Philiki Eteria founders most likely Vlachs & Slav

[Carlin]

Ioannis K. Tsitskas from Voden (Edessa) was born at the end of the 19th century from a (Vlachophone) family from Korcha, as inferred from indirect sources.

His surname is found in the Greek literature in various versions - as Tsitsios, Tsitskas, Tsitsikas and bears the nickname "Vlachos" or "Captain Vlachos". In a tax list of 1854, a taxpayer with the surname Vlachos is recorded in the old district located in the center of Voden, but there is no connection with the family of Ioannis Tsitskas.

Among the avid expatriates from Korcha, who were distinguished for their contribution to the city and the wider area of Korcha, is the active merchant Dimitrios Tsitsikas or Tsitskas, who was settled in Alexandria.


URL - Voden/Edessa fighters from the region of Korcha/Korytsa:

http://vlahofonoi.blogspot.com/2020/12/blog-post.html

[tchaiku]

They would have been a minority in a normal modern country. But that era was different. Even Hungary was mostly Slavic speaking around the same time, then the ruling class imposed their language.

I don't how true this is. But it does make sense genetically.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

There's a thread about it
https://www.macedoniantruth.org/foru...light=atalanti

Thanks for this

[Amphipolis]

There's a thread about it

https://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=679&highlight=atalanti

[Risto the Great]

They would have been a minority in a normal modern country. But that era was different. Even Hungary was mostly Slavic speaking around the same time, then the ruling class imposed their language.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

So much lost history here! I wonder what became of this Macedonian community in Greece? Were they still around later in the century or had they been totally assimilated by that point? Is Nea Pella still around in Athens today?

[Carlin]

Felt this was the most relevant thread for this refugee settlement plan partially funded by the Macedonian Vlach, Konstantin Beli for resettling Macedonian refugees in Greece:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedo...es_in_Atalanti

An important fighter from Voden (Edessa) during the revolution of 1821 was Panagiotis Naum, a merchant associated with the Danube hegemony, where he was initiated into the Philiki Eteria. The Naum family was of Moschopole descent, as were others who settled in Voden after the destruction of Moschopole (1769).

P. Naum fought in Macedonia, participated in various operations. After the destruction of Negus, he landed in southern Greece with his two brothers, Demetrios and Antonios Naum, served as the Macedonian representative in the National Assemblies of Ermioni, Troizina, Argos and Nafplio, fighting for the liberation of Macedonia.

After the founding of the Greek state, Panagiotis Naum remained there trying to support the Macedonian refugees. In 1839 he lived in Athens, where together with Anastasios Polyzoidis, Theofanis Siatisteas and Georgios Chrysidis they established the "Committee on the Settlement of the Macedonians", in the judgment and decision of which the state services had confidence. The main purpose of the Committee was to support the Macedonian refugees who had settled in Nea Pella Atalanti, leaving Skiathos and Skopelos where they had initially taken refuge.

The original nucleus of the Macedonian settlement was the fighters of 1821 and their families, who were forced to create a new homeland to escape the ruthless punishment of the Turkish conquerors. Later other members joined the committee. The founding of Nea Pella mobilized the western Macedonian baron K. Bellios, who was born in Blatsi (Vlasti) where his family had taken refuge after the destruction of Linotopi. In 1837, the baron donated his library, about 2,000 volumes.

URLs:

http://vlahofonoi.blogspot.com/2020/12/blog-post.html#more

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%A0%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%B3%CE%B9%CF%8E%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82_%CE%9D%CE%B1%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantinos_Bellios

PS:
In 1836 K. Bellios visited Athens, the capital of independent Greece, where he was received with honours by King Otto, who decorated him with the Order of the Redeemer. In return, Bellios gave the king an 11th-century sword, and to Queen Amalia a rare edition of Homer.

[Liberator of Makedonija]

Felt this was the most relevant thread for this refugee settlement plan partially funded by the Macedonian Vlach, Konstantin Beli for resettling Macedonian refugees in Greece:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonian_refugees_in_Atalanti

[TrueMacedonian]

Biggest lie ever spread amongst the Ken and Barbies of plastic land called greece.

I would like a greek to name me one war they won without any help from the West or from Bulgaria or Serbia or Macedonia. I mean modern and not something from antiquity that doesn’t have a relationship to the modern art masterpiss known as today’s greece.

Thanks in advance recyclables.

So we understand ourselves better;

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5473

[TrueMacedonian]

Btw Greeks fought in several wars,and won many of them.When did your people fight the last 200 years ...?
(and i don't mean fighting in Bulgarian or even Greek and Serbian bands...)

Biggest lie ever spread amongst the Ken and Barbies of plastic land called greece.

I would like a greek to name me one war they won without any help from the West or from Bulgaria or Serbia or Macedonia. I mean modern and not something from antiquity that doesn’t have a relationship to the modern art masterpiss known as today’s greece.

Thanks in advance recyclables.

[Carlin]

Great minds Carlin. His surname sounds Slavic to me, at least the -ov suffix is. Any idea how that came about?

