Inside the wonderfully wacky history of Greece's governing system.
We had a king at least once.
I began writing this without an end in mind and while I certainly journeyed, I’m not sure I brought y’all anywhere. Still, I press send. Thank you, in advance, for indulging me. Sorry for the typos, but no one edited this.
In writing my second book—the first in a historical novel trilogy tied to the Chios Massacre and Greek revolution—I’ve learned quite a lot about the 1821 Greek War of Independence from which came the establishment of the modern Greek state. And, let me tell you, that has been quite a journey filled with lots of crazy stories.
Here’s one story about Greek revolutionary war general Georgios Karaiskakis. One time he sent a diplomatic letter to the Ottomans that basically went like this:
To the Ottomans,
[Expletive] you and your religion and your God. We will not negotiate.
Sincerely, Georgios Karaiskakis
(Full translation linked here.)
What a maniac.
Karaiskakis clearly doesn’t subscribe to “diplomatic” meaning anything that resembles “employing tact and conciliation.” But what exactly do you expect from someone with this mustache?
PHOTO of the man with the mustache
A very good mustache; below which hides a very foul mouth.
Another story: Shortly after the revolution started, the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II had the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Gregorios V of Constantinople hanged in an attempt to quash the revolution. Does that mean nothing to you? Probably. Here’s a fun analogy to help you out. The Ecumenical Patriarch is to The Eastern Orthodox Church as The Pope is to The Catholic Church.
To top it off, His Holiness was hanged above the Patriarchate! And, since you were wondering, yes, the Patriarchate is to The Eastern Orthodox Church as St. Peter’s Basilica is to The Catholic Church.
Wild.
I thought it wild enough to write a fictional short story in the style of one Jorge Luis Borges about it (which I’ll publish somewhere sometime, perhaps on Substack or somewhere similar).
From stories of wars and movements like these come overarching themes and characteristics of said stories. Two (of the many) stem from these two (of the many) stories, a third comes from a little help from the author (me).
For one, the feverish, excited fighting for revolution was largely carried out by mountaineer highwaymen known as klephts (root word κλέφτες, which literally translates to “thieves”, men like Karaiskakis). Those who lived in the cities nearer Anatolia where the Ottoman Empire had a stronger influence were more like the thinking gentlemen of today’s coastal elite and academics (see below for the mentioned “healthy dose”). And so while the Greek revolution was rooted in the academic yearnings of the philosophers from which the West emerged, it was the Wild Boys Wearing Skirts from the mountains and Brigadier Mad Men from the islands who made up the fighting might.
Seem familiar?
Some more detail may make it seem so. The most famous klepht was the Greek military commander and revolutionary leader Theodoros Kolokotronis. In February 2023 he was honored on the anniversary of his death some 200ish years later by a Greek Orthodox Church in Patras (Καλή Ανάσταση, by the way). Herein lies one of the most important aspects of the success of the Greek revolution. Revolutionary era Greeks were deeply religious, and even under Ottoman occupation Christianity was able to survive due in part to true grassroots acolytes-in-hiding and in part to the czar of Russia acting as a sort of protectorate to Christians living in Ottoman territories. (I’m papering over a lot here, but it’s directionally correct.) A quote from Kolokotronis (thankfully, this strongman was much better with his words than Karaiskakis):
God has signed our Liberty and will not go back on his promise.
Then pour on a healthy dose of Western Empires (French, British, etc.; a thread here for a later day) applying a romantic view of pagan Ancient Greek society on the now ardently-Christian Greek diaspora scattered across the Mediterranean and you have the makings of a successful revolution in waiting. Praise be to the Smart Guys and the Romantics for granting Greece its path to independence. I wonder if the Sultan even knew who Victor Hugo or Delacroix were (which, respectively, wrote a poem and painted a (very) large painting about the Chios Massacre of 1822).
The takeaway: The Greek Revolution was rooted and strengthened by crazed strongmen, religious fanaticism, and romantic longing for the way the world once was and it was successful (if you shield your eyes from the mess that came after the victory)… Food for thought, perhaps.
In any event, I have found two things true when looking at history.
1) Rarely are events explosively exciting and 2) rarely do events not make chronological sense, especially with the benefit of hindsight.
Well congratulations are in order to Greece. Ultra Rare Greece: Charizard holographic rare, ribeye still mooing rare, trophies at Tottenham rare.
Let’s fast forward to the end of the Greek War of Independence. It’s 1830 and Greece has won its freedom! They did it! Time for a democracy, right?! I mean, that’s the main association you have with Greece, right?
It is the birthplace of democracy.
Well, how about instead I show you The Wonderfully Wacky World of Greek Political History with a very abridged history of what happened. Keep in mind this is very abridged. And whenever there was a king of Greece there was a loose parliamentary government sometimes there to help with governing.
