Description
The diaries of three European volunteer travelers.
1825 is perhaps the most critical year for the Greek Revolution. The civil war has just ended, Kolokotronis is in prison while Androutsos and other important warlords are being persecuted by the Greek Government. Ibrahim’s regular army has landed in the Peloponnese, moving from success to success, besieging Messolonghi and Navarino and appearing capable of suppressing the Revolution.
In this turbulent time, three strong personalities will be found in Greece, each for his own reasons and purposes. James Emerson, a Philhellene writer and old companion of Byron, Count Pecchio, an Italian politician and revolutionary, exiled from his country, and G. Humphreys, a professional military man and adventurer. Through their diaries, the three authors offer us an unparalleled panorama of “the homeland of the lost gods and demigods”. From their personal meetings, the personalities of Kolokotronis, Papaflessas, Dimitriou Ypsilantis, Kanari, Bouboulinas, Miaouli, Mavrokordatou and many other protagonists of the time are outlined. We learn first-hand what it was like to take part in the guerrilla war-theft of the Greeks as well as the experience of traveling on the warship of Miaoulis and watching closely the action of the famous artillery while they pursue the Turkish-Egyptian fleet. Along with the military operations, the place and the people of revolutionary Greece are described in abundant detail. What were the daily activities, religious beliefs, customs and traditions, and even the eating habits of the local population?
Almost two centuries after the English edition, the first complete translation of the work into Greek comes to fill a significant gap in Greek historiography but also to bring to life in the imagination of the ordinary reader one of the most important periods in Greek history.