His surname was Russified. At a young age, he left Greece to be with his father in Russia. His 'real' surname seems to have been Tekelis or Tsakalos according to Greek wikipedia (not sure which one of the two though, as Tekeli appears to be totally different from Tsakalos).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasios_Tsakalov

https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%91%CE%B8%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%AC%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82_%CE%A4%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BA%CE%AC%CE%BB%CF%89%CF%86

[Liberator of Makedonija]

LoM, I actually wrote about him in this very thread.





Tsakalov's father was originally from Tyrnavos, and as we can see from above this town which was roughly 60 percent Vlach-speaking - at the end of the 20th century! Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state only in 1881, which means that after more than a century Tyrnavos was still largely Vlach-speaking.

As I have already argued the other segment of the population of Tyrnavos who were Greek-speaking monolinguals were simply locals or natives who abandoned the use of Vlach and self-Hellenized, since 1881.

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=667&page=10

And as we can see with my brief discussion with Amphipolis on this and other topics on this forum I hit a raw nerve, and A. was unable or unwilling to acknowledge basic historical facts and testimonies. The reason I always hit a raw nerve was that most of my sources/books I have used are GREEK BOOKS, BLOGS, ARTICLES - written in Greek, and largely untranslated or unknown. These GREEK BOOKS written by modern GREEK AUTHORS can hardly be considered some sort of 'propaganda'.


PS:

Unrelated to Tsakalov, but let's not forget the following.

The Orthodox Eastern Church, Adrian Fortescue [Catholic Truth Society, 1908 - 451 pages]:

Great minds Carlin. His surname sounds Slavic to me, at least the -ov suffix is. Any idea how that came about?

[Carlin]

My apologies (another repost), as we are mentioning Janina/Ioannina here are my ramblings challenging some preconceived notions (assumptions) and illustrating discrepancies - which can likely be reconciled by demonstrating that (bilingual) Armani/Vlachs = Greeks.

I welcome any Responses or Challenges to my observations, and thank you in advance for taking the time to read through the below. This may appear to be unrelated to this thread but Ioannina was one of the CENTERS of Philike Hetairea activity in terms of ideology, gatherings, and dissemination of ideas.



I will start with a couple of quotes and then provide a quick overview/analysis. While reading this, please keep in mind the two well-known quotes which we have already seen, that is, how "Janina has quite forgotten its Rouman origin" (by Evans), and the other one "Most of the merchants and leading persons at Janina and Metsovo are Vlachs" (Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons - 1903).

Once again, note that I am providing here merely two additional quotes.

1) On page 68 of the book "The Life of Ali Pasha, of Tepeleni, Vizier of Epirus, Surnamed Aslan, Or the ..." By Richard Alfred Davenport (year 1837), we read the following about Ioannina:

"Estimates of the population vary from thirty-five to fifty thousand persons. Forty thousand is, perhaps, about the real number. It forms a heterogeneous mass of Greeks, Turks, Albanians, Franks, Jews, Arabs, Moors, and Negroes; among whom the Greeks are the most numerous, respectable, and long established, many of the families having been settled at Ioannina for centuries."

2) The following is from A. Koukoudis, "The Vlachs of Aspropotamos: The conditions and the agents of development". It is important to note that he is a researcher (well respected in Greece), who in my opinion, has shown a tendency to minimize the number (and presence) of Vlachs in different regions of Greece. In many cases, I'd say he completely excised the Vlachs from the history of many places. The quote follows:

"A typical case is Ioannina, where Vlach traders and craftsmen mainly from Vlahodzoumerko (Kalarites and Syrrako) and Hora Metsovou settled and became very active in economic, corporate, and communal affairs. The same applies to the Lambros, Tourtouris, Sgouros, and Damiris families from Kalarites, who apparently supplanted older Ioanniot craftsmen in the Ioannina market in the time of Ali Pasha. There were a considerable number of Vlachs in the echelons of Ali’s crowded and much talked-about court, from the humble Metsovite porters who bore his litter on their shoulders to secretaries like Hristodoulos Hadzipetros from Neraïdohori in Aspropotamos (later King Otto’s aide-de-camp), the inspector of the Ioannina market Anastassios Samariniotis, privy councellors like the wealthy merchant Yeoryios Tourtouris from Kalarites, and European-trained doctors like Ioannis Kolettis from Syrrako (later Prime Minister of Greece) and Yeoryios Tsapraslis from Kalarites (who wrote one of the first grammars of the Vlach language). Vlachs from Kalarites, Syrrako, and Metsovo settled en masse in Ioannina and played an active part in revitalising that ruined town after the Greek War of Independence."

Summary (& discrepancies):

- Davenport: Greeks are the most numerous population of Ioannina in the early-mid 19th century; long established, many of the families having been settled at Ioannina for centuries. No mention of "Vlachs". Well and good.

