Rigas Feraios or
Rigas Velestinlis ' onMouseout='HidePop("85624")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Serbian_language">Serbian
Serbian is a South Slavic language, spoken chiefly in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and in the Serbian diaspora...
: Рига од Фере,
Riga od Fere; 1757—June 13, 1798) was a Greek writer and revolutionary, an eminent figure of the Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, the first victim of the uprising against the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
and a forerunner of the
Greek War of IndependenceThe Greek War of Independence was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1829, with later assistance from several European powers, against the Ottoman Empire, who were assisted by their vassals, the Egyptian Khedivate and partly the Vilayet of...
.
Early life
He was born in a wealthy family in the village of
VelestinoFeres is a municipality in the Magnesia prefecture, Greece. Population 6,116 . The seat of the municipality is in Velestino.- Notable people :* Rigas Feraios , Greek Enlightenment writer and revolutionary-External links:*...
,
ThessalyThessaly is one of the 13 peripheries of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 prefectures. The capital of the periphery and traditional geographical region is Larissa. Together with the regions of Macedonia and Thrace, it is often referred to unofficially as Northern Greece...
, near ancient
PheraePherae was an ancient Greek town in southeastern Thessaly. In mythology, it was the home of King Admetus, whose wife, Alcestis, Heracles went into Hades to rescue...
(from which
Feraios derives). He is sometimes described as being of
AromanianAromanians are a people living throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Romania...
ancestry but according to Peter Mackridge "[...]there is no sure evidence to support this[...]". Educated at the school of
AmpelakiaAmpelakia is a community in the Larissa Prefecture, Greece. Ampelakia is a small historic village in the Thessaly province, having a population of 510 according to the 2001 census.-History of Ampelakia:...
, Feraios became a teacher in the village of
KissosKissos is a village that is part of the municipality of Mouresi, it is located about 6 km NW of Tsagkarada.It is in the eastern part of Magnesia in the prefecture of the same name in Greece...
, and fought the local Ottoman presence. At the age of twenty, he killed an important Ottoman figure and fled to the uplands of
Mount OlympusMount Olympus is the highest mountain range in Greece, its highest peak Mýtikas rising to 2,919 metres high . Since its base is located at sea level, it is one of the highest peaks in Europe in terms of topographic prominence, the relative altitude from base to top...
, where he enlisted in a band of soldiers led by Spiros Zeras.
He later went to the monastic community of
Mount AthosMount Athos is a mountain on the peninsula of the same name in Macedonia, of northern Greece, called in Greek Agion Oros , or in English, "Holy Mountain". In Classical times, the peninsula was called Aktí...
, where he was received by Kosmas,
priorPrior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...
of the
VatopediThe Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos was built during the second half of the 10th century by three monks, Athanasius, Nicholas, and Antonius, from Adrianople, who were disciples of Athanasius the Athonite...
Monastery; from there to
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
(
IstanbulIstanbul is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province...
), where he was a secretary to the
PhanariotePhanariots, 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...
Alexander YpsilantiAlexander 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...
. Arriving in
BucharestBucharest is the capital city, 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 Dâmboviţa River....
, the capital of
WallachiaWallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
, Feraios returned to school, learned several languages and eventually became a clerk for the Wallachian Prince Nicholas Mavrogenes. When
war broke outThe 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....
between the Ottomans and Imperial Russia in 1787, he was charged with the inspection of the troops in
CraiovaCraiova , 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 close and friendly relations with an Ottoman officer named
Osman PazvantoğluOsman Pazvantoğlu was a Bosnian Ottoman soldier, a governor of the Vidin district after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule...
, afterwards the famous rebellious
PashaPasha or pacha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries...
of
VidinVidin 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 RevolutionThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
and came to believe something similar could occur in the
BalkansThe Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, resulting in self-determination for the
Eastern OrthodoxThe Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 225 million members...
Ottoman population; Feraios developed support for an uprising by meeting with Greek
bishopA bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
s and
guerrillaGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
leaders.
After the death of his patron, Feraios returned to Bucharest to serve for some time as
dragomanDragoman designates the official title of a person who would function as 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
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
consulateThe 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 people of the country to whom he or she is...
. At this time he wrote the famous
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
version of
La Marseillaise"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France.- History :"La Marseillaise" is a song written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg on April 25, 1792...
, the anthem of
French revolutionariesThe French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based...
, a version familiar through
Lord ByronGeorge Gordon Byron, later Noel, 6th Baron Byron, of Rochdale, FRS, and commonly known today as Lord Byron was an English poet and a leading figure in Romanticism...
's paraphrase as "
sons of the GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
, arise".
In Vienna
Around 1793, Feraios went to
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, the capital of the
Austrian EmpireThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
and home to a large Greek community, as part of an effort to ask
Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte later known as Napoleon I, and previously Napoleone di Buonaparte, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century.Born in Corsica and trained as an artillery officer in mainland France, Bonaparte rose to prominence...
for assistance and support. While in the city, he edited a Greek-language newspaper,
Ephemeris, and created and published a proposed political map of
Great Greece which included Constantinople.
He printed pamphlets based on the principles of the French Revolution, including
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the CitizenThe 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 rights, the rights of Man are universal: valid at all times...
and
New Political ConstitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
of the Inhabitants of RumeliRumelia or Rumeli is a Turkish name, used from the 15th century onwards, for the southern Balkan regions of the Ottoman Empire...
, Asia MinorAnatolia is a geographic region of Western Asia, comprising most of the modern Republic of Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Caucasus to the northeast, the Iranian plateau to the southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and the Aegean Sea to the west...
, the Islands of the AegeanThe Aegean Sea 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 respectively. In the north, it is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus...
, and the principalities of Moldavia and WallachiaDanubian 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 Kuchuk Kainarji 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 uprisingThe 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 many Greek translations of foreign works, and collected his poems in a
manuscriptA manuscript is a recording of 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
IaşiIaşi , is a city and municipality in Moldavia, in north-eastern Romania...
, 1814).
Death
He entered into communication with Napoleon, to whom he sent a
snuff-boxTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
made of the root of a
laurel treeThe Bay Laurel , also known as True Laurel, Sweet Bay, Laurel Tree, Grecian Laurel, Laurel, or Bay Tree, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub reaching 10–18 m tall, native to the Mediterranean region.-Growth:The leaves are 6–12 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, with a characteristic...
taken from the temple of
ApolloIn Greek and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian deities...
, and eventually he set out with a view to meeting the general of the
Army of ItalyThe 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
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
. While traveling there, Feraios was betrayed by Demetrios Oikonomos Kozanites, a Greek merchant, had his papers confiscated, and was arrested at
TriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in north eastern 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, east and north 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 AllianceThe Holy Alliance was a coalition of Russia, Austria and Prussia created in 1815 at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, signed by the three powers in Paris on September 26 1815....
). He was handed over with his accomplices to the Ottoman governor of
BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
where he was imprisoned and tortured. Immediately on arrest he attempted
suicideSuicide is the intentional killing of one's self. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"...
.
From Belgrade, he was to be sent to Constantinople to be sentenced by
SultanThe 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 IIISelim III
was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. He was a son of Mustafa III and succeeded his uncle Abdülhamid I . He was born in Istanbul. His mother was Valide Sultan Mihr-i shah...
. While in transit, he and his five collaborators were strangled to prevent their rescue by Feraios' friend
Osman PazvantoğluOsman 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.
Feraios' last words 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
Feraios, preferring Demotic instead of Puristic Greek, aroused the patriotic fervor of his contemporaries and his writings were an important legacy during the making of Greece.
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 (
DevshirmehDevşirme or devshirme was the practice by which the Ottoman Empire conscripted boys from Christian families, who were taken from their families by force, converted to Islam, trained and enrolled in one of the four royal institutions: the Palace, the Scribes, the Religious and the Military.The...
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
mosqueA mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. Muslims often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid, —...
s. Feraios wrote enthusiastic poems and books about Greek history and many became widely popular. One of the most famous (which he often sang in public) is the
Thourio in which he wrote, "It's better to have an hour as a free man than forty years as a slave" («Ως πότε παλικάρια να ζούμε στα στενά…. Καλλιώναι μίας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή»). He urged Greeks to leave the Ottoman-occupied towns for the mountains, where they might experience more freedom.
A statue of Rigas Feraios stands at the entrance to the University of Athens. There is also a statue of his in Belgrade at one end of the street that bears his name (
Ulica Rige od Fere).
Rigas Feraios was also the name of the youth wing of the
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...
, in honour of the poet. A split of this youth wing was
Rigas Feraios - Second Panhellenic.
Feraios' portrait was depicted on the
obverseThe term, obverse, and its opposite, reverse, describe the two sides of units of currency and many other kinds of two-sided objects - most often in reference to coins, but also to paper currency, flags , medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics...
of the Greek 200
drachmasDrachma, pl. drachmas or drachmae is the name of 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 depicted on the 0.10
EuroThe euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
Greek coinGreek 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 is a Greek composer. pianist and singer. Much of his music has its root in theatrical music. Xydakis has collaborated with many of the most influential Greek musicians, actors and directors, including Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Sokratis Malamas, Melina Kana, Olia Lasadriou, Thanasis...
and Manolis Rasoulis wrote a song called
Etsi pou les, Riga Feraio (That's it, Rigas Feraios, Greek: Έτσι που λες, Ρήγα Φεραίο), which was sung by Rasoulis himself.
External links