Greek revolutionaryFor the cricketer, see Steve Nikitaras.

Nikitaras (Greek: Νικηταράς) was the nom de guerre of Nikitas Stamatelopoulos (Greek: Νικήτας Σταματελόπουλος) (c. 1784:– 1849), a Greek revolutionary in the Greek War of Independence. Due to his fighting prowess, he was known as Turko*os or Turkophagos (Greek: Τουρκοφάγος), literally meaning the "Turk-Eater".

Contents

• 1 Biography
• 2 References
  • 2.1 Citations
  • 2.2 Bibliography

Biography

Nikitaras by Peter von Hess.

The date and place of Nikitaras' birth are disputed, but he is thought to have been born either in the village of Nedoussa (Νέδουσα) in the Peloponnesian province of Messenia or in Leontari in Arcadia circa 1784. He was a nephew of Theodoros Kolokotronis, the most important Greek military leader of the Revolution. Turkish authorities tried to capture him, as well as Kolokotronis, but he escaped and joined his uncle in the British-held Ionian Islands.

When the Greek war of Independence began, both returned to the mainland. He was with Kolokotronis, who commanded the Greek army at the Siege of Tripoli early in the war. When the commander and his men tried to escape the city, Nikitaras and his troops cut off the escape of the Turkish commander and his troops and slaughtered them. Nikitas achieved fame and his sobriquet "Turk-Eater" in the Battle of Dervenakia, where he is said to have used five swords: four broke from excessive use. During the civil war within the Revolution, he sided with his uncle against the faction around Alexander Mavrokordatos.

The house in which Nikitaras was forted up during the Battle of Doliana, has been transformed into a museum.

Nikitaras was a strong patriot, not corrupt like many of the leaders of the Revolution. When Ioannis Kolettis asked him to kill a rival, Odysseas Androutsos, in exchange for a government position, Nikitaras refused the offer and became angry with Kolettis. He also refused to take booty after battle, a normal practice of Balkan irregulars at the time. After the Revolution he and his family were living in poverty.

After the war, Nikitaras was jailed with his uncle Kolokotronis as strong opponents of the Bavarian Regency. He was also a strong campaigner for the rights of those who fought in the Revolution. Nikitaras was released from prison in 1841, but the period in jail broke his health and he died in 1849 in Piraeus.

He is especially famous for his words during the Third Siege of Missolonghi. When he arrived in the city with supplies, soldiers, who had not been paid in months, asked him if he had brought any money. Nikitaras, angry, flung down his sword, a weapon taken from a Turk he had killed, uttering the words: "I have only my sword, and that I gladly give for my country." Nikitaras is remembered in the poem by Nikos Gatsos, "The Knight and Death".

References

Citations

Bibliography

• A. S. Agapitos (1877). "Οι Ένδοξοι Έλληνες του 1821, ή Οι Πρωταγωνισταί της Ελλάδος " (in Greek). Τυπογραφείον Α. Σ. Αγαπητού, Εν Πάτραις . pp.:208–216. Retrieved 12 July 2020.

Greek EnlightenmentEuropean intervention and
Greek involvement in
the Napoleonic Wars

• Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774)
• Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca
• Greek Plan of Catherine the Great
• Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792)
• French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
  • Fall of the Republic of Venice
  • Republican French rule in the Ionian Islands
  • Septinsular Republic
  • Greek Legion
  • Imperial French rule in the Ionian Islands
  • Albanian Regiment
  • Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814
  • 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry
• United States of the Ionian Islands

Ideas

• Greek nationalism
• Eastern Orthodox Christianity
• Liberalism
• Cons*utionalism
• Monarchism

EventsSieges

• Patras
• Salona
• Navarino
• Livadeia
• 1st Acropolis
• Tripolitsa
• Arta
• Acrocorinth
• Nauplia
• 1st Messolonghi
• 2nd Messolonghi
• 3rd Messolonghi
• 2nd Acropolis

Battles

• Kalamata
• Wallachian uprising
• Alamana
• Gravia
• Valtetsi
• Doliana
• Lalas
• Vasilika
• Dragashani
• Sculeni
• Vasilika
• Trench
• Peta
• Dervenakia
• Kar*i
• Greek civil wars
• Sphacteria
• Maniaki
• Lerna Mills
• Mani
• Distomo
• Arachova
• Kamatero
• Phaleron
• Chios expedition
• Martino
• Koronisia
• Petra

M*acres

• Constantinople
• Thessaloniki
• Navarino
• Tripolitsa
• Naousa
• Samothrace
• Chios
• Psara
• Kasos
• Cyprus

Naval conflicts

• Eresos
• Chios
• Nauplia
• Samos
• Andros
• Sphacteria
• Gerontas
• Souda
• Alexandria
• Volos
• Itea
• Navarino

Ships

• Greek sloop Karteria
• Greek brig Aris

Greek regional councils and statutes

• Messenian Senate
• Directorate of Achaea
• Peloponnesian Senate
• Senate of Western Continental Greece
• Areopagus of Eastern Continental Greece
• Provisional Regime of Crete
• Military-Political System of Samos

Greek national *emblies

• First (Epidaurus) (Executive of 1822)
• Second (Astros)
• Third (Troezen)
• Fourth (Argos)
• Fifth (Nafplion)

