
–
Battle of Mohács in 1526
Ottoman Empire
–
Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha defeats the
Holy League of
Charles V under the command of
Andrea Doria at the
Battle of Preveza in 1538.
14.
Greece
–
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, historically also known as Hellas, is a country in southeastern Europe, with a population of approximately 11 million as of 2015. Athens is the capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki. Greece is strategically located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to the northeast. Greece consists of nine regions, Macedonia, Central Greece, the Peloponnese, Thessaly, Epirus, the Aegean Islands, Thrace, Crete. The Aegean Sea lies to the east of the mainland, the Ionian Sea to the west, the Cretan Sea and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin and the 11th longest coastline in the world at 13,676 km in length, featuring a vast number of islands, eighty percent of Greece is mountainous, with Mount Olympus being the highest peak at 2,918 metres. From the eighth century BC, the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as polis, which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century BC, becoming a part of the Roman Empire and its successor. The Greek Orthodox Church also shaped modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World, falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, the modern nation state of Greece emerged in 1830 following a war of independence. Greeces rich historical legacy is reflected by its 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, among the most in Europe, Greece is a democratic and developed country with an advanced high-income economy, a high quality of life, and a very high standard of living. A founding member of the United Nations, Greece was the member to join the European Communities and has been part of the Eurozone since 2001. Greeces unique cultural heritage, large industry, prominent shipping sector. It is the largest economy in the Balkans, where it is an important regional investor, the names for the nation of Greece and the Greek people differ from the names used in other languages, locations and cultures. The earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors in the southern Balkans, dated to 270,000 BC, is to be found in the Petralona cave, all three stages of the stone age are represented in Greece, for example in the Franchthi Cave. Neolithic settlements in Greece, dating from the 7th millennium BC, are the oldest in Europe by several centuries and these civilizations possessed writing, the Minoans writing in an undeciphered script known as Linear A, and the Mycenaeans in Linear B, an early form of Greek. The Mycenaeans gradually absorbed the Minoans, but collapsed violently around 1200 BC and this ushered in a period known as the Greek Dark Ages, from which written records are absent. The end of the Dark Ages is traditionally dated to 776 BC, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the foundational texts of Western literature, are believed to have been composed by Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. With the end of the Dark Ages, there emerged various kingdoms and city-states across the Greek peninsula, in 508 BC, Cleisthenes instituted the worlds first democratic system of government in Athens
Greece
–
Fresco displaying the Minoan ritual of "bull leaping", found in
Knossos,
Crete.
Greece
–
Flag
Greece
–
The
Lion Gate,
Mycenae
Greece
–
The
Parthenon on the
Acropolis of Athens is one of the best known symbols of
classical Greece.
15.
Phanariot Greeks
–
Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariotes were aware of their Hellenism, according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos Philotheou Parerga, We are a race completely Hellenic. They emerged as a class of moneyed Greek merchants during the half of the 16th century. They dominated the administration of the patriarchate, often intervening in the selection of hierarchs, many members of Phanariot families occupied high political and administrative posts in the Ottoman Empire. During the war, Phanariotes influenced decisions by the Greek National Assembly, between 1711–1716 and 1821, a number of Phanariotes were appointed Hospodars in the Danubian Principalities, the period is known as the Phanariote epoch in Romanian history. Phanar was repopulated with Greeks from Mouchlion in the Peloponnese and, after 1461, the roots of Greek ascendancy can be traced to the Ottoman need for skilled, educated negotiators as their empire declined and they relied on treaties rather than force. With the Ottomans traditionally ignoring Western European languages and cultures, officials were at a loss, the Porte assigned those tasks to the Greeks, who had a long mercantile and educational tradition and the necessary skills. The Phanariotes, Greek and Hellenized families primarily from Constantinople, occupied high posts as secretaries, as a result of Phanariote and ecclesiastical administration, the Greeks expanded their influence in the 18th-century empire while retaining their Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism. This had not always been the case in the Ottoman realm, a Slavic presence in Ottoman administration gradually became hazardous for its rulers, since the Slavs tended to support Habsburg armies during the Great Turkish War. By the 17th century the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople was the religious and administrative ruler of the empires Orthodox subjects, all formerly-independent Orthodox patriarchates, including the Serbian Patriarchate renewed in 1557, came under the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the Greek patriarchs were drawn from the Phanariotes, two Greek social groups emerged, challenging the leadership of the Greek Church, the Phanariotes in Constantinople and the local notables in the Helladic provinces. Greek merchants and clergy of Byzantine aristocratic origin, who acquired economic and political influence and were known as Phanariotes. The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged Greek renaissance projects centering on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch and his church dignitaries constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks in the Ottoman state, the wealth of the extensive Greek merchant class provided the material basis for the intellectual revival featured in Greek life for more than half a century before 1821. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools, on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, the three most important centres of Greek learning were in the commercial centres of Chios, Smyrna and Aivali. The first Greek millionaire of the Ottoman era was Michael Şeytanoğlu Kantakouzenos, during the 18th century, the Phanariotes were a hereditary clerical−aristocratic group who managed the affairs of the patriarchate and the dominant political power of the Ottoman Greek community. They became a significant political factor in the empire and, as agents, played a role in the affairs of Great Britain, France. They engaged in trade, controlling the crucial wheat trade on the Black Sea. The Phanariotes expanded their activities into the Kingdom of Hungary
Phanariot Greeks
–
Emblem of the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Phanariot Greeks
–
Engraving of Greek merchant by
Cesare Vecellio (16th century).
