The revolutionary upheaval in Roumeli did not have the same momentum as in the Peloponnese in March 1821. This fact was largely due to the presence of Ali Pasha in neighboring Epirus, in whose service many of the thieves and charioteers of the region were. The often bad and competitive relations of Roumeli’s armed forces created many obstacles to revolutionary planning.
Despite the difficulties in the project of the Revolution, on March 27, Panourias occupied Salona and conquered their citadel thirteen days later. The example of Panourias was followed by other chieftains of Eastern Roumeli, such as Skaltsas, Odysseas Androutsos and Yiannis Gouras. At the end of March, the “good soldier of Christ” Athanasios Diakos proclaimed the Revolution in Livadia, a man “very liberal, good at heart, unphilosophic and loving the eternally brilliant clothing”.
As Ioannis Filimon informs us (Historical Papers on the Greek Revolution, vol. III, p. 78), “just as Panourias and Skaltsas, so also Athanasios Diakos was shown by himself and not through hereditary chieftainship”. He was born in 1788 in Ano Mousounitsa of Fokida, although according to some sources his birthplace was the village of Artotina. His real surname was Grammatikos or Massavetas, which in Ottoman has exactly the same meaning as in Greek. He acquired the surname Diakos, since at the age of seventeen he “brought forth a son of repentance” in the monastery of Agios Ioannis Prodromos in Artotina, wishing to follow the life of a monk. “But even earlier and already disturbed, as a handsome man, under the abomination of one of the agades of Doridos Ferhat Effendus, he left the monastery at the abbot’s urging and fled to the chieftain Skalchan, becoming a charioteer soldier from a turbaned monk” (ibid., p. 79). After he left the monastery and devoted himself to the life of an armed man, he stood out for his bravery and martial skills, attracting the attention of Ali Pasha, who wanted to enlist him in his corps. Ali placed him alongside Androutsos and Vasilios Vousgos.
Diakos was one of the first chieftains of Roumeli to take action. The Ottoman defenders of Livadia surrendered on March 31st and on April 1st the revolutionary flag was raised at the city’s fortress and at the “Hora” position. A grand ecclesiastical service followed, which was attended by the Metropolitan of Athens Dionysios, the Bishop of Talanti Neophytos and the Bishop of Salona Isaias. Diakos then designed his war flag: Saint George on horseback with the inscription “LIBERTY OR DEATH”.
During the first period of the Revolution in Roumeli, “Nikolaos Nakos, another Asimakis Zaimis of the Peloponnese, as a serious and excellent person, and Athanasios Diakos, another Ilias Mavromichalis of Laconia for bravery, liberality and popularity, were the two axes, all the others turning, the politicians about the first, and the military about the second” (ibid., p. 75). In April, however, the situation worsened for the Greeks of Roumeli, as strong Ottoman forces under the leadership of Omer Bryonis headed south in order to suppress the Revolution. A great panic was caused among the Christians. Diakos, Panourias and Diovouniotis decided to stop the descent of the Ottoman troops. Diakos and his approximately five hundred men took up positions on the Alamana bridge in Sperchios.
On April 23, the day of the feast of Saint George, who was carried by the flag of Diakos, the attack of the troops of Omer Bryonis against the Greek positions in the area of Thermopylae took place. The Ottomans greatly outnumbered Diako’s men. Nearly two hundred of his men were killed in the battle, while he himself remained standing to the end. Being seriously wounded in the right shoulder, Diakos was unable to repel Omer’s soldiers, who seized him and brought him before him. When Diakos refused to give evidence about the Revolution, replying that “the Christians all got up to the chariots, to be enslaved”, Omer gave the order for “the conversion and the burning of this” (ibid., p. 196).
Athanasios Diakos died a martyr’s death on April 24. Remembering the heroic resistance of the Spartans at Thermopylae, Philemon likened Diakos to Leonidas. “And already Diakos, until then Leonidas, lined up after the few against the many. […] and then Leonidas is isolated after numerous Spartans and Thespians, and already Diakos is isolated after numerous Boeotians and Locrians”.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigoni-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis