Mystras, known as the “wonder of the Morea,” which lies in the southeastern Peloponnesian Peninsula, was once the center of Byzantine power in southern Greece. The town was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989.

As the center of Byzantine power, Mystras quickly attracted inhabitants and institutions; the bishopric was transferred there from Sparta, and its cathedral, the Metropolis or Church of Hagios Demetrios, was built after 1264.

In 1448, the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaeologos, was crowned there.

Many monasteries were founded in Mystra as well, including those of Our Lady Pantanassa, and of Οur Lady Perivleptos. Mystras reached its zenith of power and prestige during the time of the Despots, with the building of magnificent churches which were outstanding examples of Late Byzantine ecclesial architecture.

Mystras’ unique architecture was influenced by the so-called “Helladic” school of Byzantine architecture as well as that of the great city of Constantinople. The paintings inside the churches reflects the quality and the eclecticism of the art of Constantinople.

However, elements of Romanesque and Gothic art are also present in Mystra’s churches as a result of the city’s wide range of contacts during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

The beauty of its churches, which during the Palaeologan Renaissance were covered with magnificent frescoes, the renown of its libraries and the glory of its writers, gave substance thereafter to the legend of the “Wonder of the Morea.”

Great thinkers from Mystras include the philosopher Georgios Gemistos Plethon and his pupil, the intellectual Bessarion, later a cardinal of the Roman Catholic church, who is responsible for bringing neo-platonic humanism to Italy.

Mystras is a truly outstanding example of late Byzantine culture which influenced the rest of the Mediterranean world and beyond.

Captured by the Turks in 1460, it was occupied thereafter by them and then by the Venetians. After 1834, the inhabitants of Mystras gradually began moving to the modern town of Sparta, leaving only the breathtaking medieval ruins, which still stand proudly in the beautiful landscape.

Strolling through the Kastro (the Frankish Castle), the Upper Town and the Lower Town, a visitor can visualize Frankish princes and princesses living in palatial mansions, foreign delegations arriving bearing gifts, as well as peasants, pilgrims and traders filling the bustling streets.

The “Greek Philosopher” app launched recently gathers more than six hundred of the most profound words of wisdom from the major schools of Greek thought — and delivers them straight to you on your mobile device.

Based on original sources, this work is a compilation of carefully-selected quotes spanning from the sixth century BC to the first century AD.

Thinkers from the Greek schools of Stoicism, Cynicism and Epicureanism are among the thirty-six Greek philosophers featured in the app.

The quotes have the dual purpose of providing food for thought in today’s modern world and reminding the user of the invaluable contribution of ancient Greek thought to modern civilization.

The following are some examples of the ancient wisdom to be found on the new app: “Many are knowledgeable, yet are lacking in wisdom,” from Democritus, fourth century BC.

“The cause of all sins lies in the person’s excessive selfishness,” from the wisdom of Plato, also from the fourth century BC.

The quote “All things were the same. Then, mind came along and set them in order,” is from the great thinker Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century BC.

And, last but not least, is the pithy quote from Pythagoras, who lived in ancient Greece during the sixth century BC: “Do not say a little in many words, but a great deal in few.”

Everyone knows that Greece is the cradle of Western Civilization, the birthplace of democracy, that it has a stunningly beautiful coastline, and that our Independence Day is March 25th. However, there are some facts that very few people are aware of.

There may be some things about Greece and its history that even many Greeks don’t know. Why not take this opportunity to brush up on some interesting facts and factoids about this most fascinating country before you travel there for an idyllic vacation this summer.

For instance —

• There are about 2,000 islands and islets in Greece, but only 170 of them are inhabited. The largest, Crete, has an area of ​​8,260 square kilometers.
• Greece is the number one country in the world in the natural sponge trade.
• Athens had a population of about 7,000 only two centuries ago. Today the capital’s residents exceed five million, almost half of the country’s population.
• Surrounded by the sea, there is no place in Greece that is more than 137 km (85 miles) away from the sea. Greece has the tenth-longest coastline in the world.
• Greece’s merchant fleet accounts for 70 percent of all European ships. Domestic law requires 75 percent of a ship’s crew to have Greek citizenship.
• Last year, Greece welcomed over 30 million visitors — almost three times its own population of 11 million.
• Approximately 7 percent of all the marble quarried on the planet comes from Greece.
• In the 1950s, only 30 percent of Greeks knew how to read and write. Today, the illiteracy rate is just 5 percent.
• Greece ranks third in the world in olive oil production. The cultivation of olive trees in the country began in ancient times. Indeed, some olive trees which are known to have been planted in the thirteenth century still produce fruit.
• Even though Greece is surrounded by the sea, 80 percent of the country is mountainous. The country does not have even one navigable river because of its particular geomorphology.
• Over twelve million people in the world speak Greek. There are ten million Greek residents, about one million Cypriots, and another million Diaspora Greeks, mainly in the US, Australia and in the countries of the EU.
• The Greek language has been spoken for approximately 3,000 years, making it one of the oldest languages ​​in the world.
• Athens has been inhabited for 7,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in Europe.
• On average, Greeks enjoy 250 days of sunshine a year. This corresponds to 6,000 hours of sun per year.
• Life expectancy in ancient Greece was only 36 years for women and 45 years for men. Of the children who were born in those times, only one half managed to survive infancy.
• Today, life expectancy has reached 77 years for men and 82 for Greek women. Greece ranks 26th in the world among countries with the highest life expectancy.
• Greece has more archaeological museums than any other country in the world — which is only natural considering the age of its civilization.
• About 100,000 birds from northern Europe and Asia spend the winter in Greece.
• Slaves in ancient Greece accounted for 40-80 percent of the population of city-states. They were mainly prisoners of war, abandoned children or the children of slaves.
• Wildlife in Greece includes 116 species of mammals, 18 amphibians, 59 species of reptiles, 240 species of birds and 107 species of fish. However, about half the mammalian species are now in danger of extinction.
• Government corruption cost the country approximately 800 million euros in 2009 alone.
• Eons ago in geological time, Greece was a rocky mass, covered completely by seawater.  Its mountainous area was formed after the collision of its tectonic plate with Europe, and even today the earthquakes in the Aegean are related to the movements of its particular plate within the lithosphere.

