Souliotes

Etymology

The Souliotes (Greek: Σουλιώτες; Albanian: Suljotë) were named after the village of Souli, a mountain settlement in modern Thesprotia, Greece. The name Souli is of uncertain origin. It has been suggested by French historian, François Pouqueville, and other contemporary European accounts that this name derives from the ancient Greek region of Selaida "Σελάϊδα" or "Soulaida" ("Σουλάϊδα") and its inhabitants, the Selloi. Another view by Greek historian, Christoforos Perraivos, who came in personal contact with members of the Souliote community, claimed that it derived from the name of a Turk who was killed there. Pouqueville said that the name was said to have come from xylon, "woody", but noted that it was improbable as there were no trees in the mountains. Yet another view based on etymology claims that the word derives from the Albanian term sul, which can be idiomatically interpreted as 'watchpost', 'lookout' or 'mountain summit'. In a study by scholar Petros Fourikis examining the onomastics of Souli, most of the toponyms and micro-toponyms such as: Kiafa, Koungi, Bira, Goura, Mourga, Feriza, Stret(h)eza, Dembes, Vreku i Vetetimese, Sen i Prempte and so on were found to be derived from the Albanian language.

Geography and anthropology

Souli is a community originally settled by refugees who were hunted by the Ottomans in Paramythia, Thesprotia, Greece. Christoforos Perraivos, considered the only one who could have a reliable opinion on the origins of Souliotes because he had personal contacts with them, reports that according to elder Souliotes' narration, the first inhabitants came to Souli in the 16th century from the neighbouring villages, fleeing the Turks. According to Perraivos the first Souliotes were about 450 families. In time, immigrants from elsewhere, attracted by the privileges of autonomy in Souli, assimilated and were also named Souliotes. The Greek peasants who tilled Souliot land were distinguished by the name of the village in which they dwelt. Clan, class and territorial labels had significance in addition to religion.

Around 1730 Souli had not more than 200 men bearing arms. Inhabitants of the neighboring countryside would retire to the mountains to avoid Ottoman oppression and thus the Souliote population increased. Before the final war with Ali Pasha, the families of Souli were:

In early modern times the total population of Souli was about 12,000 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. The seat of the community is in Samoniva. The core of Souli consists of four villages (Greek: Τετραχώρι), namely: Souli (also known as Kakosouli), Avariko (also known as Navariko), Kiafa and Samoniva, which are believed to have been founded some time around the 16th century.

17th century

The first settlers are believed to have arrived in the 17th century. By 1660, four large villages had been established: (Kako) Souli, Kiafa, Avariko and Samoniva, collectively called Tetrachorion. These were situated in a plain above the Acheron. The first historical account of anti-Ottoman activity in Souli dates from the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1684–89. In particular in 1685, the Souliotes together with the inhabitants of Himara revolted and overthrew the local Ottoman authorities. This uprising was short lived due to the reaction of the local beys, agas and pashas.

In c. 1700, the population had increased to the extent that seven new villages were formed towards the foot of the mountain, named Tzikouri, Perichati, Vilia, Alpochori, Kondati, Gionala and Tzephleki, collectively called Heptachorion. The latter group constituted the frontier, and when war was rumoured, the men sent their women and children up the mountain to the Tetrachorion.

18th century

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 as well. In the following years, Mustafa Koka 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 Delvinë, 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 defeat the Souliotes.

During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74), the inhabitants of Souli, as well as of other communities in Epirus were mobilized for another Greek uprising which became known as Orlov Revolt. In March 1789, the chieftains of Souli: Georgios and Dimitrios Botsaris, Lambros Tzavellas, Nikolaos and Christos Zervas, Lambros Koutsonikas, Christos Photomaras and Demos Drakos, agreed with Louitzis Sotiris, a Greek representative of the Russian side, that they were ready to fight with 2,200 men against the Muslims of Rumelia. This was the time when Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman lord of Ioannina.

In 1792, his army of 3000 was defeated. Although he held hostages (such as Fotos Tzavellas, the son of Lambros Tzavellas), the Souliotes continued the struggle 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.

War of 1803 and capitulation

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 Souliote clans started to split.

