Rigas Feraios
Encyclopedia
Rigas Feraios or Rigas Velestinlis (or Rhegas Velestinles) ' onMouseout='HidePop("32047")' href="/topics/Serbian_language">Serbian
: Рига од Фере, Riga od Fere, rǐːga ɔd fɛ̂rɛː; 1757 – June 13, 1798) was a Greek writer and revolutionary of Aromanian origin, active in the Modern Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, a victim of Balkan uprising against the Ottoman Empire
and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence
.
, Thessaly
, in Greece
(then in the Ottoman Empire
) - near ancient Pherae
. From the ancient name of "Pherae" he was at some time given the nickname Pheraeos or Feraios, but he does not seem ever to have used this name himself. He is sometimes described as being of Aromanian
ancestry, but according to Peter Mackridge "there is no sure evidence to support this". He was educated at the school of Ampelakia, Larissa
.
He became a teacher in the village of Kissos
, and he fought the local Ottoman presence. At the age of twenty he killed an important Ottoman figure, and fled to the uplands of Mount Olympus
, where he enlisted in a band of soldiers led by Spiros Zeras.
He later went to the monastic community of Mount Athos
, where he was received by Cosmas, hegumen
of the Vatopedi monastery; from there to Constantinople
(Istanbul
), where he became a secretary to the Phanariote
Alexander Ypsilantis (1725-1805)
.
Arriving in Bucharest
, the capital of Ottoman Wallachia
, Rhegas returned to school, learned several languages and eventually became a clerk for the Wallachian Prince Nicholas Mavrogenes. When the Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792)
broke out, he was charged with the inspection of the troops in the city of Craiova
.
Here he entered into friendly relations with an Ottoman officer named Osman Pazvantoğlu
, afterwards the rebellious Pasha
of Vidin
, whose life he saved from the vengeance of Mavrogenes. He learned about the French Revolution
, and came to believe something similar could occur in the Balkans
, resulting in self-determination for the Christian subjects of the Ottomans; he developed support for an uprising by meeting Greek bishop
s and guerrilla
leaders.
After the death of his patron Rhegas returned to Bucharest to serve for some time as dragoman
at the French
consulate
. At this time he wrote his famous Greek
version of La Marseillaise
, the anthem of French revolutionaries
, a version familiar through Lord Byron
's paraphrase as "sons of the Greeks
, arise".
, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire
and home to a large Greek community, as part of an effort to ask the French general Napoleon Bonaparte
for assistance and support. While in the city, he edited a Greek-language newspaper, Ephemeris (i.e. Daily), and published a proposed political map of Great Greece which included Constantinople and many other places, including a large number of places where Greeks were in the minority (such as Constantinople).
He printed pamphlets based on the principles of the French Revolution, including Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
and New Political Constitution
of the Inhabitants of Rumeli
, Asia Minor
, the Islands of the Aegean
, and the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
— these he intended to distribute in an effort to stimulate a Pan-Balkan uprising
against the Ottomans.
He also published Greek translations of three stories by Retif de la Bretonne and many other foreign works, and he collected his poems in a manuscript
(posthumously printed in Iaşi
, 1814).
He entered into communication with general Napoleon Bonaparte, to whom he sent a snuff-box
made of the root of a Bay Laurel
taken from a ruined temple of Apollo
, and eventually he set out with a view to meeting the general of the Army of Italy
in Venice
. While traveling there, he was betrayed by Demetrios Oikonomos Kozanites, a Greek businessman, had his papers confiscated, and was arrested at Trieste
by the Austrian authorities (an ally of the Ottoman Empire, Austria was concerned the French Revolution might provoke similar upheavals in its realm and later formed the Holy Alliance
).
He was handed over with his accomplices to the Ottoman governor of Belgrade
, where he was imprisoned and tortured. From Belgrade, he was to be sent to Constantinople to be sentenced by Sultan
Selim III
. While in transit, he and his five collaborators were strangled to prevent their being rescued by Rhegas's friend Osman Pazvantoğlu
. Their bodies were thrown into the Danube River.
His last words
are reported as being: "I have sown a rich seed; the hour is coming when my country will reap its glorious fruits".
grew sharper in the tumultuous Napoleonic era
the most important theoretical monument of Greek republicanism, the anonymous Hellenic Nomarchy
, was written, its author dedicating the work to Rigas Ferraios, who had been sacrificed for the salvation of Hellas.