A new book released recently documents hundreds of shipwrecks in Greek waters from 1830 to the mid of the 20th century.

Hellenic Navy Commander Panagiotis Tripontikias, the author of the book “Shipwrecks in the Greek Seas 1830-1951” says that Greece contains an incredible — and largely uncharted — wealth from countless shipwrecks which lie beneath its waters.

According to the Athens News Agency (AMNA), Tripontikias said that 1,061 ships had sunk in Greek waters just during World War II alone, while little has been done to properly record these wrecks. The naval commander noted that his book could serve as a resource for exploring this “sunken treasure.”

“Research shows some very good examples of how, for example, the US Navy manages its own shipwrecks. In the US, there are about 2,500 shipwrecks of warships alone, and 14,000 aircraft,” he said, noting that the US Navy has founded its own separate Naval History and Heritage command.

The US policy was that shipwrecks should be left undisturbed except for educational, historic and archaeological purposes, Tripontikias noted, protecting them from looters and smugglers.

In Greece, all shipwrecks which occurred over fifty years in the past have been designated as “historic and protected.” Diving down to view them has involved going through various legal procedures.

To fully exploit them for diving tourism, the naval commander added, it was necessary to authenticate and record these shipwrecks systematically. This had never happened in Greece, though some positive moves had been made in this direction with the involvement of Greek universities.

On the best locations for diving in Greece, Tripontikias advised that divers should first contact diving schools near to the area one plans to visit, noting that “all of them have something unique to show.”

The naval commander’s comprehensive book on Greek shipwrecks is available in electronic form for free at the following site:

https://www.openbook.gr/nayagia-stis-ellinikes-thalasses/.

May 1, 2019 marks the forty-third anniversary of Alexandros Panagoulis‘ death on the first of May in 1976 in Athens.

Panagoulis became well-known for his brave struggle against the military dictatorship which ravaged Greece and its society for nearly seven years, between 1967 and 1974.

His name became globally known one year after the governmental takeover by the colonels, after he was arrested for his participation in an assassination attempt of the dictator George Papadopoulos, on August 13, 1968.

The attempt failed, the dictator survived and Panagoulis was arrested, only to be brutally tortured by the military police under the cruel regime of the Colonels.

In an interview with the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci after the restoration of democracy in Greece, Panagoulis famously declared, ”I didn’t want to kill a man. I’m not capable of killing a man. I wanted to kill a tyrant.”

During the years of his detention, Panagoulis suffered numerous types of brutal torture which left their scars on his body forever.

When the military junta collapsed in 1974 following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Panagoulis participated in the first free democratic elections held after the ending of the cruel dictatorship.

He was elected a member of the Greek Parliament for the Center Union party, the historic rival of Greece’s post-war Right.

But on May 1, 1976, Panagoulis suddenly died in a staged car crash in Athens.

Reportedly, a frantically-speeding car careening along Vouliagmenis Avenue diverted Panagoulis’ car and forced it to crash.

The lawmaker was killed almost instantaneously.

The Greek press speculated immediately that Panagoulis had been assassinated. The crash had occurred two days before the scheduled publication of documents which would have allegedly provided evidence of how the colonels in the military dictatorship of 1967 had collaborated with the Nazi occupiers of Greece between 1941 and 1944.

The widely-believed scenario that Panagoulis was deliberately murdered was never proven, but the majority of those in Greek society believed that his death was meticulously planned by people who still supported the dictators.

In the years following Panagoulis’ premature death at the age of 36, none of the alleged evidence ever came to light, leaving the case shrouded in darkness.

What remains clear, however, is that Panagoulis became a modern-day Greek hero, with numerous streets and squares now bearing his name, an eternal reminder of Greece’s destiny to safeguard democracy and freedom.

The Greek Central Archaeological Council (KAS) decided on Wednesday that a part of the Parthenon, now in ruins on the Athens Acropolis, is to be rebuilt using mostly materials which are now lying on the ground.

It is believed to be the first time that a section of the ancient monument will be rebuilt to reflect its former glory.

The KAS has decided to rebuild the “cella” of the Parthenon, which once housed the chryselephantine statue of Athena Parthenos, sculpted by Phidias and dedicated in the year 439 or 438 BC.

“Today’s meeting is of great importance, because by utilizing research concerning the restoration of the cella we will be able to reconstruct its appearance, a very important event for the later history of the Parthenon,” a statement by KAS said.

The appearance of the cella has been known, as it has been described and likened to other images. The decorative stonework was originally highly colored.

The statue of Athena Parthenos, universally recognized as a piece of extraordinarily beautiful ancient art, represented Athena armed with a spear, shield and helmet, and accompanied by a serpent. Her right arm was extended before her, and her hand held a statue of victory.

The Athena Parthenos statue remained in the cella until the fifth century AD, when it was removed to Constantinople — and subsequently disappeared.

The complex rebuilding effort, which will include reusing 360 marble and stone pieces currently lying broken on the ground, is expected to take years to be completed.

Thousands of people made a kind of a pilgrimage on May 11 and 12 to the site of the battlefields surrounding Greece’s legendary Fort Roupel and the underground forts of the Metaxas Line, on the border of Greece and Bulgaria.

The fortunate visitors to the historic site re-created the battle of the Fort with reenactments which included explosions and other stunning effects, and were treated to an air show from the F-16 Zeus Aircraft Group.

Groups of people dressed in period World War II uniforms and equipped themselves with authentic armaments before the impressive reenactment of the Greek struggle to fend off the German army in April of 1941.

The reenactment of the horrific battle also included stunning effects, such as fire and explosions, bringing to life once again the desperate Nazi fight to occupy the fort and march toward the south.

The event presented the last dramatic hours of the battle and the subsequent negotiations for the surrender of the great city of Thessaloniki.

”It is the third year that the Municipality of Sintiki is organizing this event with the support of local authorities and professionals. There were about 5,000 people in the region last year,” Panagiotis Savvidis, one of the organizers of the event, told the Greek Reporter.

A pleasant surprise was a spectacular dance party that took place on Saturday night with people dressed in costumes from the time period.

The previous night, a tavern in the central square of Promachonas, hosted a show of rebetiko songs of the period between 1940 and 1941, offering a unique experience to the lucky guests.

