Marinos Antypas

Marinos Antypas (Greek: Μαρίνος Αντύπας; 1872 – March 8, 1907) was a Greek lawyer and journalist, and one of the country's first socialists. He was born in the village Ferentinata, near Antypata Pylarou, in Kefalonia, the eldest son of Spyros Antypas and Angelina Klada. He had two siblings, Babis and Adelais.

During his studies in Athens, he became a member of the Central Socialist Society. He participated as a voluntary soldier in the Cretan Insurrection of 1896, during which he was injured. On account of his later criticism of the role of the Greek monarchy in the insurrection, he was imprisoned and exiled to the island of Aegina. An order from the Ministry of Justice declared: "Antypas should be placed in isolation and no one should talk to him. If he doesn't comply with this he should be confined to his cell and be served food without salt".

In 1900 he returned to Kefalonia, where he published the journal Anastasi, which was closed down by the authorities because of its content. In the same period he worked with his father, a carpenter but also a wood sculptor (one of his works is preserved in the Church of Saint Gregory in Hamolako Pilarou).

At that time he fathered two girls, naming one Anarchia (Anarchy) and the other Epanastasi (Revolution). He also established the "People's Reading Place" (Greek: Λαικό Αναγνωστήριο) "Equality" which became the centre of political and spiritual debate on the island.

In 1903 he visited his uncle Gerasimos Skiadaresis in Bucharest and convinced him to buy farming land in Greece. Antypas returned again to Kefalonia and republished his Anastasi newspaper, for which he was arrested but found innocent in the following trial. His Socialist Radical party participated in the 1906 general election, but won few votes.

After that he left for Pyrgetos (Larissa regional unit) where his uncle had bought a large estate. There he began to agitate over the rights of farmers. One of his suggestions was that the farmers should not work in Sundays but use that day to take their children to school. His teachings were received positively by the farmers but the owners of the agrarian estates disliked him. They paid 30,000 drachmas to a supervisor named Kyriakou to kill Antypas, which he did on March 8, 1907.

His killer was never brought to justice for the crime. After the death of his nephew, Skiadaresis sold his estates and left the area.

Mentions of Antypas

• In Pylaros there is a statue to Antypas, in the "Myloi" area where he once held a speech.
• The Earth was painted Red (aka "Blood on the Land") is a 1966 Greek film starring Nikos Kourkoulos, that partly depicts Antypas' campaign and assassination. It was nominated for the 1966 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Sources

• Spiros D. Loukatos, Marinos Sp. Antypas, His Life, Era, Ideology, Actions and his Assassination, Athens 1980.
• George N. Moschopoulos, History of Kefalonia (A Synopsis of the author's two-volume book), trans. Angelica Vrettou, n.p. 2002, pp. 88–95, ISBN 960-90811-2-6