His grievances against the Ottoman occupation of Greece regarded its cruelty, the drafting of children between the ages of five and fifteen into military service (Devshirmeh
or Paedomazoma), the administrative chaos and systematic oppression (including prohibitions on teaching Greek history or language, or even riding on horseback), the confiscation of churches and their conversion to mosque
s.
Rhegas wrote enthusiastic poems and books about Greek history and many became popular. One of the most famous (which he often sang in public) was the Thourios or battle-hymn (1797), in which he wrote, "It's finer to live one hour as a free man than forty years as a slave and prisoner" («Ως πότε παλικάρια να ζούμε στα στενά…. Καλύτερα μίας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή»).
In "Thourios" he urged the Greeks (Romioi) and other orthodox Christian peoples living at the time in the general area of Greece (Arvanites, Bulgarians, etc.) to leave the Ottoman-occupied towns for the mountains, where they might experience more freedom.
It is noteworthy that the word "Greek" or "Hellene" is not mentioned in "Thourios"; instead, Greek-speaking populations in the area of Greece are still referred to as "Romioi" (i.e. Romans, citizens of the Christian or Eastern Roman Empire), which is the name that they proudly used for themselves at that time.
Statues of Rigas Feraios stand at the entrance to the University of Athens and in Belgrade at the beginning of the street that bears his name (Ulica Rige od Fere).
Rigas Feraios was also the name taken by the youth wing of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior)
, and a branch of this youth wing was Rigas Feraios - Second Panhellenic. But there is nothing in Rigas's own writings that supports Communism
, as his political vision was influenced by the French Constitution (i.e. democratic liberalism) Rather, use of his name indicates the Communists' aspiration to link themselves with the heroic past of Greek Nationalism.
Feraios' portrait was printed on the obverse
of the Greek 200-drachmas
banknote of 1996-2001. A 50-drachmas commemorative coin was issued in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of his death. His image is stamped on the 0.10 Euro
Greek coin
.
and Manolis Rasoulis wrote a song called Etsi pou les, Riga Feraio (That's how it is, Rigas Feraios, Greek: Έτσι που λες, Ρήγα Φεραίο), which was sung by Rasoulis himself. Also, composer Christos Leontis wrote music based upon the lyrics of "Thourio" and Cretan Nikos Xylouris performed the song in 1970s
.
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: Рига од Фере, Riga od Fere, rǐːga ɔd fɛ̂rɛː; 1757 – June 13, 1798) was a Greek writer and revolutionary of Aromanian origin, active in the Modern Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, a victim of Balkan uprising against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
.
Early life
Antonios Kyriazes ("Rhegas") was born in 1757 into a wealthy family in the village of VelestinoFeres, Magnesia
Feres is a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rigas Feraios, of which it is a municipal unit. Population 6,116 . The seat of the municipality was in Velestino .- Notable people :* Rigas Feraios , Greek...
, Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
, in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
(then in the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
) - near ancient Pherae
Pherae
Pherae was an ancient Greek town in southeastern Thessaly. It bordered Lake Boebeïs. In mythology, it was the home of King Admetus, whose wife, Alcestis, Heracles went into Hades to rescue. In history, it was more famous as the home of the fourth-century B.C...
. From the ancient name of "Pherae" he was at some time given the nickname Pheraeos or Feraios, but he does not seem ever to have used this name himself. He is sometimes described as being of Aromanian
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
ancestry, but according to Peter Mackridge "there is no sure evidence to support this". He was educated at the school of Ampelakia, Larissa
Ampelakia, Larissa
Ampelakia is a former community in the Larissa regional unit, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tempi, of which it is a municipal unit and honored as the historic seat of the municipality...
.
He became a teacher in the village of Kissos
Kissos
Kissos is a village that is part of the municipal unit of Mouresi, in the eastern part of Magnesia, Greece. it is located about 6 km NW of Tsagkarada...
, and he fought the local Ottoman presence. At the age of twenty he killed an important Ottoman figure, and fled to the uplands of Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus
Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
, where he enlisted in a band of soldiers led by Spiros Zeras.
He later went to the monastic community of Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
, where he was received by Cosmas, hegumen
Hegumen
Hegumen, hegumenos, igumen, or ihumen is the title for the head of a monastery of the Eastern Orthodox Church or Eastern Catholic Churches, similar to the one of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called hegumenia or ihumenia . The term means "the one who is in charge", "the leader" in...
of the Vatopedi monastery; from there to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
), where he became a secretary to the Phanariote
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
Alexander Ypsilantis (1725-1805)
Alexander Ypsilantis (1725-1805)
Alexander Ypsilantis was a Greek Voivode of Wallachia from 1775 to 1782, and again from 1796 to 1797, and also Voivode of Moldavia from 1786 to 1788. He bears the same name as, but should not be confused with, his grandson, the Greek War of Independence hero of the early 19th century...
