Thanasis Vagias
Thanasis Vagias (Greek: Θανάσης Βάγιας, 1765–1834) was a Greek counselor and confidant of Ali Pasha, a Muslim Albanian ruler of Ottoman Epirus.[1][1]
Biography
Thanasis Vagias was born in Lekël, Tepelenë.[2] His name had become notorious because, under Ali's service, he led an attack against the village of Kardhiq, near Gjirokaster, modern southern Albania. As a result of this operation, hundreds of men, women and children were killed.[3] When the Greek War of Independence ended, Vagias moved to the newly founded Greek state and was given a government post and later acquired a pension, by the head of state of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.[1]
According to various authors, Vagias was wrongly regarded as a traitor of the Greek cause by various historians and authors of that period, like Ioannis Makrygiannis, Aristotelis Valaoritis, and Alexandre Dumas, père.[1][4][5] Valaoritis's masterpiece was titled Thanasis Vagias after him. In this work, Vagias is presented as a traitor, who after his death returns to his home place as a vampire.[5] Additionally, one of the main characters of the Greek traditional shadow theatre, Karagiozis, is named Thanasis Vagias, who is a servant of Ali Pasha and is portrayed as a cowardly warrior.[6]
References
Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Woodhouse, Lidderdale & Makriyannis 1966: "VAYIAS, Thanasis, 1765-1834, Epirot Greek, a confidant of Ali Pasha, wrongly thought by Makriyannis to be a betrayer of the Greek cause. Returned to Greece 1829 and given Government post by Capodistrias."
- ↑ Murray 1845, p. 251.
- ↑ Santas 1976, p. 67: "Thanasis Vayias, a man who allegedly led the hordes of Ali Pasha against a village of Epirus, Gardiki, resulting in the massacre of seven hundred men, women, and children."
- ↑ Dumas 2008, Chapter V, p. 36: "Fear was nearly taking the place of mercy, words of pardon were on his lips, when a certain Athanasius Vaya [Vagias], a Greek schismatic, and a favourite of the pacha's, whose illegitimate son he was supposed to be, advanced at the head of the scum of the army, and offered to carry out the death sentence."
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Pallis 1964, Τhe Ballad-Poetry of Modern Greece, p. 67.
- ↑ Myrsiades 1988, pp. 66, 210.
Sources
- Dumas, Alexandre (2008). Ali Pacha: Celebrated Crimes. Teddington, Middlesex: Echo Library. ISBN 1-4068-7013-7. (Project Gutenberg EBook of Ali Pacha: Celebrated Crimes)
- Murray, John (1845). A Hand-book for Travellers in the Ionian Islands, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and Constantinople. London, United Kingdom: J. Murray.
- Myrsiades, Linda S. (1988). The Karagiozis Heroic Performance in Greek Shadow Theater. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-429-0.
- Pallis, Alexander Anastasius (1964). Greek Miscellany. A Collection of Essays on Medieval and Modern Greece. Athens, Greece: Pallis. (Myriobiblos - Τhe Ballad-Poetry of Modern Greece)
- Santas, Constantine (1976). Aristotelis Valaoritis. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8057-6246-4.
- Woodhouse, C. M.; Lidderdale, H. A.; Makriyannis, Ioannes (1966). The Memoirs of General Makriyannis, 1797-1864. New York, New York and London, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
External links
- Θανάσης Βάγιας (Greek) Thanasis Vagias, by A. Valaoritis.