Roupel is a fortress on the northern border of Greece’s Central Macedonia region. It was constructed in 1914, just prior to the First World War. Fort Roupel became part of the fortifications in the famous Metaxas Line in the 1930s, and it was the center of the defense during the German invasion of Greece in April of 1941.

Today marks the anniversary of the death of a lady who lived alone on a remote Greek island but whose small daily act of patriotism has seen her compared to France’s Joan of Arc or Britain’s Boudicca.

Despina Achladioti, born 129 years ago on Kastellorizo — then a part of the Ottoman empire and only kilometers from the Turkish coast — lived a hard life on the small, rocky  island.

In 1927 she sailed with her husband to the even smaller island of Ro, next to Kastellorizo, where they eked out a living on the deserted rock, living off subsistence farming. No one actually knows why they chose to live there alone.

However, after her husband died in 1940, Despina continued to live her life on Ro — just 800 meters from the Turkish coast — joined only by her blind mother, who sailed from Kastellorizo.

Even though Ro — named after the Greek letter for its distinctive shape — did not formally join the Greek state until 1947, as the Dodecanese were controlled by Italy, Despina would raise and lower a Greek flag every day.

She did this every day as her home island of Kastellorizo was invaded by the Italians, bombed by the Luftwaffe and its 14,000 or so inhabitants were evacuated by the British.

This small act, which she carried out every day of her lonely life on Ro in all types of weather, was recognized by the Greek state upon her death on May 13, 1982, when she was buried on the island with full military honors.

That military tradition continues, with Greek soldiers stationed there raising and lowering the flag every day, come what may.

The “Lady of Ro,” as Despina is known, embodies a spirit of pride, determination and resistance with which many Greeks identify strongly. Her image is used to summon up a spirit of national pride which has become ubiquitous across the diaspora.

It’s a worldwide legacy which the lady herself, who barely strayed in her long life from two tiny islands in the Mediterranean, would struggle to even comprehend.

A workshop in Athens produces the only officially-certified replicas of ancient Greek masterpieces which are sold at the country’s archaeological sites, monuments and museums.

The exact copies are made by hand, with great expertise, by talented sculptors, painters, conservationists and craftsmen at Athens’ Archaeological Resources Fund workshop.

Gods and heroes, mortals and immortals are reproduced there, either sculpted in marble or cast in bronze. Talented painters also render the original colors the statues or artifacts were given, and gold leaf is skillfully applied to some of the objects.

The replicas, which are also sent to universities and related institutions for educational purposes, are cast from the originals and bear an official seal attesting to this fact.

Watch the video below to see just how our priceless treasures are painstakingly reproduced for the entire world to enjoy, learn from, and marvel over.

It was exactly 117 years ago — May 17, 1902 — when Spirydon Stais visited a museum which housed treasures from an ancient shipwreck.

Among them was a round, green-encrusted piece of metal which caught his eye, as it looked like nothing else taken up from the bottom of the sea surrounding the Greek island of Antikythera.

The shipwreck had been accidentally discovered by local fishermen. One of them had emerged from the water clutching a bronze arm — the first find from the Antikythera wreckage.

Stais, a Greek politician, was the man who organized the ancient ship’s underwater excavation. The findings were plentiful — and staggering in their import. But the strange object which stood out from the coins, pottery and sculptures was the most important of all.

It was what was later to be known as the “Antikythera Mechanism,” dubbed by scientists and archaeologists as the world’s first ‘computer.’

The ancient machine had been buried at the bottom of the sea for about 2,100 years. It consisted of bronze gears and metallic mechanical parts, which had once moved smoothly but were rusty and decayed.

For decades, archaeologists and scientists tried to discover what the complex mechanism was. They estimated that it had been built between 200 and 70 BC. In recent decades, they used X-rays and CT scans to look inside the Antikythera Mechanism and reconstruct it.

Scientists discovered that the device was an elaborate construction of some thirty interlocking, spinning gears which controlled dials tracking the sun, the moon, eclipses, planets — and even the schedule for the Olympics.

A hand crank spun the gears which moved the hands on the dials. In this way, the user could predict eclipses and the passage of celestial bodies through the sky.

In 2015, Kyriakos Efstathiou, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and head of the group which studied the Antikythera Mechanism said: “All of our research has shown that our ancestors used their deep knowledge of astronomy and technology to construct such mechanisms, and based only on this conclusion, the history of technology should be re-written because it sets its start many centuries back.”

The professor further explained that the Antikythera Mechanism is undoubtedly the first machine of antiquity which can be classified by the scientific term of “computer,” because “it is a machine with an entry where we can import data, and this machine can bring and create results based on a scientific mathematical scale.

“Never before did we have such a device,” he declared.

“We do not simply refer to a computer but to a super-computer,” Efstathiou emphasized.

In 2016, an inscription on the device was revealed, something like a label or a user’s manual. It included a discussion of the colors of eclipses, details used at the time in the making of astrological predictions.

It has been 100 years since the Pontian Genocide, and Pontic Greeks remember May 19 as a black day each and every year. At the same time, it is a date used to strengthen the bonds between them all across the world.

Pontic Greeks are Diaspora people, spread all over the globe, but they are tied together by their traditions, the associations they have formed in many countries and, more importantly, by their deep Orthodox faith.

The roots of Pontic Greeks

The first recorded Greek colony in the area of the Black Sea (Pontus) was established in Sinope around the year 800 BC. It is known that the first Pontic Greeks to colonize the area were merchants from the Ionian Greek city-state of Miletus.

Before the time of the settlement, the Black Sea had been referred to as “Axeinos Pontos” (“Inhospitable Sea”). After the settlement, the name was changed to the exact opposite, “Euxeinos Pontos” (Hospitable Sea). Soon, the Greek settlers established additional colonies along the entire Black Sea coastline in what are today the nations of Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania.

Pontus flourished greatly during the Byzantine era. It was the birthplace of the Komnenos dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1082 to 1185, a time when the empire recovered much of Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.

In the aftermath of the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the “Empire of Trebizond” was established by Alexios I of Trebizond, a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos, the patriarch of the Komnenos dynasty.

Pontus was in effect the last bastion of the Byzantine Empire. Even though Constantinople and the rest of the empire fell at the hands of the Ottomans, it took them eighteen more years to finally defeat the Greek resistance in Pontus.