International Conferences,
Treaties and Protocols

• Congress of Laibach
• Congress of Verona
• Protocol of St. Petersburg (1826)
• Treaty of London
• Conference of Poros
• London Protocol of 1828
• London Protocol of 1829
• Treaty of Adrianople
• London Protocol of 1830
• London Conference
• Treaty of Constantinople

Related

• Greek expedition to Syria (1825)
• Russo-Turkish War (1828-29)

PersonalitiesGreece

• Chian Committee
• Odysseas Androutsos
• Anagnostaras
• Markos Botsaris
• Laskarina Bouboulina
• Constantin Denis Bourbaki
• Hatzimichalis Dalianis
• Kanellos Deligiannis
• Athanasios Diakos
• Germanos III of Old Patras
• Nikolaos Galatis
• Dimitrios Kallergis
• Athanasios Kanakaris
• Konstantinos Kanaris
• Ioannis Kapodistrias
• Stamatios Kapsas
• Panagiotis Karatzas
• Georgios Karaiskakis
• Nikolaos Kasomoulis
• Ioannis Kolettis
• Theodoros Kolokotronis
• Georgios Kountouriotis
• Antonios Kriezis
• Nikolaos Kriezotis
• Kyprianos of Cyprus
• Georgios L*anis
• Lykourgos Logothetis
• Andreas Londos
• Yannis Makriyannis
• Manto Mavrogenous
• Alexandros Mavrokordatos
• Petrobey Mavromichalis
• Andreas Metaxas
• Andreas Miaoulis
• Theodoros Negris
• Nikitaras
• Antonis Oikonomou
• Ioannis Orlandos
• Papaflessas
• Dimitrios Papanikolis
• Emmanouel Pappas
• Christoforos Perraivos
• Nikolaos Petimezas
• Vasileios Petimezas
• Panagiotis Rodios
• Georgios Sachtouris
• Georgios Sisinis
• Iakovos Tombazis
• Anastasios Tsamados
• Meletis Vasileiou
• Demetrios Ypsilantis

Philhellenes

• António Figueira d'Almeida
• Michail Komninos Afentoulief
• Joseph Balestra
• Lord Byron
• François-René de Chateaubriand
• Richard Church
• Giuseppe Chiappe
• Lord Cochrane
• Vincenzo Gallina
• Charles Fabvier
• Thomas Gordon
• Frank Abney Hastings
• Carl von Heideck
• Vasos Mavrovouniotis
• Johann Jakob Meyer
  • Ellinika Chronika
• Karl Normann
• Maxime Raybaud
• Giuseppe Rosaroll
• Santorre di Santa Rosa
• Friedrich Thiersch
• Auguste Hilarion Touret
• German Legion:
• Serbs
• Olivier Voutier

Moldavia and Wallachia
(Danubian Principalities)

• Alexander Ypsilantis
• Sacred Band
• Nikolaos Ypsilantis
• Alexandros Kantakouzinos
• Georgios Kantakouzinos
• Athanasios Agrafiotis
• Giorgakis Olympios
• Yiannis Pharmakis
• Dimitrie Macedonski
• Tudor Vladimirescu
• Konstantinos Xenokratis
• Anastasios Manakis
• Stamatios Kleanthis

Ottoman Empire, Algeria, and Egypt

• Sultan Mahmud II
• Hurshid Pasha
• Nasuhzade Ali Pasha
• Ismael Gibraltar
• Omer Vrioni
• Kara Mehmet
• Mahmud Dramali Pasha
• Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha
• Reşid Mehmed Pasha
• Yussuf Pasha
• Ibrahim Pasha
• Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi

Britain, France and Russia

• George Canning
• Stratford Canning
• Edward Codrington
• Henri de Rigny
• Lodewijk van Heiden
• Alexander I of Russia
• Nicholas I of Russia

Financial aid

• London Philhellenic Committee
• Ludwig I of Bavaria
• Jean-Gabriel Eynard
• Lazaros Kountouriotis
• Ioannis Papafis
• Georgios Stavros
• Ioannis Varvakis
• Rothschild & Co

Morea expeditionHistorians/Memoirists

• Dimitrios Ainian
• Fotis Chrysanthopoulos
• Ioannis Filimon
• George Finlay
• Ambrosios Frantzis
• Konstantinos Metaxas
• Panoutsos Notaras
• Panagiotis Papatsonis
• Anastasios Polyzoidis
• Georgios Tertsetis
• Spyridon Trikoupis

Art

• Eugène Delacroix
• Louis Dupré
• Peter von Hess
• Victor Hugo
• François Pouqueville
• Alexander Pushkin
• Karl Krazeisen
• Andreas Kalvos
• Dionysios Solomos
• Theodoros Vryzakis
• Hellas
• The Reception of Lord Byron at Missolonghi
• Greece on the Ruins of Missolonghi
• Le siège de Corinthe
• The M*acre at Chios
• The Free Besieged
• Hymn to Liberty
• The Archipelago on Fire
• Loukis Laras
• The Apotheosis of Athanasios Diakos

Remembrance

• 25 March (Independence Day)
• Hymn to Liberty
• Eleftheria i thanatos
• Pedion tou Areos
• Propylaea (Munich)
• Garden of Heroes (Missolonghi)
• Royal Phalanx
• Evzones (Presidential Guard)