Giorgakis Olympios | |
|---|---|
 A portrait of Giorgakis Olympios National Historical Museum of Athens | |
| Native name | Γιωργάκης Ολύμπιος Iordache Olimpiotul |
| Born | 1772 |
| Died | 1821 (aged 48–49) |
| Allegiance |  Serbian revolutionaries Filiki Etaireia |
| Battles / wars | First Serbian Uprising Greek War of Independence |
Giorgakis Olympios (Greek:Γιωργάκης Ολύμπιος;Romanian:Iordache Olimpiotul;Serbian:Капетан Јоргаћ; 1772–1821) was anarmatole and military commander during theGreek War of Independence against theOttoman Empire. Noted for his activities with theFiliki Eteria in theDanubian Principalities, he is considered to be a leading figure of the Greek Revolution.
Olympios was an ethnicAromanian.[1][2] He was born in the village ofLivadi, nearLarissa, onMount Olympus, inOttoman-ruled Greece. After joining theArmatolikia in the Olympus area around the age of 20, Olympios became a prominent member of the local society by protecting villages from theAli Pasha's raids, when the powerful Pasha started expanding his authority out ofEpirus. In 1798, however, he was forced to abandon his birthplace, due to Ali Pasha's hostility towards him, and fled toSerbia, where he collaborated for some time withKarađorđe Petrović during theFirst Serbian Uprising (he is known in Serbia as Kapetan Jorgać,Captain Giorgakis).
Olympios became a supporter of the ideas diffused byRigas Feraios for a commonBalkan revolution against the Ottoman rule, and moved toWallachia. There, with the help ofConstantine Ypsilantis, he composed a military force ofGreeks to fight alongside theRussian Empire in theRusso-Turkish War of 1806. After theBattle of Ostrova, he was named aPolkovnik in theRussian Army.EmperorAlexander I included him in the Russian military escort during theCongress of Vienna, where Olympios met withAlexander Ypsilantis, aFiliki Eteria leader.
Olympios entered Filiki Eteria in 1817, taking the high rank ofShepherd. He initiated many others in the Eteria, and established contacts with the WallachianPandurTudor Vladimirescu, who led the paralleluprising of 1821. Olympios marriedČučuk Stana, the widow ofHajduk Veljko, who had arrived from Serbia to participate in the Greek War of Independence as a fighter, alongside his own men. They had three children: sons Milanos and Alexandros and daughter Euphrosyne.[3][failed verification]
At the beginning of theGreek War of Independence, when the Eteria began its expedition inMoldavia and Wallachia, Olympios was appointed leader of the Greek forces inBucharest by Alexander Ypsilantis, at first cooperating withTudor Vladimirescu, who led the parallelWallachian uprising. However, when Vladimirescu distanced himself from the Filiki Eteria, Olympios was responsible for his arrest on 1 June inGoleşti - following which Vladimirescu was summarily put to death .
He took part in theBattle of Sculeni on 29 June 1821, when Ottoman forces chased him (along withYiannis Pharmakis and a small force of 400 Greeks) to theSecu Monastery in theNeamț County, where the Greeks made their last stand. Olympios died during the Ottoman attack to the monastery, when he blew up the gunpowder storage to not surrender himself.
His widow and children fled toKhotyn, then part of theBessarabia Governorate of theRussian Empire, where other people of theSerbian and Greek War, had taken refuge.
After the liberation ofGreece, Stana and her children moved toAthens.[3]
Following the dissolution of the Aromanian collaborationistRoman Legion during theAxis occupation of Greece, theNational Liberation Front (EAM) of theGreek resistance sponsored the establishment of an Aromanian armed band, in theory separate from the EAM, named after Olympios to draw Aromanians into the resistance effort against the Axis occupation.[4]
... of a separate Vlach armed band, named after Georgakis Olympios, the Vlach hero of the Greek War of Independence.
Indeed, the list of examples of Aromanians in Greek history is quite impressive: [...] Georgakis Olympios (1772-1821, member of "Filiki Etaireia", fought in the revolution of 1821)
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