The Botsaris family for political reasons left Souli and parleyed with Ali Pasha. However, the rest in Souli gathered together in Saint George's Orthodox Church and decided either to fight or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2000 armed men. The main leaders were Fotos Tzavellas, Dimos Drakos, Tousas Zervas, Koutsonikas, Gogkas Daglis, Giannakis Sehos, Fotomaras, Tzavaras, Veikos, Panou, Zigouris Diamadis, and Georgios Bousbos. They 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.

Although without food and ammunition, they could have held longer if not for a traitor named Pelios Gousis who helped the Ottomans to enter into the village of Souli, forcing a mass withdraw to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kougi, 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. 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. They either settled down in Parga or set off for the Ionian Islands.

Life in exile

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 formation of this unit was undertaken by the Russian colonel Papadopoulos (Greek in ethnicity). The regiment, initially named "Papadopoulos' Legion", later developed to a formidable army. Its organization was laid down by Papadopoulos in a leaflet in Greek titled "Explanations on the establishment of a legion of Epiro-Souliotes and Himaro-Peloponnesians in the service of His Imperial Majesty Alexander I ...". He recognized that Souliotes and the others were already naturally trained in irregular tactics and did not have to conform to the Western regular tactics. This unit was eventually named "Legion of the Light Riflemen". The Souliotes participated in campaigns in Naples in 1805, Tenedos in 1806, Dalmatia in 1806, and during the defense of Lefkada in 1807.

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 various units, such as the Battaglione dei Cacciatori Macedoni and the Régiment Albanais (Albanian Regiment), terms which did not have their later ethnic connotation, but were instead stylized terms that described the soldiers' general origins or mode of fighting.
Colonel Minot, the commander of the regiment appointed as battalion captains mostly the leaders of Souliote clans who enjoyed the respect among the soldiers. Among them were: Tussa Zervas, George Dracos, Giotis Danglis, Panos Succos, Nastullis Panomaras, Kitsos Palaskas, Kitsos Paschos. Fotos Tzavellas (had served under the Russians), Veicos Zervas.

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. 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.

In general the training experience of this period, as part of a regular army, would also serve its cause in the Greek revolution, where Souliotes along with the other warlike groups would form the movement's military core. In 1819, Ioannis Kapodistrias, foreign minister of Russia and latter Governor of Greece visited Corfu. There he was concerned about the potential role the various exiled warlike communities, among them the Souliotes, could play in the forthcoming armed struggle for the liberation of Greece. Latter in 1820, when the Ottoman Sultan declared war against Ali Pasha both sides requested the military assistance of these exiled communities. Thus, Kapodistrias encouraged the latter to take advantage of this opportunity in order to liberate their homelands.

Participation in the Greek War of Independence

The Souliotes were among the first communities like the rest of the other Greek exiles in the Ionian island, encouraged by Kapodistrias that revolted against the Sultan in December 7 [O.S. December 19] 1820. They had already secured at December 4, a short-term alliance with Ali Pasha, and were aware of the objectives of the Philike Etaireia, but their struggle had initially a local character. The negotiations of the Souliotes with Ali Pasha and other Muslim Albanians had the full approval of Alexandros Ypsilantis, leader of the Philike Etaireia, as part of the preparations for the Greek revolution. In this alliance the Souliotes contributed 3,000 soldiers. Ali Pasha gained the support of Souliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of the Souliotes in their land and partially because of Ali's appeal based on shared Albanian origin. Οn December 12, the Souliotes liberated the region of Souli, both from Muslim Lab Albanians, who were previously installed by Ali Pasha as settlers, and Muslim Cham Albanians who meanwhile defected and fought with the Ottoman side of Pasho bey. They also captured the Kiafa fort.

The uprising of the Souliotes, inspired the revolutionary spirit among the other Greek communities. Soon they were joined by additional Greek communities (armatoles and klepths). Later, in January 1821, even the Muslim Albanian allies of Ali Pasha signed an alliance with them. The successful activity of the various Greek guerilla units in Epirus that time, as well as their alliance with Ali Pasha constituted a great advantage for the objectives of the Filiki Eteria. Τhe coalition with Ali Pasha was successful and controlled most of the region, but when his loyal Muslim Albanian troops were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts in the Peloponnese they abandoned it and joined the Ottomans. However, when the Greek War of Independence broke out this coalition was terminated and they participated in several conflicts. On the other hand, Ali Pasha's plans failed and he was killed in 1822. In September 1822, HMS Chanticleer was dispatched to Fanari, Preveza, to supervise evacuation of the Souliotes after their capitulation.