Phanariot Greeks
–
Constantine Mavrocordatos.
Phanariot Greeks
–
Stavropoleos Church, built in
Bucharest by
Nicholas Mavrocordatos, in an 1868
lithograph by
Amedeo Preziosi.
16.
Russian Empire
–
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
Russian Empire
–
Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia the Russian Empire in 1721, and himself its first emperor. He instituted the
sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power.
Russian Empire
–
Flag
Russian Empire
–
Empress
Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, continued the empire's expansion and modernization. Considering herself an
enlightened absolutist, she played a key role in the
Russian Enlightenment.
Russian Empire
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Catherine II Sestroretsk Rouble (1771) is made of solid copper measuring 77 millimetres (3 3 ⁄ 100 in) (diameter), 26 millimetres (1 1 ⁄ 50 in) (thickness), and weighs 1.022 kg (2.25 lb). It is the largest copper coin ever issued.
17.
Serbs
–
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group that formed in the Balkans. The majority of Serbs inhabit the state of Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. They form significant minorities in Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia, there is a large Serb diaspora in Western Europe, and outside Europe there are significant communities in North America and Australia. The Serbs share many traits with the rest of the peoples of Southeast Europe. They are predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christians by religion, the Serbian language is official in Serbia, co-official in Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is spoken by the majority in Montenegro. The modern identity of Serbs is rooted in Eastern Orthodoxy and traditions, in the 19th century, the Serbian national identity was manifested, with awareness of history and tradition, medieval heritage, cultural unity, despite living under different empires. When the Principality of Serbia gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, Orthodoxy became crucial in defining the national identity, instead of language which was shared by other South Slavs. The tradition of slava, the family saint feast day, is an important ethnic marker of Serb identity, the origin of the ethnonym is unclear. Serbia has among the tallest people in the world, after Montenegro and Netherlands, Slavs invaded and settled the Balkans in the 6th and 7th centuries. Up until the late 560s their activity was raiding, crossing from the Danube, the Danube and Sava frontier was overwhelmed by large-scale Slavic settlement in the late 6th and early 7th century. What is today central Serbia was an important geo-strategical province, through which the Via Militaris crossed and this area was frequently intruded by barbarians in the 5th and 6th centuries. The numerous Slavs mixed with and assimilated the descendants of the indigenous population, numerous small Serbian states were created, located in modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. With the decline of the Serbian state of Duklja in the late 11th century, Raška separated from it, prince Stefan Nemanja conquered the neighbouring territories of Kosovo, Duklja and Zachlumia. The Nemanjić dynasty ruled over Serbia until the 14th century, over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire, the medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. Ruling as Emperor from 1346, his territory included Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, when Dušan died, his son Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo on the plain of Kosovo Polje, both Lazar and Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting
Serbs
Serbs
–
The 1389
Battle of Kosovo is considered as one of the most influential events in the history of the Serbs.
Serbs
–
Serbian Army during its retreat towards Albania; more than a million Serbs died during
World War I.
Serbs
–
Serbian civilians interned in
Jasenovac concentration camp, 1942
18.
Hretska Ploshcha
–
Hretska Square, or Hretska Ploshcha is one of the main squares of Odessa. It is on the crossing of Hretska Street and Oleksandrivskyi Prospekt, at different times it has been called Aleksandrovskaya or Martynovskogo. This is one of the biggest squares of Odessa and it is rectangular, with the oval building of Mayurov House in the center, also with semi-round houses on the sides. This is the oldest square in Odessa and it survived from the Market square of the town of Khadzhibey. Down by Hretska Street, between Hretska Ploshcha and Katerynynska Street, was a Muslim cemetery, after the capture of the Khadzhibey Fortress the square was free of buildings. The building construction started from the close to Hretska Street. The buildings were mainly by Greeks in Ukraine of the families Ioannopulos, Serafinos, Papakhadzhis, Rallis. The Greek secret society Filiki Eteria was in one of the buildings on the square since 1814, the main market of the city was in the square for a long time. The garden square was in the centre of the square until the Greek Orthodox church was built, but the church building was not finished, and its foundations were re-used for building Mayurov House, also known as the Roundhouse. The last construction was a mall, in the Soviet period the square was an important transport centre. Here was the station, also the bus terminal. The semi-round house which separated the square from the Bunina Street, was demolished during World War II, the place was used as a garden in the 1950s and 1960s, but later the modern restaurant building was constructed. Mayurov House was demolished in 1996 and then rebuilt with significant changes, Греческая площадь Про Греческую площадь и не только Греческая площадь Греческая площадь Из воспоминаний об Одессе
Hretska Ploshcha
–
Hretska Ploshcha
Hretska Ploshcha
–
House of Filiki Eteria
19.