- Koukoudis:
--> "Vlach" traders and craftsmen were very active and prominent in economic, corporate, and communal affairs.
--> There were a considerable number of Vlachs in the echelons of Ali’s crowded and much talked-about court.
--> The inspector of the Ioannina market was Anastassios Samariniotis.
--> Vlachs from Kalarites, Syrrako, and Metsovo settled en masse in Ioannina.

Analysis:

As we can see, Davenport noted a heterogeneous mass of different ethnicities in Ioannina with Greeks being the most numerous - while the "Vlachs" are invisible; no mention at all whatsoever. We have an obvious discrepancy, because from the researcher Koukoudis we see that "Vlachs" were quite numerous in Ioannina, settled en masse there, played an active and prominent role in all sorts of city affairs, and - as an example - A. Samariniotis was the inspector of the Ioannina market. A safe guess and assumption would be that the "Vlachs" were (at least) more numerous than say Franks, Jews, Arabs, Moors, or Negroes (?).

Furthermore, these "Vlachs" were not Albanians. It would be quite fair to say and conclude that the "Vlachs" knew Greek (were bilingual), and were "part" of the local Greek community. They considered themselves as Greeks - as we saw from the quote where it is explicitly stated that many distinguished Greeks are of Vlach extraction, how most of the merchants and leading persons at Janina and Metsovo are Vlachs, or that the Vlachs of Epirus would esteem it an offence to be considered of a comrade race with the Roumans.

It is very easy to see then that Davenport's Ioannina Greeks were, at the very minimum = Vlachs and Greeks. What we can also conclude is the following: Davenport did not care, bother, or knew to distinguish Vlachs from Greeks. Additionally, he was then unable to say with precision which families were long established, or which of the families having been settled at Ioannina for centuries. (The important point though is that there is a connection going back centuries.)

What completely tipped the scales here so to speak, in allowing us to easily conclude that Greeks are really Vlachophones are testimonies from Sir Arthur J. Evans and Great Britain Parliament House of Commons. In conclusion, Davenport's Ioannina Greeks were then "Vlachs"/bilingual Vlachophones who were the most numerous, respectable, and long established, many of the families having been settled at Ioannina for centuries.


Thanks for taking the time to read this.

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=17&page=66

[Carlin]

Athanasios Tsakalov was one of the founders of Filiki Eteria, he was born in Janina.

Who else has noticed that surname?

LoM, I actually wrote about him in this very thread.

Greco-Vlachs first in the foundation of the Friendly Society, a founding member of Tirnavos Tsakalov with most members of this organization was preparing the revolution of enslaved nation...

Source: Γιωργης Εξαρχος - ''Οι Ελληνοβλαχοι Αρμανοι'' ("The Hellenovlahoi Armanoi")

http://www.politeianet.gr/books/9789600327847-kastaniotis-oi-ellinoblachoi-armanoi-protos-tomos-204956

1) Arthur Evans (in an open letter to The Times on October 1st, 1903.):

The truth is that a large number of those described as Greeks are really Roumans. Till within recent years Hellenism found a fertile field for propaganda among the representatives of the gifted Romance speaking race of the Pindus region. Today Janina has quite forgotten its Rouman origin, and has become a center of Hellenism.

2) http://www.farsarotul.org/nl11_1.htm

Tyrnavos, a town to the north, is perhaps 60 percent Vlach, mainly those from Avdhella and Samarina. [--> 60 percent Vlach-speaking?? And this was towards the end of the 20th century.]

Tsakalov's father was originally from Tyrnavos, and as we can see from above this town which was roughly 60 percent Vlach-speaking - at the end of the 20th century! Thessaly became part of the modern Greek state only in 1881, which means that after more than a century Tyrnavos was still largely Vlach-speaking.

As I have already argued the other segment of the population of Tyrnavos who were Greek-speaking monolinguals were simply locals or natives who abandoned the use of Vlach and self-Hellenized, since 1881.

http://www.macedoniantruth.org/forum/showthread.php?t=667&page=10

And as we can see with my brief discussion with Amphipolis on this and other topics on this forum I hit a raw nerve, and A. was unable or unwilling to acknowledge basic historical facts and testimonies. The reason I always hit a raw nerve was that most of my sources/books I have used are GREEK BOOKS, BLOGS, ARTICLES - written in Greek, and largely untranslated or unknown. These GREEK BOOKS written by modern GREEK AUTHORS can hardly be considered some sort of 'propaganda'.


PS:

Unrelated to Tsakalov, but let's not forget the following.

The Orthodox Eastern Church, Adrian Fortescue [Catholic Truth Society, 1908 - 451 pages]:

[TrueMacedonian]

It was among the Vlah merchants of Odessa that the Philike Hetairea was founded, and revolutionary literature was produced on the Vlah printing presses of the Pului brothers in Vienna.



Link:
http://www.academia.edu/302560/_The_..._the_Evidence_

Brilliant. There’s enough evidence to certainly reach the conclusion that not only was the Vlach and Albanian element of what would become modern grcija the backbone of that new phenomenon “Hellenism” but the revolutionary ideas came from men foreign to the ideal ‘hellene’.