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 Missolongi. 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. Scores of Souliotes were attached to Lord Byron in 1824, attracted by the money that he was known to bring with him.

Aftermath and legacy

In 1854, during the Crimean War, a number of Greek military officers of Souliote descent, under Kitsos Tzavelas, participated in a failed revolt in Epirus, demanding union with Greece. Until 1909, the Ottomans 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.

Members of the Souliote diaspora that lived in Greece played a major role in 19th- and 20th-century politics and military affairs, like Dimitrios Botsaris, the son of Markos Botsaris, and the World War II resistance leader Napoleon Zervas.

Identity, ethnicity and language

In Ottoman-ruled Epirus, national identity did not play a role to the social classification of the local society; while religion was the key factor of classification of the local communities. The Orthodox congregation was included in a specific ethno-religious community under Graeco-Byzantine domination called Rum millet. Its name was derived from the Byzantine (Roman) subjects of the Ottoman Empire, but all Orthodox Christians were considered part of the same millet in spite of their differences in ethnicity and language. According to this, the Muslim communities in Epirus were classified as Turks, while the Orthodox (Rum), like the Souliotes, were classified as Greeks. Moreover, national consciousness and affiliations were absent in Ottoman Epirus during this era. Latter Greek official policy from the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle twentieth century, adopted a similar view: that speech was not a decisive factor for the establishment of a Greek national identity. As such, the dominant ideology in Greece considered as Greek leading figures of the Greek state and obscured the links of some Orthodox people such as Souliotes had to the Albanian language.

The Souliotes were also called Arvanites by Greek monolinguals, which amongst the Greek-speaking population until the interwar period, the term Arvanitis (plural: Arvanites) was used to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of their religious affiliations. It has been recognized, though, that speaking Albanian in that region “is not a predictor with respect to other matters of identity”. After the rise of modern nationalism on the Balkans the Souliotes identified entirely with the Greek national cause. On the other hand, due to their identification with Greece, they were considered Greeks by both their Ottoman and Muslim Albanian adversaries. Moreover, religiously, they belonged to the Church of Constantinople, part of the larger Greek Orthodox Church.

19th- and 20th-century accounts

The Souliotes had a strong local identity. Athanasios Psalidas, a Greek scholar and secretary to Ali Pasha in early 19th century stated that the Souliotes were Greeks fighting the Albanians. Moreover, Psalidas in reference to the Chams wrote that they are people of either Greek or Albanian origin, while the villages of Souli were inhabited by "Greek warriors". Amongst Western European travelers and diplomats traveling in the region during the nineteenth century, they described the Souliotes in different terms and noted various observations regarding their language and customs. Lord Byron, writing in 1811, called them "Romans" who speak "little Illyric". French diplomat François Pouqueville, while travelling the lands prior to 1813, called them a "Greek tribe", but asserted in his memoirs that the Souliotes were not Greek, but rather Albanian by language, customs and origin. Pouqueville also stated that their name derives from the ancient Greek tribe Selloi and their region was known as Selaida in antiquity. Henry Holland, a British traveller passing through the area between 1812 and 1813 referred to the Souliotes as being of "Albanian origin" and "belonging to the division of that people called the Tzamides" or Chams.

According to a Greek politician from the era Iakōbos Rizos-Nerulos, their maternal (primary) language was Greek and they also knew Albanian, and they have thus also been referred to as "Albanian-speaking Greeks". In the early 1840s, there were examples of Western travellers like James John Best hiring Souliotes to serve as guides while traversing the Balkans as they could speak "both Greek and Albanian, as well as the Italian and English languages". In 1866, British traveller Emily Anne Beaufort while in the region described the Souliotes as belonging to the "Tchamides, or Southern Albanians" and that their association with the Greeks was due to educative, religious and linguistic hellenisation. In 1869, British traveller Henry Fanshawe Tozer passing through the region referred to the Souliotes as belonging to the "Tchamides" that "spoke only the Albanian language", and in their capacity as "warriors... ruled and protected" the "Greek peasants" who cultivated the most fertile soil in Souli. In the early 1880s, British diplomat and traveller Valentine Chirol when passing through the area came across people inhabiting Souli who "had spoken Greek as well as Albanian", while he placed the Souli region within the confines of the then Albanian-speaking region referred to as "Tchamouria" or Chameria.