Freemasonry
–
The degrees of freemasonry retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, Journeyman or fellow, and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by Craft Freemasonry, members of these organisations are known as Freemasons or Masons. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, the basic, local organisational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge. The Lodges are usually supervised and governed at the level by a Grand Lodge or Grand Orient. There is no international, worldwide Grand Lodge that supervises all of Freemasonry, each Grand Lodge is independent, modern Freemasonry broadly consists of two main recognition groups. Continental Freemasonry is now the term for the liberal jurisdictions who have removed some, or all. The Masonic Lodge is the organisational unit of Freemasonry. The Lodge meets regularly to conduct the formal business of any small organisation. In addition to business, the meeting may perform a ceremony to confer a Masonic degree or receive a lecture, at the conclusion of the meeting, the Lodge might adjourn for a formal dinner, or festive board, sometimes involving toasting and song. The bulk of Masonic ritual consists of degree ceremonies, candidates for Freemasonry are progressively initiated into Freemasonry, first in the degree of Entered Apprentice. Some time later, in a ceremony, they will be passed to the degree of Fellowcraft. In all of ceremonies, the candidate is entrusted with passwords, signs. Another ceremony is the installation of the Master and officers of the Lodge. In some jurisdictions Installed Master is valued as a separate rank, in other jurisdictions, the grade is not recognised, and no inner ceremony conveys new secrets during the installation of a new Master of the Lodge. Most Lodges have some sort of calendar, allowing Masons. Often coupled with events is the obligation placed on every Mason to contribute to charity. This occurs at both Lodge and Grand Lodge level, Masonic charities contribute to many fields from education to disaster relief. These private local Lodges form the backbone of Freemasonry, and a Freemason will necessarily have been initiated into one of these, there also exist specialist Lodges where Masons meet to celebrate anything from sport to Masonic research
Freemasonry
–
Lodge in Palazzo Roffia,
Florence set out for French (Moderns) ritual
Freemasonry
–
The Masonic
Square and Compasses. (Found with or without the letter
G)
Freemasonry
–
Freemasons Hall, London, home of the
United Grand Lodge of England
Freemasonry
–
Freemasons' Hall, London, c. 1809
20.
Arta (regional unit)
–
Arta is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the Epirus region and its capital is the town of Arta. The regional unit of Arta is located north of the Ambracian Gulf, the main mountain ranges are the Athamanika in the northeast, the Pindus in the east, and Valtou in the southeast. Only one mountain road links Arta with the Pineios valley and Thessaly, there are low-lying agricultural plains in the west. Arta borders on the units of Preveza in the west, Ioannina to the north, Trikala in the east, Karditsa to the east. The main rivers are the Acheloos in the east, the Arachthos in the centre, most of the population lives in the west, in the Arachthos valley, south and east of Arta. The Athamanika and Valtou mountains are the least populated, the regional unit Arta is subdivided into 4 municipalities. These are, Arta Central Tzoumerka Georgios Karaiskakis Nikolaos Skoufas Arta was established as a prefecture in 1882, as a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Arta was created out of the former prefecture Arta. The prefecture had the territory as the present regional unit. At the same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below, Arta was one of the capitals of the Despotate of Epirus in the late Middle Ages. The territory of the unit was ceded to Greece in 1881 by the Ottoman Empire, along with Thessaly. A famous landmark of Arta is the Old Bridge over the Arachthos river, as one of the first completed sections of the future Ionia Odos linking Ioannina with Patras and Kalamata, the motorway bypass of the GR-5 around Arta was opened in 1997. The main highways are, Greek National Road 5/E55, S, Cen
Arta (regional unit)
–
Images of regional unit
Arta (regional unit)
–
Municipalities of Arta
21.
