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Souliotes

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"Suli" redirects here. For the family of seabirds, see Sulae.
Souliotes in traditional costume. Sketch by Eugène Delacroix 1824 - 1825; Louvre Museum, France.

Souliotes (Greek: Σουλιώτες, Albanian: Suliotët, also spelled Souliots or Suliots) were a warlike community who became famous across Albania and Greece for the herioc resistance against the local Ottoman Pashalik of Janina, ruled by Ali Pasha, an Albanian brigand.[1][2] After their defeat in 1803, the Souliotes were forced to move to other parts of Greece, and many of them later became active in the Greek War of Independence starting in 1821, under leaders such as Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavelas.

The Souliotes originally spoke their own sub-branch of Cham Albanian dialect and eventually became bilingual in Albanian and Greek. After their assimilation, a language shift to Greek occurred, while Souliotic became an extinct dialect.[3][4]

Geography

Souliotes were named after the village of Souli, a mountain settlement in Thesprotia, Greece, which derives from the Albanian word suli, meaning "mountain summit".[5] Souli is a community originally settled by refugees who were hunted by the Ottomans in Paramythia, Thesprotia, Greece.[6] In early modern times, it was inhabited by about 12,000 Souliotes.[7] After their expulsion, the population of the region was significantly reduced. In the last Greek census of 2001, the population of the community was 748.[8] The seat of the community is in Samoniva. The core of Souli were four villages (Greek: Τετραχώρι), namely: Souli (also known as Kakosouli), Kiafa, Navariko and Samoniva, which are believed to have been founded some time around 1600 AD.[9] [6]

History

Souliote confederation

Foto Pikos from Souli, painting by the French artist Louis Dupré, ca. 1820

The Souliotes established an autonomous confederacy dominating a large number of neighbouring villages in the remote mountainous areas of Epirus, where they could successfully resist Ottoman rule. At the height of its power, in the second half of the 18th century, the Souliot state is estimated to have comprised up to 12,000 inhabitants in about 60 villages.[10]

Wars

The Ottoman Turks attempted numerous times to conquer the territories of the Souliot Confederacy. The first conflicts between the Souliotes and the Ottomans date back to 1635, if not earlier. In 1731, Hadji Ahmed, pasha of Ioannina, received orders from the Sultan to subdue the Souliotes and he lost his army of 8000 men. In 1754, Mustafa Pasha lost his army to the Souliotes too. In the following years, Mustafa Kokka came in with 4000 soldiers and Bekir Pasha with 5000. In the end, both failed to defeat the Souliotes.

In 1759, Dost Bey, commander of Delvina, was defeated by the Souliotes and Mahmoud Aga of Margariti, the governor of Arta, suffered the same fate in 1762. In 1772, Suleyman Tsapari attacked the Souliotes with his army of 9000 men and was defeated. In 1775, Kurt Pasha sent a military expedition to Souli that ultimately failed. When Ali became pasha of Ioannina in 1788, he tried for 15 years to destroy the Souliotes. In 1792, his army of 3000 was eliminated. Although he had hostages (such as Fotos Tzavellas who was the son of Lambros Tzavellas), the Souliotes fought bravely under the command of Georgios Botsaris, Lambros Tzavellas, and Dimos Drakos. Even women under the command of Moscho (Lambros Tzavellas' wife) participated in the battle. Eventually, 2000 Ottomans and 74 Souliotes were killed.[11]

The Souliotes obtained all of their supplies from Parga, and also acquired support from Europe. Russia and France provided weapons and ammunition to them. For the European powers, the Souliotes were seen as an instrument to weaken the Ottoman Empire. When the British politicians turned to the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen their forces against Napoleon, the weapons and ammunition supplies were interrupted. Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Souliot clans started to split. The Botsaris family for political reasons left Souli and parleyed with Ali Pasha. However, the remaining Souliotes in Souli gathered together in Saint George's Orthodox Church and decided either to win or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2000 armed men. The main leaders were Fotos Tzavellas, Dimos Drakos, Tousas Zervas, Koutzonikas, Gogkas Daglis, Yiannakis Sehos, Fotomaras, Tzavaras, Veikos, Panou, Zigouris Diamadis, and Yorgos Bousbos. The Souliotes won all of the decisive battles, which forced Ali Pasha to build castles in neighboring villages so as to prepare himself for a long siege. The Souliotes stayed without food and ammunition, but they could have held longer if not for a traitor named Pelios Gousis who helped the Ottomans to enter into the village of Souli. The Souliotes withdrew to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kughi, where they fought their last battle on December 7, 1803. They eventually capitulated and Ali Pasha promised to release them with all of their property and even weapons to the Ionian Islands.[11]