During this long period of resistance, many Pontic Greek nobles and aristocrats married foreign emperors and into royal dynasties, most notably those of medieval Russia, medieval Georgia, and the Safavid Persian dynasty. Pontians also migrated to what is now southern Russia and the Caucasus.

Pontians flourish in the 19th century

Like many mountain people, Pontic Greeks moved a great deal, but in their case they tended to go in the direction of the Caucasus and Russia.

By the mid-nineteenth century, the numbers of Greeks in Pontus had grown a great deal, and this was reflected in their economic power. In 1865, there were 265,000 Pontians — but by 1880 their number had exploded to 330,000.

When the Russian empire extended its territory to the south, particularly into the Caucasus, it pushed back the Muslim populations and attracted Christian populations to resettle the lands. The settlement of the Pontic Greeks was encouraged in the valleys of the Caucasus to the south of Tbilisi, as well as in the steppe region of Kars-Ardahan, on the Armenian plateau of the Anti-Caucasus.

In the early twentieth century, their number had neared 700,000. In the year 1860, there were one hundred schools in Pontus, along with printing businesses, newspapers, magazines, clubs and theaters. The Trebizond region had one of the highest literacy rates in the Ottoman Empire.

Pontians also displayed great entrepreneurial skills, making then excellent merchants. Although the majority of people were farmers, Pontic Greeks had a well-educated, cosmopolitan middle class.

Persecution — and genocide 

The year 1908 was a milestone for the peoples of the dying Ottoman Empire. It was the year of the Young Turk movement, the ultranationalist party which launched the beginning of the persecution of Christian communities and the Turkification of the region.

Using the pretext of national security, accusing the Pontians and Armenians of collaborating with, or fighting on the side of the Russians, the Turks began to persecute the Greek population, which ultimately led to their genocide.

First, the Turks began by displacing the majority of the Greek population in Asia Minor’s inhospitable hinterland, via so-called “labor battalions.” The men who did not join the Turkish army were forced to work in quarries, mines and building roads under the harshest possible conditions. Most of the men would soon begin to perish from hunger and disease.

Before long, to avoid the depredations of the Turks —  which had now included open murders, deportations and the burning of villages — the Pontic Greeks took to the mountains to salvage what was left of their lives.

From 1917–1922, there existed an unrecognized state by the name of “The Republic of Pontus”, which was led by Chrysanthus, the Metropolitan of Trebizond. At the time, Greece and the Entente powers even considered the creation of a Hellenic autonomous state in Pontus, a “Ponto-Armenian Federation.”

In 1919, on the fringes of the Paris Peace Conference, Metropolitan Chrysanthus proposed the establishment of a fully independent Republic of Pontus, but neither Greece nor the other delegations supported this.

The plan was thwarted by the Turks, who took advantage of this turn of events to advance to their “Final Solution” — which would ultimately mean the massacre of tens of thousands of Pontians.

On May 19, 1919, Ataturk landed in Samsun to begin the second and most brutal phase of the Pontic Genocide under the guidance of German and Soviet advisers. Thousands of Greeks would be slaughtered by the Turkish army — and just as many by irregular bands loyal to Topal Osman.

By the time of the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 and including one year later, the number of Pontians who had died exceeded 200,000. It is impossible to arrive at an exact figure, but some historians put the true number at 350,000.

Population exchange and immigration

Many ethnic Greeks who had been able to somehow escape the Turkish sword fled as refugees to southern Russia.

After the end of the 1919–22 Greco-Turkish War, most of the Pontic Greeks remaining in the Ottoman Empire were transported to Greece under the terms of the population exchange stipulations in the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne between Greece and Turkey. Their number is estimated to be approximately 400,000.

The Pontians would settle in Macedonia and Thrace, especially in the prefectures of Thessaloniki, Pella, Kilkis, Florina, Drama and Serres, all regions which at the time were sparsely populated.

Most refugees tended to settle in farming areas, with relatively few going to the city of Thessaloniki. This settlement took place once again in a mostly mountainous region in northern Greece, in a Balkan region on the border with the Former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

These Pontic Greeks, referred to as “Caucasians” by the others, once again found themselves in the situation of acting as pioneers and defenders of the frontiers, in effect replacing the Slavic-speaking populations who had left for Bulgaria at the end of the Balkan Wars.

After World War II, during the 1950s and especially the 1960s, the poverty of the Pontic population in Macedonian villages spurred massive migrations to the major Greek urban centers of Athens and Thessaloniki and to Western Europe.

Many Pontic Greeks also ended up in Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the U.S. However, unlike earlier migrations, these were purely voluntary, and were undertaken for economic reasons.

Surprisingly, following the collapse of the USSR in 1990, families of Russian-speaking Pontic Greeks began migrating back to Greece. Many of them came to settle in the same Macedonian villages in which the Pontic Greeks had first settled, in the hope that they might find distant relatives or compatriots originating from the same Pontic regions.

Others migrated directly to the large urban centers where the economy was better.

The rich legacy and iconography of Pontic Greeks 

The diaspora Pontic Greeks in Greece, Australia, the United States and Northern Europe continue to remember their mountainous homeland and places of origin in the Pontus through their associations and churches. They do not claim any territory whatsoever as their homeland, but they do ask the Turkish state to recognize the genocide of their ancestors.

Pontians throughout the world are united through cultural and religious exchanges via a national and transnational network of associations and ecclesiastical institutions. Hellenism and Orthodoxy are the core of their ethnic identity.

Throughout the years, Pontic Greeks have created a rich iconography which serves as an important element which preserves their ethnic identity and transmits it to the next generation. The icon of the Panagia of Soumela is the focal point of Pontic iconography and the ultimate symbol of their unity. This particular holy icon is a symbol which has many facets – it represents not only the Byzantine Empire, but their roots within Pontus and Greek Orthodoxy.

An even more important reminder of their history is the stunning Monastery of the Panagia of Soumela, perched on Mount Mela (“Black Mountain”) in Trebizond, today’s Trabzon, in Turkey.

This sanctuary is the meetingplace of a great annual gathering which takes the form of a pilgrimage. Diaspora Pontians from all over the world meet there every year to celebrate their identity, to honor their ancestors, and to ensure that their heritage will be transmitted from one generation to the next.