Patmos
–
Patmos is a small Greek island in the Aegean Sea, most famous for being the location of both the vision of and the writing of the Christian Bibles Book of Revelation. One of the northernmost islands of the Dodecanese complex, it has a population of 2,998, the highest point is Profitis Ilias,269 metres above sea level. It is part of the Kalymnos regional unit, Patmos main communities are Chora, and Skala, the only commercial port. Other settlements are Grikou and Kampos, the churches and communities on Patmos are of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. The mayor of Patmos is Gregory Stoikos, Patmos is mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The books introduction states that its author, John, was on Patmos when he was given a vision from Jesus, Early Christian tradition identified this writer as John the Apostle, though some modern scholars are uncertain, and thus call him the less specific John of Patmos. Because of the Book of Revelation, Patmos has a history as a destination for Christian pilgrimage. Visitors can see the cave where John is said to have received his Revelation, in 1999, the islands historic center Chora, along with the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian and the Cave of the Apocalypse, were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The monastery was founded by Saint Christodulos, Patmos is also home to the Patmian School, a notable Greek seminary. Patmos is seldom mentioned by ancient writers, therefore, very little can be conjectured about the earliest inhabitants. In the Classical period, the Patmians prefer to identify themselves as Dorians descending from the families of Argos, Sparta and Epidaurus, further mingling with people of Ionian ancestry. During the 3rd century BC, in the Hellenistic period, the settlement of Patmos acquired the form of an acropolis with an improved defence through a fortification wall, Patmos is mentioned in the Christian scriptural Bible Book of Revelation. The books introduction states that its author, John, was on Patmos when he was given a vision from Jesus, Early Christian tradition identified this writer John of Patmos as John the Apostle. As such, Patmos is a destination for Christian pilgrimage, visitors can see the cave where John is said to have received his Revelation, and several monasteries on the island are dedicated to Saint John. After the death of John of Patmos, possibly around 100, among these was a Grand Royal Basilica in honour of Saint John, built c. 300–350 at the location where the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian stands today, Early Christian life on Patmos, however, barely survived Muslim raids from the 7th to the 9th century. During this period, the Grand Basilica was destroyed, in the 11th century, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos gave Christodoulos the complete authority over the island of Patmos, as well as the permission to build a monastery on the island. The construction of the started in 1101
Patmos
–
Chora and the Castle of Patmos
Patmos
–
John the Apostle on Patmos by
Jacopo Vignali.
Patmos
–
View of the port (Skala)
Patmos
–
The beach of Meloi, within walking distance of Skala
22.
Ioannina
–
Ioannina, often called Yannena within Greece, is the capital and largest city of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. Its populations is 112,486, according to 2011 census and it lies at an elevation of approximately 500 metres above sea level, on the western shore of lake Pamvotis. It is the capital of Ioannina regional unit and the region of Epirus, Ioannina is located 450 km northwest of Athens,290 kilometres southwest of Thessaloniki and 80 km east of the port of Igoumenitsa in the Ionian Sea. It was part of the Despotate of Epirus from 1358 to 1416, between 1430 and 1868 the city was the administrative center of the Pashalik of Yanina. In the period between the 18th and 19th centuries, the city was a center of the modern Greek Enlightenment. Ioannina joined Greece in 1913 following the Balkan Wars, the citys emblem consists of the portrait of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian crowned by a stylized depiction of the nearby ancient theater of Dodona. The citys formal name, Ioannina, means Town of John in Greek, the establishment of a Monastery of Saint John the Baptist on the north-eastern acropolis of the castle likely marks the origin of the towns name. There are two forms in Greek, Ioannina being the formal and historical name, while the colloquial. The demotic form also corresponds to those in the neighbouring languages, the first indications of human existence in Ioannina basin are dated back to the Paleolithic period as testified by findings in the cavern of Kastritsa. During classical antiquity the basin was inhabited by the Molossians and four of their settlements have been identified there, despite the extensive destruction suffered in Molossia during the Roman conquest of 167 BC, settlement continued in the basin albeit no longer in an urban pattern. However, it is not until 879 AD that the name Ioannina was used for the first time in the Acts of the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 879, which refer to one Zacharias, Bishop of Ioannine. The name Ioannina was also mentioned as a see, under the self-governing Archbishopric of Ohrid in 1020 in an imperial document by Basil II. The city was conquered in 1082 by the Normans under the leadership of Bohemond of Taranto, Alexios I nonetheless recovered the city in 1108. In the 13th century, the creation of the Despotate of Epirus favored Ioannina, which became its second most important city after its capital, Arta, and the capital of a thema of Ioannina. The city was besieged unsuccessfully by an army from the restored Byzantine Empire, following the assassination of the last Komnenos despot by his nephew in 1318, the citizens of Ioannina broke from the despotate and declared their allegiance to the Byzantine Empire. In the same year, Ioannina became tributary to the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, the city was elevated to a metropolitan bishopric, and in 1319 Andronikos II issued a chrysobull conceding wide-ranging autonomy and various privileges and exemptions on its inhabitants. In 1337–1340, Andronikos III Palaiologos, aided by John Kantakouzenos, dissolved the Despotate of Epirus and Ioannina became once again part of the Byzantine Empire. A few years later, however, it fell to the Serbs, the citys privileges were also honored by the Serbs, and as a result Ioannina rose to economic and cultural prominence over the next century
Ioannina
–
View of
Lake Pamvotis and the Northeastern citadel of the castle with the Aslan Pasha Mosque.