.
Arriving in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
, the capital of Ottoman Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, Rhegas returned to school, learned several languages and eventually became a clerk for the Wallachian Prince Nicholas Mavrogenes. When the Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792)
Russo-Turkish War (1787-1792)
The Russo–Turkish War of 1787–1792 involved a futile attempt by the Ottoman Empire to regain lands lost to Russia in the course of the previous Russo–Turkish War, 1768–1774. It took place concomitantly with the Austro-Turkish War of 1787-1791....
broke out, he was charged with the inspection of the troops in the city of Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
.
Here he entered into friendly relations with an Ottoman officer named Osman Pazvantoğlu
Osman Pazvantoglu
Osman Pazvantoğlu was a Bosnian Ottoman soldier, a governor of the Vidin district after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule...
, afterwards the rebellious Pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
of Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
, whose life he saved from the vengeance of Mavrogenes. He learned about the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and came to believe something similar could occur in the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, resulting in self-determination for the Christian subjects of the Ottomans; he developed support for an uprising by meeting Greek bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s and guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
leaders.
After the death of his patron Rhegas returned to Bucharest to serve for some time as dragoman
Dragoman
A dragoman was an interpreter, translator and official guide between Turkish, Arabic, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts...
at the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
consulate
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
. At this time he wrote his famous Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
version of La Marseillaise
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
, the anthem of French revolutionaries
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, a version familiar through Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, later George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron, FRS , commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was a British poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement...
's paraphrase as "sons of the Greeks
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, arise".
In Vienna
Around 1793 Rhegas went to ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
and home to a large Greek community, as part of an effort to ask the French general Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
for assistance and support. While in the city, he edited a Greek-language newspaper, Ephemeris (i.e. Daily), and published a proposed political map of Great Greece which included Constantinople and many other places, including a large number of places where Greeks were in the minority (such as Constantinople).
He printed pamphlets based on the principles of the French Revolution, including Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is a fundamental document of the French Revolution, defining the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. Influenced by the doctrine of "natural right", the rights of man are held to be universal: valid...
and New Political Constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
of the Inhabitants of Rumeli
Rumelia
Rumelia was an historical region comprising the territories of the Ottoman Empire in Europe...
, Asia Minor
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, the Islands of the Aegean
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea[p] is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkan and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
, and the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia
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...
— these he intended to distribute in an effort to stimulate a Pan-Balkan uprising
Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire
The rise of the Western notion of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire eventually caused the break-down of the Ottoman millet concept...
against the Ottomans.
He also published Greek translations of three stories by Retif de la Bretonne and many other foreign works, and he collected his poems in a manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
(posthumously printed in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, 1814).
Death
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
made of the root of a Bay Laurel
Bay Laurel
The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
taken from a ruined temple of Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, and eventually he set out with a view to meeting the general of the Army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
. While traveling there, he was betrayed by Demetrios Oikonomos Kozanites, a Greek businessman, had his papers confiscated, and was arrested at Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
by the Austrian authorities (an ally of the Ottoman Empire, Austria was concerned the French Revolution might provoke similar upheavals in its realm and later formed the Holy Alliance
Holy Alliance
The Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Czar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Paris on September 26, 1815, in the Congress of Vienna after the defeat of Napoleon.Ostensibly it was to instill the Christian values of...
).
He was handed over with his accomplices to the Ottoman governor of Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, where he was imprisoned and tortured. From Belgrade, he was to be sent to Constantinople to be sentenced by Sultan
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
Selim III
Selim III
Selim III was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV...
. While in transit, he and his five collaborators were strangled to prevent their being rescued by Rhegas's friend Osman Pazvantoğlu
Osman Pazvantoglu
Osman Pazvantoğlu was a Bosnian Ottoman soldier, a governor of the Vidin district after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule...
. Their bodies were thrown into the Danube River.
His last words
Last words
Last words are a person's final words spoken before death.Last Words may also refer to:* Last Words , an Australian punk band* Last Words , a memoir by George Carlin* Last Words , a 1968 short film directed by Werner Herzog...
are reported as being: "I have sown a rich seed; the hour is coming when my country will reap its glorious fruits".