From the 1970s and onward, non-religious elements were also added to the Pontic iconography. The Pontic resistance fighters in their traditional costumes, armed to the teeth with daggers and pistols, dancing a war dance, have become widely recognizable images.

The flag — with the eagle facing toward Constantinople — is another addition to Pontic iconography. Striking black and white photographs taken of Pontic Greeks before and during the genocide are also displayed in museums, galleries and Pontic restaurants worldwide.

Today, on the 100th anniversary of the genocide, the aim of all the Pontic associations throughout the world is for every nation to recognize the crime against humanity committed by the Turkish State in the dark years between 1913 and 1922.

Sources: Archeion Pontou, Britannica, Wikipedia

Hundreds of Pontic Greeks gathered in central Thessaloniki on Wednesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the genocide perpetrated by the Turks upon their ancestors.

The crowd formed a human chain with the letter “G”, for Genocide, and later formed the phrase “No More Genocides” at Thessaloniki’s Aristotelous Square.

Yannis Papadopoulos, the president of the Youth Coordination Committee, declared that “this image of ‘G’ through social media sends a message that is stronger than words. We want this message and this image to travel all around the world, and for foreigners to see who we are and learn about the Greek Genocide of Pontus.”

Pontian organizations are planning an event for Saturday which will feature the symbolic raising up of 100 lights at midnight in Thessaloniki’s harbor, in memory of the estimated 353,000 innocent people who lost their lives in the atrocity.

May 19th is the official day of the commemoration of the genocide, and it will be marked by many events throughout the nation of Greece, including the cities of Thessaloniki and Athens.

Pontian Greeks may have been forced out of their homeland one hundred years ago, but their language still lives today, in communities near Turkey’s Black Sea coast.

From antiquity up until medieval times, the area of Trebizon, or Trabzon, on the Black Sea coast, lay at the heart of the Greek-speaking world.

The land of the legendary Amazon kingdom was colonized by the Greeks in the eighth and seventh centuries BC, and was immortalized in Greek mythology as the area from which Jason and his crew of fifty Argonauts began their journey across the Black Sea on his quest for the Golden Fleece.

Studies conducted by historians and linguists suggest that thousands of Muslim Pontians in today’s northeast Turkey speak a Greek dialect which is remarkably close to the extinct language of the earliest years of ancient Greece.

Most of these individuals live in a cluster of villages near the contemporary Turkish city of Trabzon. Linguists have found that their dialect, called “Romeyka,” a variety of Pontic Greek, has structural similarities to ancient Greek which are not observed in other forms of the language spoken today. Romeyka’s vocabulary also has parallels with the ancient language.

Dr. Ioanna Sitaridou, Director of Studies in Linguistics at Cambridge University, who has traced the origins and evolution of Romeyka over the centuries, estimates that at least 5,000 people currently speak this particular dialect.

“With as few as 5,000 speakers left in the area, before long, Romeyka could be more of a heritage language than a living vernacular. With its demise would go an unparalleled opportunity to unlock how the Greek language has evolved,” said Dr. Sitaridou in an interview with British daily The Independent.

As devout Muslims, Romeyka speakers in the Trebizond/Trabzon area were exempt from the large-scale population exchange between Greece and Turkey following the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Using religion as the defining criterion to re-settle Christians in Greece and Muslims in Turkey, the Treaty resulted in the uprooting and exchange of some two million people between the two countries. For Pontus, the result was an exodus of Greek-speaking Christians. However, this still left small, isolated enclaves of Greek-speaking Muslims within Turkey.

In 1996, Turkish researcher Ömer Asan made headlines with his book the “Culture of Pontus” (Pontos Kültürü) in which he suggested that up to 300,000 people still speak Pontic Greek.

Asan, originally from the region of Of, in Trabzon, an area with a strong Islamic tradition and a substantial Greek-speaking population, was charged with violating Turkey’s “Anti-Terrorism Law” by “propagandizing separatism,” before he was acquitted in 2003.

In a 2000 interview with the Greek edition of the International Herald Tribune, the author  maintained that “there are still people in Turkey today who speak and understand Pontian, which is the oldest surviving Greek dialect.

“The members of this community come from Trabzon and are scattered throughout Turkey, or have emigrated to other countries. Pontian is spoken in sixty villages in the Trabzon region, most of them in the Of area. At a conservative estimate, I would say this dialect is spoken by around 300,000 people,” he concluded.

Pontic Greek is an endangered Indo-European language spoken by about 778,000 people worldwide. However, only 200,000–300,000 individuals are considered active speakers of the tongue.

The language is mainly spoken in northern Greece, but is also used Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Kazakhstan and by members of the Pontic diaspora around the world.

“Tomorrow is a very important day for Hellenism as a whole, not just for Pontian Hellenism. It is a day of remembrance of the Genocide – a century ago – of the Greeks of Pontus,” Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Saturday.

The prime minister met with representatives of Pontic associations in his office in Thessaloniki, stressing the importance of May 19, the anniversary of the Pontic Genocide.

The representatives of the Pontian associations told Tsipras that it is the first time they meet with the prime minister, with Tsipras replying that he could not imagine that no prime minister in the past met with them.

Tsipras noted that since the 1990s – 1994 to be precise – the Greek Parliament unanimously declared, and by law, May 19 as Remembrance Day of the Genocide of Pontian Hellenism and stated that “it is our duty to honor the victims, but above all it is our duty to transform the memory and knowledge of history into a driving force for the future.”

“It is a shocking human tragedy, and today the Greek State is not asking for revenge… We are asking for justice,” Tsipras stressed.

And he continued: “We are asking for the least: To acknowledge the actual events, the historical events by all. I would dare to say that our neighbors should acknowledge (the genocide), because the knowledge of history is the best school.”

The ceremonies for the Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Pontian Greeks’ genocide on Sunday culminated at the Turkish Consulate with Pontic associations delivering a resolution.

The ceremonies, that were organized by the Pan-Pontian Federation of Greece, started at the Metropolis of Athens with a memorial service. Dozens of state officials and representatives of Pontic associations attended the liturgy at the Cathedral.

After the liturgy, there was a procession to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Syntagma Square. There, the ceremony of the Change of the Presidential Guard was conducted by Pontian Evzones with the traditional uniform.