The Souliote women, romantic painting by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858), depicting the heroic suicide of Souliote women known as the Dance of Zalongo during the Souliote wars (1827, Oil on canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France).

On December 12, 1803, the Souliotes left Souli towards the coast of Epirus. A monk named Samuel remained in Kughi and set fire to the powder magazines with a massive explosion that cost him his life. In the meantime, the Ottoman army attacked the other Souliotes, neglecting the promises Ali Pasha had made to them. In a famous incident on December 16, 1803, the so-called Dance of Zalongo, 22 Souliot women were trapped by enemy troops and committed suicide to avoid capture. According to tradition they did this by jumping off a steep cliff one after the other while dancing and singing. Other Souliotes also reached the harbor of Parga, which was under Russian control at the time. The Souliotes either settled down in Parga or set off for the Ionian Islands.

Diaspora

Many Souliotes entered service with the Russians on Corfu, where they became an important component of the Legion of Light Riflemen. This was a regiment of irregulars organized by the Russians among mainland refugees; it not only included Souliotes, but also Himariotes, Maniots, klephts (Greek bandits) and armatoloi (Greek anti-klepht militias created by the Ottomans that actually supported the klephts). The Souliotes participated in campaigns in Naples in 1805, Tenedos in 1806, Dalmatia in 1806, and during the defense of Lefkada in 1807.[12]

With the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and the détente between Russia and France, the Russian forces withdrew from the Ionian Islands and the French occupied them. The Souliotes and other components of Russian units entered service with the French in a unit known as the Albanian Regiment (Régiment Albanaise). During the Anglo-French struggle over the Ionian Islands between 1810 and 1814, the Souliotes in French service faced off against other refugees organized by the British into the Greek Light Infantry Regiment. Since the Souliotes were mostly garrisoned on Corfu, which remained under French control until 1814, very few entered British service.[12]

The British disbanded the remnants of the Souliot Regiment in 1815 and subsequently decommissioned their own two Greek Light Regiments. This left many of the Souliotes and other military refugees without livelihoods. In 1817, a group of veterans of Russian service on the Ionian Islands traveled to Russia to see if they could get patents of commission and employment in the Russian army. While unsuccessful in this endeavor, they joined the Philike Etaireia ("Company of Friends"), the secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 for the purpose of liberating Greek lands from Ottoman rule. They returned to the Ionian Islands and elsewhere and began to recruit fellow veterans into the Philike Etaireia, including a number of Souliot leaders.[12]

Participation in the Greek War of Independence

See also: Greek War of Independence

When there were clear signs for the beginning of a Greek insurrection against Turkish rule, Ali Pasha saw an opportunity to make Epirus into an independent state. In 1820, he called upon the Souliotes for help, and they returned to the mainland to support their former enemy against the Sultan. Although there was a short-lived coalition with Ali Pasha, this coalition would soon be terminated when the Greek War of Independence broke out, on March 25, 1821.[13][14] The Souliotes actively participated in the uprising fighting in several conflicts. On the other hand, Ali Pasha's plans failed and he was killed in 1822.

The Souliote leaders Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas became distinguished generals of the Independence War. However, several Souliotes lost their lives, especially when defending the city of Messolongi. Lord Byron, the most prominent European philhellene volunteer and commander-in-chief of the Greek army in Western Greece, tried to integrate the Souliotes into a regular army. Until 1909, the Turks kept a military base on the fortress of Kiafa. Finally in 1913, during the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans lost Epirus and the southern part of the region became part of the Greek state.

