Panos Bitsilis

Panos Bitzilis (Greek: Πάνος Μπιτζίλης) was an 18th-century General Consul of Russia in Albania and Himara[1] .[2][3]

Bitzilis came from a notable family of Himarë, modern Albania, then Ottoman Empire, that provided several officers to the Regimento Cimarioto (Himariote regiment) of the Venetian army. Additionally, it was also the first clan in Himara than offered its services to the Russian Army. Panos Bitsilis, being an influential personality, became the Russian consul in Albania and Himara, in the 1780s.[4]

During the Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) together with Loudovikos Sotiris from Lefkada, became the revolutionary leaders of an uprising in Epirus against the Ottomans.[5] He was also probably member of the Greek patriotic organization Filiki Eteria.[4]

References

  1. ↑ byli nazvany major grek L. Sotiri i podpolkovnik albanec P. Bicilli... (Grigorij L. Arš: Èteristkoe dviženie v Rossii: Osvobodit. bor'ba greč. naroda v načale XIX v. i rus.-greč. svjazi [Heterist Movement in Russia: Struggle of the Greek People for Independence at the beginning of the nineteenth century and Greek-Russian relations]; p. 85.)
  2. ↑ Το 1785 διορίζεται γενικός πρόξενος της Ρωσίας στην Αλβανία καί τή Χειμάρρα ο αλβανικής καταγωγής Πάνος Μπιτσίλης. (Γκριγκόρι Λ. Αρς: η Αλβανία καί η Ήπειρος στα τέλη του ιη' και στις αρχές του ιθ' αιώνα. Αθήνα, 1994, σελ. 31)
  3. ↑ Pappas, Nicholas Charles (1991). Greeks in Russian military service in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Institute for Balkan Studies. p. 86. (Russian Cunsuls of Greek Origin) Many of the Russian consuls and consular agents in the Ottoman Empire and the Venetian possessions in the Levant were Greeks who had served in Russia's wars against the Turks. The Bitsiles clan of Cheimarra, instrumental in fomenting uprisings in Epirus during the Russo-Turkish war of 1769-1774..."
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Banac Ivo, Ackerman John G., Szporluk Roman, Vucinich Wayne S. (1981). Nation and ideology: essays in honor of Wayne S. Vucinich. East European Monographs. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-914710-89-9.
  5. ↑ Pappas, Nicholas Charles (1991). Greeks in Russian military service in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Institute for Balkan Studies. p. 86.