Pontian activist Tamer Cilingir delivered a speech, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The ceremonies culminated with a rally to the Turkish Consulate where a committee of Pontians delivered a resolution asking from Turkey to acknowledge the Pontic Genocide. Turkish governments through the century have refused to recognize the Pontic Genocide.

Pontic song and dance at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus

A performance to commemorate and honor the victims of the Pontic Genocide followed the liturgy and the wreath-laying, the performance was titled “Pontus: Crucifixion and Memory”.

Several acclaimed singers and musicians such as Giorgos Dalaras, Konstantinos and Matthaios Tsachouridis, Elena Kelessidou, Melina Aslanidou, Eleni Ouzounidou, Haik Yatzidyan, Sarina Krous, Pela Nicolaidi and Christos Kaliontzidis performed at the emblematic Odeon of Herodes Atticus.

The Pontian dance group Eknefsis performed the traditional dances of Pontus accompanied by a choir and an orchestra.

The Battle of Crete will remain forever in military history as the scene of the largest German airborne operation of World War II. In Greek history, it also serves as another chapter showing the bravery and the ultimate triumph of the Hellenic spirit.

Crete was targeted by the Germans because of the British airfields on the island, which were more than capable of striking the vital Ploesti oil fields in Romania. Hitler’s forces needed all the oil they could get for their impending assault on Russia.

Securing Crete would be tantamount to driving the British out of the eastern Mediterranean; it would also be the first step towards German control of Cyprus and the Suez Canal

The battle, which started on May 20 and ended on June 1, 1941, was dubbed “The  Graveyard of the Fallshirmjager” (the German parachutists known as ” Sky Hunters”). Nearly 4,000 German troops were killed and 1,500 wounded in the first three days of the assault.

It was notably also the first time the Germans had encountered stiff partisan activity, with women and even children bravely taking part in the battle.

Early on the morning of May 20, waves of Stuka bombers and low-flying fighter planes bombed and strafed the Maleme, Chania, and Souda Bay areas. Later, a total 570 carrier aircraft dropped 8,100 parachutists at Maleme, Chania, Rethymno, and Iraklion.

The attack was undertaken in two waves, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, so they had enough time in between for the aircraft to return from Crete, refuel and return  back again to the island. The sky filled with thousands of parachutes as the church bells began to ring ominously across the island.

The stunned Cretans began to run towards the drop zones, shouting “Stop the Germans!”, carrying anything they could find, including outdated rifles, pitchforks, and old pistols. Many of the German parachutists never made it out of their harnesses.

The Allied troops on Crete — British, ANZAC and Greek Battalions which had been evacuated from mainland Greece — under British Commander Major General Freyberg had been aware of the impending assault through Enigma Machine intercepts. The German parachutists were dropped into areas which were heavily defended, with nearly three times the amount of men they were expecting to face.

In Maleme, the Germans jumped into enemy fire from infantry weapons positioned in the hills south of the airfield. Many of the paratroopers were killed during their descent or shortly after landing. Most of the men were unable to recover their armaments boxes and had to rely on the pistol, knife and the four hand grenades they carried on their persons.

Casualties were very heavy. The commander of the 7th Airborne Division, General Lieutenant Wilhelm Suessmann, was killed during the approach flight, while General Major Eugen Meindl, who was in command of the Maleme group, was seriously wounded shortly after landing. Both the Maleme and Chania groups were left without their commanders.

The parachutists suffered even more casualties than at Maleme and failed to capture the airfields, towns, or ports they which had been their targets. Some even landed at the wrong points because the troop carriers had difficulty orienting themselves. After they touched down, many of the parachutists found themselves in an almost hopeless situation, struggling for survival.

After the first day, no field was available for the airborne landing of the 5th Mountain Division, which had been scheduled for the next day. Chania was still in enemy hands and the isolated troops landed at the four drop points had so far been unable to establish contact among themselves.

However, despite the strong resistance, the fury and strength of the onslaught surprised the defenders. Despite heavy opposition and fire from the British antiaircraft guns set up near the airfield, the German attackers captured the northern and north-western edge of the airfield and advanced up the northern slope of Hill 107.

The Chania group, which was to capture the village of Souda and the town of Chania and eliminate the British command staff located in that area, landed on rocky ground and suffered many jump casualties. The isolated German elements made little headway against the well-entrenched Allied forces.

As the battle wore on and casualty reports began coming in to General Airborne Commander Kurt Student’s HQ at the Hotel “Grande Bretagne” in Athens, it seemed that the battle was lost. But luck was on the German side. British commander Freyberg had to withdraw some troops from positions around Hill 107, overlooking the Airfield at Maleme.

This stroke of luck gave the Germans the upper hand and enabled them to begin the desperately-needed air landing of the Gebirgsjager troops on the airfield. Little by little, the entire 5th Mountain Division was flown in. Even more important to the attack, forces were now equipped with the artillery pieces, antitank guns, and supplies of all types, which had been missing during the initial stage of the invasion and which were now being airlifted into Maleme.

The allies pulled back in the face of a constant flow of fresh troops, and began their retreat. On May 29, motorized reconnaissance elements, advancing through enemy-held territory, established contact with the German forces in the Rethymno area and reached Iraklion the next day. After repeated encounters with enemy rear guards, the German forces reached the south coast of the island on June 1st. The desperate struggle for Crete was thereby ended.

Despite the long delay in issuance of evacuation orders, the British Navy was able to safely  embark approximately 14,800 men onto ships and return them to Egypt. The Navy conducted the evacuation during four nights, suffering losses from German aircraft attacks. Subjected to severe losses and constant harassment by German planes, a total of five thousand British and Allied soldiers ended up being left behind.

The retreat of the Allied forces was defended by the 8th Greek Regiment in and around the village of Alikianos. It was composed of young Cretan recruits, gendarmes, and cadets. They were poorly equipped and only 850 strong but they made up for the lack of equipment in spirit. Along with the Tenth New Zealand Infantry Brigade, they decisively repulsed the German “Engineer Battalion.” During the next few days they held out against repeated attacks by the 85th and 100th Mountain Regiments. For seven days, they held Alikianos and protected the Allied line of retreat. The 8th Greek Regiment is credited with making the evacuation of Western Crete possible.