Ioannina
–
Seal
Ioannina
–
The main entrance to the medieval fortress of the city.
23.
Carbonarism
–
The Carbonari was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Spain, Portugal. Although their goals often had a patriotic and liberal basis, they lacked a clear political agenda. They were a focus for those unhappy with the political situation in Italy following 1815. The chief purpose was to defeat tyranny and to establish constitutional government, though contributing some service to the cause of Italian unity, historians such as Cornelia Shiver doubt that their achievements were proportional to their pretensions. In the north of Italy other groups, such as the Adelfia, the Carbonari were a secret society divided into small covert cells scattered across Italy. Although agendas varied, evidence suggests that regional variations, most of the membership agreed upon the creation of a liberal. The Carbonari were anti-clerical in both their philosophy and programme, the Papal constitution Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo and the encyclical Qui pluribus were directed against them. The controversial document Alta Vendita, which called for a liberal or modernist takeover of the Catholic Church, was attributed to the Sicilian Carbonari, although it is not clear where they were originally established, they first came to prominence in the Kingdom of Naples during the Napoleonic wars. They first became influential in the Kingdom of Naples and in the Papal States, the Carbonari were probably an offshoot of the Freemasons, from whom they differed in important particulars, and first began to assume importance in southern Italy during the Napoleonic wars. As a secret society that was targeted for suppression by conservative governments. There were special ceremonies to initiate the members, the aim of the Carbonari was the creation of a constitutional monarchy or a republic, they wanted also to defend the rights of common people against all forms of absolutism. Carbonari, to achieve their purpose, talked of fomenting armed revolts, the membership was separated into two classes—apprentice and master. There were two ways to become a master, through serving as an apprentice for at least six months or by already being a Freemason upon entry and their initiation rituals were structured around the trade of charcoal-selling, suiting their name. In 1814 the Carbonari wanted to obtain a constitution for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by force, the Bourbon king, Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, was opposed to them. The Bonapartist Joachim Murat had wanted to create a united and independent Italy, in 1815 Ferdinand I found his kingdom swarming with them. Society in the Regno comprised nobles, officers of the army, small landlords, government officials, peasants and priests, society was dominated by the Papacy. The Carbonari first arose during the resistance to the French occupation, notably under Joachim Murat, however, once the wars ended, they became a nationalist organisation with a marked anti-Austrian tendency and were instrumental in organising revolutions in Italy in 1820–1821 and 1831
Carbonarism
–
Carboneria
24.
Danubian Principalities
–
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common geopolitical situation, the term was largely used then by foreign political circles and public opinion until the union of the two Principalities. Alongside Transylvania, the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia became the basis for the Kingdom of Romania, and by extension the modern Romanian nation-state. In a wider context, the concept may also apply to the Principality of Serbia as one of The Principalities of the Danube which came under the suzerainty of the Porte from 1817, the two emerged as vassals of the Hungarian Crown, and remained so until their independence. The aftermath of Russian defeat in 1856 brought forth a period of common tutelage of the Ottomans, a Kingdom of Romania emerged in 1881. Boyar History of Romania Hospodar List of rulers of Moldavia List of rulers of Wallachia Romanian Old Kingdom United Principalities
Danubian Principalities
–
The Principalities of
Moldavia and
Wallachia in 1786, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi Zannoni.
Danubian Principalities
–
The Principalities of the Danube wider concept- Moldavia, Wallachia and Serbia
Danubian Principalities
–
Royal Full Achievement of Arms (coat of arms) of the
Rosetti (
Rossetti) family; motto: VERENO AUT NUBILO SOSPES
Danubian Principalities
–
Theodor Aman 's painting The Union of the Principalities.
25.