Clans

  • Antonopoulou (akin to the Botsaris clan; from Vervitsa/Tropaia)[15]
  • Kapralaioi (resettled in Messenia)[16]
  • Setaioi (resettled in Messenia)
  • Douskaioi (resettled in Messenia)
  • Dentaioi (resettled in Messenia)
  • Tzavaraioi (resettled in Arcadia)
  • Zervaioi[17] (resettled in Boetia)

See also

References

  1. ^ Balfour Ian. Famous diamonds. Collins, 1987. ISBN 9780004122465, p. 84
  2. ^ Crompton Louis. Byron and Greek love: homophobia in 19th-century England. Gay Men's Press, 1998. ISBN 9780854492633, p. 416: "The ruler, Ali Pasha, was a brigand warlord of legendary fame"
  3. ^ Laurie Kain Hart. Culture, Civilization, and Demarcation at the Northwest Borders of Greece. American Ethnologist, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Feb., 1999), pp. 196-220. (article consists of 25 pages). Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropological Association "Finlay's late 19th century impression gives some impressions of the social complexity of social categories in this area. To begin with, the Suliotes (celebrated by Byron and in Greek national history for their role in the liberation of Greece) were a "branch of the Tchamides, one of the three great divisions of the Tosks" (Finlay 1939:42)-in other words they initially spoke Albanian... the question of a national identity can hardly be applied here"
  4. ^ Elsie, Robert (1986), Dictionary of Albanian Literature, London, United Kingdom: Greenwood Press, p. 17, ISBN 0-313-25186-X, retrieved 2009-03-31 {{citation}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help); Unknown parameter |ean= ignored (help)
  5. ^ Babiniotis, G. Λεξικό της Νέας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας. Athens, 1998.
  6. ^ a b Biris, K. Αρβανίτες, οι Δωριείς του νεότερου Ελληνισμού: H ιστορία των Ελλήνων Αρβανιτών. ["Arvanites, the Dorians of modern Greece: History of the Greek Arvanites"]. Athens, 1960 (3rd ed. 1998: ISBN 9602040319).
  7. ^ Miranda Vickers, The Albanians: A Modern History, I.B.Tauris, 1999, ISBN 1860645410, 9781860645419 "The Suliots, then numbering around 12,000, were Christian Albanians inhabiting a small independent community somewhat akin to tat of the Catholic Mirdite trive to the north
  8. ^ PDF "(875 KB) 2001 Census" (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece (ΕΣΥΕ). www.statistics.gr. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
  9. ^ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΣΟΥΛΛΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΓΑΣ, συγγ. παρά ΧΡΙΣΤΟΦΟΡΟΥ ΠΕΡΡΑΙΒΟΥ. Εν Αθηναίς. 1857. p. 2
  10. ^ Biris (1960: 285ff.) Cf. also K. Paparigopoulos (1925), Ιστορία του Ελληνικού Εθνους, Ε-146.
  11. ^ a b Suli - Epirus
  12. ^ a b c Nicholas Charles Pappas, Greeks in Russian Military Service in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Institute for Balkan Studies, 1991
  13. ^ Katherine Elizabeth Fleming. The Muslim Bonaparte: diplomacy and orientalism in Ali Pasha's Greece. Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN 9780691001944, p. 99"The Souliotes, a Greek-speaking tribe of Albanian origin... Ali had tried off and over..."
  14. ^ Victor Roudometof, Roland Robertson (2001), Nationalism, globalization, and orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001, p. 25, ISBN 9780313319495 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |ean= (help)
  15. ^ Kapralos, Ch. Αρκαδικοί θρύλοι. p. 160. Η οικογένεια του Αντωνόπουλου (Μποτσαραίοι) κατάγονται από το Σούλι σύμφωνα με κάποια παράδοση.
  16. ^ Kapralos, Ch. Αρκαδικοί θρύλοι. p. 70. Μα και οι Καπραλαίοι, προερχόμενοι από την Ήπειρο, έμειναν στη Μεσσηνία για κάποιο χρονικό διάστημα.
  17. ^ The National Historical Museum. Euthymia Papaspyrou-Karadēmētriou, Maria Lada-Minōtou, Ethniko Historiko Mouseio (Greece). Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece, 1994. ISBN 9608557305
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