The Germans had never encountered the extent of civilian resistance that they encountered on Crete. And retribution was swift. The German High Command wanted to break the spirit of the populace — and do it quickly. In retaliation for the losses they had incurred, the Nazis spread punishment, terror and death upon the innocent civilians of the island.

More than 2,000 Cretans were summarily executed during the first month alone and 25,000 more were to die later. Despite these atrocities, the brave people of Crete put up a courageous guerilla resistance, aided by a few British officers of the Special Operations Executive as well as Allied troops who remained on the island. The resistance fighters were known as the “Andartes” (“The Rebels”).

According to several historians, Cretan resistance played an important role in the development of WWII. By the end of the three-and-a-half years of occupation, Hitler had sent a total of 100,000 troops to the island to subdue 5,000 Cretan Andartes. These German troops could have been deployed somewhere else instead of being tied down on Crete.

More German troops were lost during the Battle of Crete than in France, Yugoslavia and Poland — combined. Most importantly, as a result of the fighting on Crete, Hitler’s master plan to invade Russia before the coming of winter had to be postponed, which resulted in the deaths of many German troops who were not properly prepared to survive the harsh Russian winter.

Turkey dismissed calls for the recognition of the Pontian Genocide on Tuesday, saying that Greek politicians and groups raise “imaginary claims targeting our history.”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara issued a statement for the May 19 anniversary of the day marking the Pontian Genocide, which is marked annually in Greece with solemn commemorations.

“19 May 1919 marks the beginning of our national struggle that led to the founding of the Republic of Turkey and is celebrated with pride every year in Turkey and abroad,” the statement says.

“We remind the claimants of these unsubstantiated allegations that the responsibility of Greece for the atrocities committed by her army, which also violated laws of war while invading Anatolia, and her obligation to pay a compensation, were laid down in the Treaty of Lausanne,” the Turkish ministry notes.

It adds that “these baseless claims targeting our history bear no relation to reason, conscience, and fairness. This rhetoric is incompatible with our objectives to further our bilateral relations and leaves a negative legacy to future generations.”

Greece responds to Turkish statement

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens responded on Wednesday to the announcement, stating that it was “an unsuccessful attempt to falsify the story.”

“Recognizing historical truth, self-criticism and abandoning revisionism are signs of strength, not weakness. They are a precondition for bona fide dialogue and the fight against the extremes of nationalism, the reconciliation of peoples and states, and their peaceful co-existence,” the Athens statement read.

The Foreign Affairs announcement added that “it is a historical task for all of us – and especially our neighbors in Turkey – to recognize events such as the genocide of Pontian Hellenism in order not to repeat the most bleak moments of the past and heal the deep wounds they left behind.”

May 19 is a milestone in Turkish history as it is the day when Mustafa Kemal, later to become known as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, arrived in the city of Samsun from Istanbul to organize the war which created the new nation of Turkey by ethnically cleansing all Christian populations, including Greeks and Armenians.

Ataturk dedicated May 19 to the youth of the Turkish nation, and commemorated it annually as “Youth and Sports Day,” a national holiday which sees young people stage sporting and cultural activities and official ceremonies across the nation.

Greece on Tuesday honored all who selflessly sacrificed their lives in the 1941 Battle of Crete against the invading Nazi forces at a ceremony at the Maleme Airport near Chania.

National Defense Minister Evangelos Apostolakis lauded the memory of all those who “gave us the privilege of walking on sacred land and living free.”

“Our obligation is not limited to preserving their memory,” Apostolakis said of the Greek and foreign fighters during World War II on Crete, “but to fighting together as Greeks for the peace and security of the country and for a homeland with a future worthy of it.”

In his message, the defense minister said that Greece is a conduit for communication between countries in the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, especially during challenging times with Turkey’s provocations, and that it must focus on peace and stability.

Crete Regional Director Stavros Arnaoutakis said the Battle of Crete, “with its unprecedented popular resistance, is considered by historians one of the most important events of World War II.

“The struggles, the stubbornness of Cretans in fighting for freedom and democracy, set the course of the war, since – despite the invaders’ different expectations – the Battle was long and the select German forces underwent great hardship and significant losses by allied powers, who resisted and overturned Hitler’s plans,” he added.

Commemorative events included a memorial service at the airport and the laying of wreaths. A group of twenty-four men from Greece’s First Squadron of Parachute Corps performed a drop from 1,200 feet, and this was followed by Hellenic Air Force officer Andreas Volakakis performing vertical maneuvers with an F-16 fighter jet.

The fall of Constantinople, which occurred on May 29,1453 was the final phase of the Byzantine-Ottoman Wars (1265-1453) and the darkest page in Greek history and in the Orthodox Church.

The seat of the Byzantine Empire for a millennium, Constantinople was the main target of the Ottomans. Ascending to the Ottoman throne in 1451, Mehmed II began making plans to conquer the Byzantine capital. The Byzantine empire had been declining in power and influence ever since the city’s capture and sacking by the Crusaders in 1204.

In 1451, the empire of Constantine XI — with its capital city being named after his ancestor — had been reduced to the area around Constantinople as well as a large part of the Peloponnesian Peninsula in Greece.

Already possessing a fortress on the Asian side of the Bosporus, Mehmed began construction of one on the European shore as well. It was known as Rumeli Hisari.

Taking control of the strait, Mehmed’s ships cut off Constantinople from the Black Sea and any potential aid which might have come from Genoese colonies in the region.

Constantine was forced to appeal to Pope Nicholas V for aid. Despite centuries of animosity between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, Nicholas tried to help but his efforts were fruitless, as many of the Western nations were engaged in their own conflicts and could not spare men or money to aid Constantinople.

Minor help came from groups of independent soldiers. Among these were 700 professional troops under the command of Giovanni Giustiniani. Constantine reinforced the massive Theodosian Walls and the walls in the northern Blachernae district. To prevent an attack from the sea against the Golden Horn walls, he ordered that a large chain be stretched across the mouth of the harbor to block Ottoman ships from entering.

Short on men, Constantine decided to put most of his soldiers to defending the Theodosian Walls. Mehmed’s massive army numbered somewhere between 80,000 and 120,000 men by the time they approached the city.