Moldavia
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Moldavia is a historical region, and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river. The western half of Moldavia is now part of Romania, the eastern side belongs to the Republic of Moldova, the original and short-lived reference to the region was Bogdania, after Bogdan I, the founding figure of the principality. Dragoș was accompanied by his female hound called Molda, when reached the shores of an unfamiliar river. The dogs name would have given to the river and extended to the country. The old German Molde, meaning open-pit mine the Gothic Mulda meaning dust, dirt, a Slavic etymology, marking the end of one Slavic genitive form, denoting ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns. In several early references, Moldavia is rendered under the composite form Moldo-Wallachia, Ottoman Turkish references to Moldavia included Boğdan Iflak and Boğdan. See also names in other languages, the name of the region in other languages include French, Moldavie, German, Moldau, Hungarian, Moldva, Russian, Молдавия, Moldaviya, Turkish, Boğdan Prensliği, Greek, Μολδαβία. The inhabitants of Moldova were Christians, archaeological works revealed the remains of a Christian necropolis at Mihălășeni, Botoșani county, from the 5th century. The place of worship, and the tombs had Christian characteristics, the place of worship had a rectangular form with sides of 8 and 7 meters. Similar necropolis and place of worship were found at Nicolina, in Iași The Bolohoveni, the chronicle shows that this land is bordered on the principalities of Halych, Volhynia and Kiev. Archaeological research also identified the location of 13th-century fortified settlements in this region, Alexandru V. Boldur identified Voscodavie, Voscodavti, Voloscovti, Volcovti, Volosovca and their other towns and villages between the middle course of the rivers Nistru/Dniester and Nipru/Dnieper. The Bolohoveni disappeared from chronicles after their defeat in 1257 by Daniil Romanovichs troops, in the early 13th century, the Brodniks, a possible Slavic–Vlach vassal state of Halych, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the regions territory. On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a Viking by the name of Rodfos was killed in the area by Vlachs who supposedly betrayed him. In 1164, the future Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, was prisoner by Vlach shepherds around the same region. In 1342 and 1345, the Hungarians were victorious in a battle against Tatar-Mongols, the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz mentioned Moldavians as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under King Władysław I, against the Margraviate of Brandenburg. In 1353, Dragoș, mentioned as a Vlach Knyaz in Maramureș, was sent by Louis I to establish a line of defense against the Golden Horde forces of Mongols on the Siret River and this expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, centered around Baia. His realm extended north to the Cheremosh River, while the part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatar Mongols. After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavias seat to Siret, disfavored by the brief union of Angevin Poland and Hungary, Bogdans successor Lațcu accepted conversion to Roman Catholicism around 1370, but his gesture was to remain without consequences
Moldavia
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Neamț Citadel
Moldavia
Moldavia
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Căpriana Monastery (1429)
Moldavia
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Suceava Seat Fortress
26.
Wallachia
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Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians, Wallachia is traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia and Oltenia. Wallachia as a whole is referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections. In 1417, Wallachia accepted the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, in 1859, Wallachia united with Moldavia to form the United Principalities, which adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. In the Early Middle Ages, in Slavonic texts, the name of Zemli Ungro-Vlahiskoi was also used as a designation for its location, official designations of the state were Muntenia and Țara Românească. The traditional Hungarian name for Wallachia is Havasalföld, or literally Snowy Lowlands, in Ottoman Turkish, the term Eflâk Prensliği, or simply Eflâk افلاق, appears. Mavrovlachi is another name of the Balkan Vlachs or Aromanians, both names could come from a confusion, Kara Iflak, the Turkish name of Wallachia, means land of Wallachians, but later kara was misconstrued as kara. Later, the Turks renamed Moldavia and Wallachia as Kara Iflak and Ak Iflak according to the Turkish cardinal points symbolism, north is symbolized by black, and west is symbolized by white. Ardeal/Erdel was the name of Transylvania, and Kara Iflak, Northern Wallachia was either Wallachia, north of the Balkan territories inhabited by Vlachs, the second explanation is typologically better. In the Second Dacian War western Oltenia became part of the Roman province of Dacia, the Roman limes was initially built along the Olt River, before being moved slightly to the east in the 2nd century—during which time it stretched from the Danube up to Rucăr in the Carpathians. The Roman line fell back to the Olt in 245 and, in 271, in 328, the Romans built a bridge between Sucidava and Oescus which indicates that there was a significant trade with the peoples north of the Danube. A short period of Roman rule in the area is attested under Emperor Constantine I, the period of Goth rule ended when the Huns arrived in the Pannonian Plain and, under Attila, attacked and destroyed some 170 settlements on both sides of the Danube. Wallachia was under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681, in 1241, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Cuman domination was ended—a direct Mongol rule over Wallachia was not attested, but it remains probable. His successor was his brother Bărbat.1334, Basarab was succeeded by Nicolae Alexandru, followed by Vladislav I. Under Radu I and his successor Dan I, the realms in Transylvania, as the entire Balkan Peninsula became an integral part of the growing Ottoman Empire, Wallachia became engaged in frequent confrontations in the final years of Mircea the Elders reign. Mircea initially defeated the Ottomans in several battles, driving away from Dobruja and briefly extending his rule to the Danube Delta, Dobruja. He swung between alliances with Sigismund of Hungary and Jagiellon Poland, and accepted a treaty with the Ottomans in 1417, after Mehmed I took control of Turnu Măgurele. The two ports remained part of the Ottoman state, with interruptions, until 1829
Wallachia
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The
Battle of Posada in the
Chronicon Pictum
Wallachia
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Flag
Wallachia
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Wallachia as pictured in the 1493
Nuremberg Chronicle
Wallachia
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Fighting between Michael the Brave and the Ottomans in
Giurgiu, 1595
27.