Historiography

Long after the Albanian migrations of the 15th century into central and southern Greece, newer waves of Albanian speaking populations such as the Souliotes migrated to Zagori in Greek Epirus, who before settling there spoke mostly Albanian. Many of them were already bilingual upon their arrival in Zagori, due to the immigration of Greeks to Souli and the Albanian-speaking population within Souli, such as the valley of Souli (Lakka-Suliots) having close contact with the Greek-speaking population of the wider area (Para-Suliots).

During the early nineteenth century Souliote exile in Corfu, the Souliote population was registered in official Corfiot documents as Arvanites, Albanesi or even Alvanites (Αλβανήτες) by individuals married into the Souliote community. According to Greek Corfiot historian Spyros Katsaros, he states that the Corfiot Orthodox Greek speaking population during the period of 1804–14 viewed the Souliotes as "Albanian refugees ... needing to be taught Greek". While K.D. Karamoutsos, a Corfiot historian of Souliote origin disputes this stating that the Souliotes were a mixed Graeco-Albanian population or ellinoarvanites. Other Greek historians such as Vasso Psimouli state that the Souliotes were of Albanian origin, spoke Albanian at home and eventually became bilingual in Greek. Thus in Greece today, the issue of ethnicity and origins regarding the Souliotes is contested and various views exist regarding whether they were Albanian, Albanian-speaking Greeks, or a combination of Hellenised Christian Albanians and Greeks who had settled in northern Greece.

Other academic sources have inferred that they were Greek-speaking and of Albanian origin, having originally spoken Albanian. Whereas some other academic sources have described the Souliotes as being "partly hellenized Albanian". R. A. Davenport noted that some believed that the nucleus of the population consisted of Albanians, who had sought refuge in the mountains after the death of Skanderbeg, and that others believed that shepherds settled with their families in the late 17th century, or that they settled from Gardhiki fleeing from the Turks. Scottish historian George Finlay called them a branch of Chams, which American ethnologist Laurie Kain Hart interpreted as them having initially spoken Albanian. British academic Miranda Vickers calls them "Christian Albanians". A NY Times article from 1880 calls them a "branch of the Albanian people". The Canadian professor of Greek studies Andre Gerolymatos has described them as "branch of the southern Albanian Tosks" and "Christian Albanians of Suli".

Written accounts of the Souliotic language

Further evidence on the language of the Souliotes is drawn from the Greek-Albanian dictionary composed in 1809 mainly by Markos Botsaris and his elders. Titos Yochalas who studied the dictionary concluded that either the mother tongue of the authors was Greek or the Greek language had a very strong influence on the local Albanian dialect, if the latter was possibly spoken in Souli. Robert Elsie noted that the dictionary contains 1,484 Albanian lexemes and "is important for our knowledge of the now exinct Suliot dialect of Albanian". Another written account on the language they used is the diary of Fotos Tzavellas, written during his captivity by Ali Pasha (1792–1793). This diary is written by F. Tzavellas himself in simple Greek with several spelling and punctuation mistakes. Emmanouel Protopsaltes, former professor of Modern Greek History at the University of Athens, who published and studied the dialect of this diary, concluded that Souliotes were Greek speakers originating from the area of Argyrkokastro or Chimara. Amongst people who spoke the local Albanian dialect of the area during the Ottoman era, a high status was attributed to the Greek language and it functioned as a second semi-official language that was also used in documents. In the early twentieth century within the Souliote community, there were examples of Souliote individuals still being fluent in the Albanian language like lieutenant Dimitrios (Takis) Botsaris, a direct descendant of the Botsaris' family.

Souliotes in folk art and culture

The Souliotic wars against the Ottoman Turks and Muslim Albanians of Ali Pasha in late 18th and early 19th century is the theme of a number of folk songs. The first collection of Souliotic songs was published by the French philologist Claude Fauriel in 1824 in his “Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne”, a cornerstone for French and Greek laography. (See Souliotic songs).

Theater plays and poems were produced during and soon after the Greek Revolution of 1821 for the Souliotes in general, and for certain heroes or events, such as Markos Botsaris or the Dance of Zalongo.