At the same time, the Ottoman fleet was in the Sea of Marmara, ready to attack. In addition, Mehmed had a large cannon along with several smaller guns. The Ottoman army arrived outside Constantinople on April 1, 1453, and began to set camp the next day. On April 5, Mehmed arrived with the last of his men and began making preparations for besieging the city.

While Mehmed had the bulk of his army surrounding Constantinople, he sent troops to clear the region of minor Byzantine outposts. The large cannon began to batter the impenetrable Theodosian Walls, but with little effect. The gun required three hours to reload, giving enough time to the Byzantines to repair the damage caused between shots.

On the water, the Ottoman fleet was unable to penetrate the chain boom across the waters of the Golden Horn. Mehmed then ordered that several ships be rolled across Galata on greased logs.

The Ottomans managed to get the ships around the Genoese colony of Pera, and refloating them in the waters around the Golden Horn behind the chain. Constantine replied by sending fire ships to attack the enemy fleet. The Ottomans, however, were forewarned and defeated the attempt. Constantine was then compelled to shift men to the Golden Horn walls, which weakened the land defense of the city.

Failing to penetrate the Theodosian Walls, Mehmed ordered his men to dig tunnels to mine beneath the Byzantine defenses. The Byzantines were prepared, and replied with digging countermines. They intercepted the Ottomans under the ground, managing to complete the destruction of all the mines on May 25.

Although the defense of Constantinople had until this point been successful for the most part, the Byzantines lost morale when they heard that there would not be any help coming from Venice.

In addition, a series of omens including a thick, unexpected fog which blanketed the city on May 26, were taken as a sign that Constantinople was about to fall. The Byzantines believed that the fog masked the departure of the Holy Spirit from the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia.

Mehmed was also disillusioned by the lack of success in taking the city. On May 26, he called his commanders to him, and after talks they decided on a massive assault on the night of May 28, after a period of rest and prayer.

Shortly before midnight on May 28, Mehmed sent his auxiliary troops forward. They were intended to wear out the defenders and kill as many as possible to weaken their resistance.

Then the troops from Anatolia attacked the weakened Blachernae walls. They caused some damage before they were driven back. Then it was the turn of Mehmed’s elite Janissary forces to attack, but they were held back by Byzantine forces under Giustiniani. The defenders in Blachernae held until Giustiniani was badly wounded. As their commander was taken to the rear, their defense began to collapse.

To the south, Constantine was fighting fiercely, defending the walls in the Lycus Valley. But his position began to collapse when the Ottomans found that the “Kerkoporta,” the gate to the north, had been left open. With the enemy surging through the gate and unable to hold the walls, Constantine was forced to fall back.

The Ottomans poured into the city from several gates. It is believed that Constantine was killed in fighting the invading enemy. Mehmed ordered his men to protect important buildings of the city, but allowed them to plunder and pillage Constantinople for three entire days.

The fall of Constantinople was not only the end of the Byzantine Empire, it was also a
devastating blow to Christendom. Pope Nicholas V called for a crusade to recover the city, but no Western monarch volunteered. The fall of Constantinople also meant that the Christian Orthodox faith lost its stronghold, with the Catholic Church becoming the dominant religious power in Europe.

This disastrous development was also a turning point in Western history, as the fall of Constantinople is seen as the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance.

Greek scholars fled the city and moved to the West, bringing with them priceless knowledge and rare manuscripts. The loss of Constantinople also severed European trade links with Asia, leading many to begin seeking routes to the East by sea, thereby sparking the great Age of Exploration.

Greek freedom fighters Manolis Glezos (L) and Apostolis Santas

One of the most humiliating moments not only for Greece but for all humanity was when in April 28, 1941 the swastika was hoisted on Acropolis Hill, on the very cradle of democracy and Western Civilization.

It was the day when the German troops entered Athens to take control of the surrendered city. The moment the Nazi flag flew in the sky of Attica marked the beginning of three and a half years of pain, hunger and death under the Wermacht boot.

Yet, two young men, barely 18, made a heroic move which later proved to be the beginning of the great Greek resistance to the Nazis. The two youths, Manolis Glezos and Lakis Santas climbed Acropolis Hill at night and took down the swastika flag, dealing a symbolic blow to the powerful occupying forces.

It was a gallant act, an act of proud defiance which ultimately raised the spirit of Greece and made them believe that, indeed, they could resist the Nazis. It was a demonstration of the power of the human spirit against the power of guns.

The young mens’ plan was organized days earlier. They read everything they found about the Acropolis in encyclopedias. Most importantly, they read about natural tunnels and crevices in the Sacred Rock and other points where they could hide.

On the morning of May 30, 1941, Glezos and Santas heard on the radio that Crete had fallen. The two young men decided it was time to act.

At 9:30 PM, the Acropolis’ small guard was gathered in Propylaia, drinking beer and getting drunk. The two youths jumped over the wire fences and crawled through the cave at the Pandroseion sanctuary. They climbed up the archeologists’ scaffolding and came to within a few meters of the flagpole, without any guard noticing them. Moving quickly, they took down the hated Nazi banner.

The two students, armed with only a small knife, a lantern and a ton of courage, did what seemed impossible: They climbed 34 meters (111.5 feet) up Acropolis Hill, in the middle of the night under a strict curfew, approached the flag and cut it down. They then went 34 meters downhill, crossed the empty streets of central Athens and quietly returned to their homes.

Later in their lives, Glezos and Santas spoke about the carefully orchestrated act, their practice the day before, and also the fear they felt when returning to their homes. They were lucky by any measure, but luck is always on the side of the brave.

On June 1st, the Greek newspaper Eleftheron Vima published a proclamation from the German commander stating that the “unidentified culprits” responsible for taking down the flag were handed a sentence of death in absentia — a punishment that was never applied.

Early next morning, the German guards realized that the flag was missing. The Nazi authorities ordered several interrogations and by 11 AM, a new Nazi flag was flying above the Acropolis.

Glezos ended up being arrested three times during the German occupation. He was even put in prison for a time, but managed to escape, while Lakis Santas escaped the enemy entirely and joined the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS). Apostolos Santas died in Athens at age 89 in 2011, and Manolis Glezos is still alive today.

Greek patriots and resistance fighters Apostolos Santas and Manolis Glezas