Michael Soutzos
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Michael Soutzos, was a member of the Soutzos family of Phanariotes, he was the nephew of Mihai Suțu, he was in turn a Prince of Moldavia, between 12 June 1819 and 29 March 1821. He was initiated into Filiki Eteria, he supported the Greek revolution in Moldavia and Wallachia and after the creation of the Greek state and he was born in Istanbul in 1778 or according to other sources in 1784. His parents were the Phanariot Grigorios Soutsos and Sevasti Tedeskou, in the same year, thanks to his knowledge of languages and the favor of his father in law, he was appointed to the position of the Grand Interpreter. In 1819 he was placed by the sultan as ruler of Moldavia and he also had a position in the council of Sultan Mahmud II and he was one of the consultants that in 1820 supported the rebellion of Ali Pasha. In November 1820 he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria by Iakovos Rizos Neroulos, at first, he moved at Skouleni and then in Chișinău of Russian Empire. During the same period the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople excommunicated him, thereafter, he tried to escape to Switzerland through Austrian Empire but there he was arrested and was imprisoned for almost four years. After his release, he fled first to Italy and then to Switzerland, there, he was hosted in Geneva by the Swiss Philhellene Jean-Gabriel Eynard. During his stay in Europe, he arranged for the collection and distribution of money in favor of the Greek War of Independence, before the undertaking of the governance of Greece by Ioannis Kapodistrias, Soutsos was one of the possible candidates to occupy this position. During Kapodistrias governance, he was appointed as representative of Greece to France, later, he was appointed by Otto of Greece as Greek ambassador in France, Russian Empire, Sweden and Denmark. In 1839 he moved permanently in Athens and he served until 1840 as Member of the Council of the State while he was one of the first settlers of the old Athenian neighborhood Vathi or Vatheia and he died on June 12th 1864 in Athens. From his marriage to Loxandra Karatza, he had two children, Gregorios Soutsos and Ioannis Soutsos
Michael Soutzos
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Michael Soutzos as hospodar of Moldavia
28.
Phanariotes
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Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariotes were aware of their Hellenism, according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos Philotheou Parerga, We are a race completely Hellenic. They emerged as a class of moneyed Greek merchants during the half of the 16th century. They dominated the administration of the patriarchate, often intervening in the selection of hierarchs, many members of Phanariot families occupied high political and administrative posts in the Ottoman Empire. During the war, Phanariotes influenced decisions by the Greek National Assembly, between 1711–1716 and 1821, a number of Phanariotes were appointed Hospodars in the Danubian Principalities, the period is known as the Phanariote epoch in Romanian history. Phanar was repopulated with Greeks from Mouchlion in the Peloponnese and, after 1461, the roots of Greek ascendancy can be traced to the Ottoman need for skilled, educated negotiators as their empire declined and they relied on treaties rather than force. With the Ottomans traditionally ignoring Western European languages and cultures, officials were at a loss, the Porte assigned those tasks to the Greeks, who had a long mercantile and educational tradition and the necessary skills. The Phanariotes, Greek and Hellenized families primarily from Constantinople, occupied high posts as secretaries, as a result of Phanariote and ecclesiastical administration, the Greeks expanded their influence in the 18th-century empire while retaining their Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism. This had not always been the case in the Ottoman realm, a Slavic presence in Ottoman administration gradually became hazardous for its rulers, since the Slavs tended to support Habsburg armies during the Great Turkish War. By the 17th century the Greek Patriarch of Constantinople was the religious and administrative ruler of the empires Orthodox subjects, all formerly-independent Orthodox patriarchates, including the Serbian Patriarchate renewed in 1557, came under the authority of the Greek Orthodox Church. Most of the Greek patriarchs were drawn from the Phanariotes, two Greek social groups emerged, challenging the leadership of the Greek Church, the Phanariotes in Constantinople and the local notables in the Helladic provinces. Greek merchants and clergy of Byzantine aristocratic origin, who acquired economic and political influence and were known as Phanariotes. The position of the Patriarchate in the Ottoman state encouraged Greek renaissance projects centering on the resurrection and revitalization of the Byzantine Empire. The Patriarch and his church dignitaries constituted the first centre of power for the Greeks in the Ottoman state, the wealth of the extensive Greek merchant class provided the material basis for the intellectual revival featured in Greek life for more than half a century before 1821. Greek merchants endowed libraries and schools, on the eve of the Greek War of Independence, the three most important centres of Greek learning were in the commercial centres of Chios, Smyrna and Aivali. The first Greek millionaire of the Ottoman era was Michael Şeytanoğlu Kantakouzenos, during the 18th century, the Phanariotes were a hereditary clerical−aristocratic group who managed the affairs of the patriarchate and the dominant political power of the Ottoman Greek community. They became a significant political factor in the empire and, as agents, played a role in the affairs of Great Britain, France. They engaged in trade, controlling the crucial wheat trade on the Black Sea. The Phanariotes expanded their activities into the Kingdom of Hungary
Phanariotes
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Emblem of the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
Phanariotes
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Engraving of Greek merchant by
Cesare Vecellio (16th century).
