Manto Mavrogenous

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Manto Mavrogenous

Manto Magdalena Mavrogenous (Greek: Μαντώ Μαγδαληνή Μαυρογένους), (1796-July 1840) was a Greek heroine of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. A rich woman, she spent all her fortune for the Hellenic cause. Under her encouragement, her European friends contributed money and guns to the revolution.

[edit] Biography

Manto, the daughter of Dimitrios Mavrogenous, was born in Trieste (then in the Austrian Empire, now part of Italy). Her grandfather, the Phanariote Nikolaos Mavrogenous (Nikolaos Mavrogenis), was dragoman of the Ottoman Empire fleet and Prince of Wallachia. In 1809, when she was 13 years old, her family returned to Mykonos, the island of their origin. She was educated in Europe and studied at a college in Trieste, were she studied ancient Greek philosophy, history and spoke French, Italian and Turkish fluently.

In April 1821 she was told by her father that the Filiki Etaireia, the underground organization that Laskarina Bouboulina, another heroine of the Greek War was a member of, was preparing for revolution against the Ottoman rule. Like Bouboulina, she also participated in person in battles and enlightenment expeditions in Europe. Manto invited the leaders of Mykonos to a meeting and persuaded them to join the revolution.

Under her leadership the people of Mykonos defended bravely their island against enemy fources. She equipped, manned and "privateered" at her own expense, two ships which were sent to Euboea to persuaded the people there in the cause. Her ships soon joined forces with a number of other ships from other Greek islands.

In her later years, Manto lived on the island of Paro (Paros) where her home still stands as a historical monument, located close by the Panagia Ekatontapyliani (the Church of the Virgin Mary) which tradition says was founded by Saint Helen, mother of Constantine the Great.

She died on Paro in July 1840. To pay homage to Manto, the people of Mykonos have named after her Chora's central square where her bust has been raised. Greece has honored this heroine by naming several streets after her. The Greek government has released several commemorative coins in her honor.^[1]