The Macedonian contribution to the struggle of Rhigas
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Abstract
Rhigas’ intention was not only an armed rebellion of the Greeks against
Ottoman rule but also a social, cultural and moral revolution of their lives.
He wanted to liberate not only the Greeks but all the peoples of southern
Europe and the Near East, including the Turks, from the Sultan’s despotism.
This is apparent from his early publications—literary, scientific, geographical,
historical, religious—as well as his later revolutionary Thourios, and the
Proclamation and Constitution based on the French revolutionary model. His interrogation by the Austrian police after his arrest in December 1797 showed that Macedonian influences on his ecumenical vision were strong. His aspirations were stimulated by the political ideas as well as the conquests of Alexander the Great. His secret contacts inside Greece were predominantly located in the north—Macedonia, Epiros, and his native Thessaly—as well as the islands. About half of his known close associates in Vienna were of Macedonian origin; and several of them were handed over with him to be executed by the Turks. Rhigas’ revolutionary ambitions were frustrated, partly because he was unable to enlist the help of the French (particularly Napoleon) and partly because he was betrayed. Ironically, even his betrayer was a Macedonian. Like other Greeks, the Macedonians were divided for and against his memory in the generation after his death. Only in the mid-19th century did all controversy end with a universal verdict in his favour as a poet, liberator and martyr.
Ottoman rule but also a social, cultural and moral revolution of their lives.
He wanted to liberate not only the Greeks but all the peoples of southern
Europe and the Near East, including the Turks, from the Sultan’s despotism.
This is apparent from his early publications—literary, scientific, geographical,
historical, religious—as well as his later revolutionary Thourios, and the
Proclamation and Constitution based on the French revolutionary model. His interrogation by the Austrian police after his arrest in December 1797 showed that Macedonian influences on his ecumenical vision were strong. His aspirations were stimulated by the political ideas as well as the conquests of Alexander the Great. His secret contacts inside Greece were predominantly located in the north—Macedonia, Epiros, and his native Thessaly—as well as the islands. About half of his known close associates in Vienna were of Macedonian origin; and several of them were handed over with him to be executed by the Turks. Rhigas’ revolutionary ambitions were frustrated, partly because he was unable to enlist the help of the French (particularly Napoleon) and partly because he was betrayed. Ironically, even his betrayer was a Macedonian. Like other Greeks, the Macedonians were divided for and against his memory in the generation after his death. Only in the mid-19th century did all controversy end with a universal verdict in his favour as a poet, liberator and martyr.
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