Phanariotes
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Constantine Mavrocordatos.
Phanariotes
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Stavropoleos Church, built in
Bucharest by
Nicholas Mavrocordatos, in an 1868
lithograph by
Amedeo Preziosi.
29.
Serbian Revolution
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The first part of the period, from 1804 to 1815, was marked by a violent struggle for independence from the Ottoman Empire with two armed uprisings taking place, ending with a ceasefire. The adoption of the first written Constitution in 1835 abolished feudalism and serfdom, the term Serbian Revolution was coined by a German academic historiographer, Leopold von Ranke, in his book Die Serbische Revolution, published in 1829. These events marked the foundation of modern Serbia and it called for national unity, drawing on Serbian history to demand the freedom of religion and formal, written rule of law, both of which the Ottoman Empire had failed to provide. It also called on Serbs to stop paying taxes to the Porte, in 1830 and again in 1833, Serbia was recognized as an autonomous principality, with hereditary princes paying annual tribute to the Porte. Finally, de facto independence came in 1868, with the withdrawal of Ottoman garrisons from the principality, during the Austrian occupation of Serbia, many Serbs served as soldiers and officers in Habsburg armies, where they acquired knowledge about military tactics, organization and weapons. Others were employed in administrative offices in Hungary or in the occupied zone and they began to travel in search of trade and education, and were exposed to European ideas about secular society, politics, law and philosophy, including both rationalism and Romanticism. There they met with the values of the French Revolution, which affect a lot of Serbian merchants. There was an active Serbian community in southern Habsburg Empire, from where ideas made their way southwards, another role model was the Russian Empire, the only independent Slavic and Orthodox country, which had recently reformed itself and was now a serious menace to the Turks. The Russian experience implied hope for Serbia, other Serbian thinkers found strengths in the Serbian nation itself. Two top Serbian scholars were influenced by Western learning to turn their attention to Serbias own language, one was Dositej Obradović, a former priest who left for Western Europe. Shocked that his people had no modern secular literature, he assembled grammars and dictionaries to create a modern Serbian language, wrote some books himself, others followed his lead and revived tales of Serbias medieval glory. He later became the first Minister of Education of modern Serbia, the second figure was Vuk Karadžić. Vuk was less influenced by Enlightenment rationalism like Dositej Obradović and more by Romanticism which romanticized rural, Vuk collected and published Serbian epic poetry, work that helped to build Serbian awareness of a common identity based in shared customs and shared history. This kind of linguistic and cultural self-awareness was a feature of German nationalism in this period. During almost 5-10 years of the First Serbian Uprising, Serbia perceived itself as an independent state for the first time after 300 years of Ottoman, encouraged by the Russian Empire, the demands for self-government within Ottoman Empire in 1804 evolved into a war for independence by 1807. Combining patriarchal peasant democracy with modern national goals the Serbian revolution was attracting thousands of volunteers among the Serbs from across the Balkans, the Serbian Revolution ultimately became a symbol of the nation-building process in the Balkans, provoking peasant unrests among the Christians in both Greece and Bulgaria. Following the successful siege with 25,000 men, on 8 January 1807 the charismatic leader of the revolt Karađorđe Petrović proclaimed Belgrade the capital of Serbia. Serbs responded to the Ottoman brutalities by establishing its separate institutions, Governing Council, the Great Academy, Karađorđe and other revolutionary leaders sent their children to the Great Academy, which had among its students also Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, the famous reformer of the Serbian alphabet
Serbian Revolution
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Battle of Mišar (1806), painting by Afanasij Šeloumov
Serbian Revolution
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Karađorđe Petrović (Black George) leader of the
First Serbian Uprising.
Serbian Revolution
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The Skull Tower, built by Ottomans near
Niš, 1809. Made out of Serbian revolutionairies' skulls.
Serbian Revolution
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Miloš Obrenović, leader of the
Second Serbian Uprising and the first
Prince of Serbia
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