Ideas and legacy
Rhegas, using demotic rather than puristic Greek, aroused the patriotic fervor of his Greek contemporaries. His republicanism was given an aura of heroism by his martyrdom, and set liberation of Greece in a context of political reform. As social contraditions in Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
grew sharper in the tumultuous Napoleonic era
Napoleonic Era
The Napoleonic Era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory...
the most important theoretical monument of Greek republicanism, the anonymous Hellenic Nomarchy
Hellenic Nomarchy
Hellenic Nomarchy was a pamphlet written by "Anonymous the Greek" published and printed in Italy in 1806. It advocated the ideals of freedom, social justice and equality as the main principles of a well-governed society, making it the most important theoretical monument of Greek republicanism...
, was written, its author dedicating the work to Rigas Ferraios, who had been sacrificed for the salvation of Hellas.
His grievances against the Ottoman occupation of Greece regarded its cruelty, the drafting of children between the ages of five and fifteen into military service (Devshirmeh
Devshirmeh
Devshirme was the practice by which...
or Paedomazoma), the administrative chaos and systematic oppression (including prohibitions on teaching Greek history or language, or even riding on horseback), the confiscation of churches and their conversion to mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s.
Rhegas wrote enthusiastic poems and books about Greek history and many became popular. One of the most famous (which he often sang in public) was the Thourios or battle-hymn (1797), in which he wrote, "It's finer to live one hour as a free man than forty years as a slave and prisoner" («Ως πότε παλικάρια να ζούμε στα στενά…. Καλύτερα μίας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή»).
In "Thourios" he urged the Greeks (Romioi) and other orthodox Christian peoples living at the time in the general area of Greece (Arvanites, Bulgarians, etc.) to leave the Ottoman-occupied towns for the mountains, where they might experience more freedom.
It is noteworthy that the word "Greek" or "Hellene" is not mentioned in "Thourios"; instead, Greek-speaking populations in the area of Greece are still referred to as "Romioi" (i.e. Romans, citizens of the Christian or Eastern Roman Empire), which is the name that they proudly used for themselves at that time.
Statues of Rigas Feraios stand at the entrance to the University of Athens and in Belgrade at the beginning of the street that bears his name (Ulica Rige od Fere).
Rigas Feraios was also the name taken by the youth wing of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior)
Communist Party of Greece (Interior)
The Communist Party of Greece, Interior , usually abbreviated as KKE Interior was a communist political party in Greece. The party was formed after a major split of the Communist Party of Greece in 1968...
, and a branch of this youth wing was Rigas Feraios - Second Panhellenic. But there is nothing in Rigas's own writings that supports Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, as his political vision was influenced by the French Constitution (i.e. democratic liberalism) Rather, use of his name indicates the Communists' aspiration to link themselves with the heroic past of Greek Nationalism.
Feraios' portrait was printed on the obverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Greek 200-drachmas
Greek drachma
Drachma, pl. drachmas or drachmae was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:...
banknote of 1996-2001. A 50-drachmas commemorative coin was issued in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of his death. His image is stamped on the 0.10 Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
Greek coin
Greek euro coins
Greek euro coins feature a unique design for each of the eight coins. They were all designed by Georgios Stamatopoulos with the minor coins depicting Greek ships, the middle ones portraying famous Greeks and the two large denominations showing images of Greek history and mythology. All designs...
.
In popular culture
Nikos XydakisNikos Xydakis
Nikos Xydakis, in Greek Νίκος Ξυδάκης) is a Greek composer, pianist and singer. Born in Cairo, Egypt, he immigrated with his family to Greece in 1963. Much of his music has its root in theatrical music....
and Manolis Rasoulis wrote a song called Etsi pou les, Riga Feraio (That's how it is, Rigas Feraios, Greek: Έτσι που λες, Ρήγα Φεραίο), which was sung by Rasoulis himself. Also, composer Christos Leontis wrote music based upon the lyrics of "Thourio" and Cretan Nikos Xylouris performed the song in 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
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Further reading
- Rhegas, 'Ellenice Democratia' (1797; repr. 1971)
- Rhegas, 'Scholeion ton delicaton eraston' (1790; repr. 1971)
External links
- Scanned original draft of the New Political Constitution from the collection of the Hellenic ParliamentHellenic ParliamentThe Hellenic Parliament , also the Parliament of the Hellenes, is the Parliament of Greece, located in the Parliament House , overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece....
\ - Collection of papers dedicated to Rigas Charta, e-Perimetron, Vol. 3, No.3, 2008
- Nebojša Tower will become a historical monument
- Chalcography of Alexander the Great by Rigas Feraios,Vienna 1797
- History of Modern Greek Literature by C. T. Dimaras
