Kyriakoulis Argyrokastritis
Kyriakoulis Argyrokastritis (Template:Lang-el -1828) also known as Kyriakoulis Polychronis[1] was a Greek resistance leader of the Greek War of Independence.
He was born in Gjirokastër (Argyrokastron in Greek), modern Albania, when the town was under Ottoman rule. Argyrokastritis joined the Greek revolution and in 1826 together with the resistance leader Hadjimichalis Dalianis, from Delvinaki, landed on the island of Crete to support the revolution there.
In May 1828, Epirotes and Cretans under the leadership of Hadjimichalis, were besieged by the numerically superior Ottoman army[2][1] of the local Turcoalbanian ruler Giritli Mustafa Naili Pasha, in Frangokastello castle, Sfakia region. The defence was doomed, however Frangokastello held for seven days, and Dalianis and Argyrokastrites were killed during the conflicts.[2][1][3]
According to a local tradition in Crete, an unexplained phenomenon that usually occurs on the anniversary of the Frangokastello battle where images of advancing troops, called Drosoulites (dew-men) appear at dawn to hover above the tragic location.[2]
References
- ^ a b c Pyrrhus Ruches. Albanian historical folksongs, 1716-1943: a survey of oral epic poetry from southern Albania, with original texts. Argonaut, 1967 p. 62
- ^ a b c Η σκόνη της Ιστορίας. e-magazine forum.gr. Σεπτέμβριος-Οκτωβριος 2005, p. 27 (Greek)
- ^ Σαν σήμερα. ethnos online 18/5/2009. (Greek)