Here it goes. First, important revolutionary Ioannis Kapodistrias (critically not one of the Wild Boys Wearing Skirts-types) was the governor of Greece until he imprisoned war general Petrobey Mavromichalis (one of the Brigadier Mad Men-types). Because of his imprisonment, Mavromichalis’s brother and son assassinated Kapodistrias.
Then a monarchy was established in 1833 thanks to France, England, and Russia. At the throne was King Otto (not to be confused with Greek hero King Otto Rehhagel who led the Greek National Football Team to a European Championship title in 2004). But the (actual monarch) King Otto grew too autocratic so he was deposed and replaced by King George I and a more democratic-ish constitution in 1864. George I was king for a while and then it got messy.
This liberal guy Eleftherios Venizelos gained political power, as Greece was a sorta-pseudo-republic Kingdom-thingamabob (Note: the airport in Athens is named after Venizelos, also his first name means “freedom” in Greek) and in 1913 an anarchist, maybe socialist, assassinated the king and George I’s son Constantine took over as the new king. At the eve of World War I with a new king, Venizelos tried to convince Greece to join the Allies and Constantine said “no, we need to remain neutral” but Venizelos had a strong following which led to a weird schism in the politics of Greece and eventually after fighting with the French as “neutrals” Greece was forced in WWI and Constantine was sent into exile.
After WWI, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and then Constantine came back after his son who had been the king died suddenly to become the king again. And then Greece fought a war against Turkey which led to a massive population exchange between Greece and Turkey after which King Constantine was forced to abdicate again in 1922. A new constitution was drafted with King George II now on the throne. And, yet, there was still an internal schism in Greece.
Then WWII rolled around and neutral Greece was plundered by Italians and Germans, which made it decidedly not so neutral. After WWII Greece had a civil war in which the non-Communists won, but the country emerged ravaged. After many years of Not So Good Times Greece became a dictatorship in 1967, even though the Greeks had just recently fought a war against two of the most famous fascists and dictators in modern history. (I personally remember in 2016 standing in front of the Headquarters of the dictatorship’s regime and being able to see the Parthenon on its hill in the distance). Anyway, it didn’t last long and in 1974 the dictatorship was overthrown and the Greeks took to governing via the unitary parliamentary republic it enjoys now.
All to say (I promise there’s a point here), mostly informally organized revolutions fought in the name of nationalism (for a country that literally didn't exist, but used to) mostly by people from the sparsely populated countryside (and islands, too) with religion as one of its strongest supporting pillars set a precedent that identity could be something worth fighting for. But even with all that passion, going into a fight disorganized and flustered (which, believe me, the Greeks were), what comes after might prove to be equally as unsavory as what came before.
At least we (I say, as a Greek American) were able to be messy, disorganized, and flustered as free, liberated Greeks.
TL;DR: It will always be unbelievable to me that after the Greeks won a revolution after 400 years of Ottoman occupation they decided to implement a monarchy.
Leaving y’all with the hardest battle flag I’ve ever seen:
A flag with Saint George slaying a dragon in the middle flanked by the words “Freedom or Death.” Thank you, Athanasios Diakos (a son of one of the Wild Boys Wearing Skirts) for this.
Reading
What I’m reading that I think is worth reading.
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson — Everything this man writes is gold.
The Iliad by Homer, Emily Wilson — The recent translation from Emily Wilson is fantastic in that it is readable. One of the best stories ever and full of gems like Hector telling his brother Paris in the heat of battle that Paris is only good at “being pretty.” To which Paris replies, naturally, with “don’t shame me for what the gods gave me.” Yes, Hector, it’s not his fault he’s hot. Translation is worth picking up if you can find it on sale ($40 list price is a bit steep).
Best of the Week
Big exposure to Literature this week. In honor of the newest album release from this generation's biggest pop star, enclosed is even more proof that there’s nothing new under the sun; even Taylor Swift cribbed Shakespeare. From The Tempest:
MIRANDA The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO Shake it off. Come on, We’ll visit Caliban, my slave, who never Yields us kind answer.
As Woodchuck Todd said: “Lovie.”
’Til Next Time
As for things—querying literary agents is the most frustrating process I’ve ever had the displeasure of going through in my professional life. It may even lead me to self-publishing my first book. This will, of course, bring me everlasting mockery from the literati who already mock me as a writer since all of my writing credentials are for online publications (save that one time something I said/wrote/was quoted in the New York Times (yes, this counts as Something Impressive), thank you Emily Flitter).
And also I did not get that fellowship I mentioned in the last newsletter. Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post, I enjoyed writing it. Consider telling a friend to subscribe. Better yet, buy my book when it comes out. Keep my writing dream alive!
I’ll see y’all.
— G
Sorry for any typos, I do not have an editor and I am not paid to do this.
