WOMEN OF THE PELOPONNESE

Text by Nikos Aivalis, research by Elpida Zografidou, translation by Eva Trombetas

The history of Greece and the Peloponnese has recorded countless heroes. This is one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is the female heroines, who in one way or another glorified Greece. A tribute in honor of all women, as without them we could not exist, as women are an integral part of every man, every human. Mothers, sisters, partners, grandmothers, daughters, friends and more. The ancient Greeks had understood the importance of women, a fact that is reflected in the fact that in the mythical Olympus, lived six male gods (Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus) and six female goddesses (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, Estia), showing the harmony that must exist and how it is not possible for a man to exist without the female and vice versa. Peloponnese gave birth to many mythical female characters, such as Atalanti, the beautiful Helen, Eliki, Messini, Neda, Gorgo, Electra, Aethra and many others. In this feature we will try to take a look at some of the Peloponnesian women who made history.

wisdom embodied in its glorious feminine form of
goddess Athena who was honored by all Greeks

Castle of Oria. between the villages of Agios Petros and Agios Ioannis in Arcadia. On a strategic hill, there was a fort, which guarded the road that connected Argolis with Laconia and Kynouria with central Arcadia. This castle was built in 1256 AD by the Frankish conquerors, in order to supervise the disobedient Tsakonian people (an Arcadian tribe). After the successes of Andronikos Assan in 1320, who fought the Franks in the Peloponnese, the castle came into the hands of the Byzantine Despotate of Mystras. In 1407 the castle passed to the Venetians of Nafplio, while in 1423 it passed to the Byzantine family of Melissinoi, until 1467 when it was conquered by the Turks. The name "Orias" tells us about a heroine, who was very beautiful (ωραία / orea - orias = beautiful). This heroine was the princess of the castle, who with unparalleled courage defended herself vigorously for many years, against the Turks who besieged the castle. Having become the fear and terror of the Ottomans, the great noblewoman seemed invincible, to such an extent that the Ottomans had to find an insidious way to defeat her. So they dressed a soldier as a pregnant woman, who begged at the castle gate to be opened for her to escape the enemy´s army. The merciful princess opened the gate, but along with the fake woman, 1,000 Ottomans entered and conquered the castle. It is characteristic that the Turkish soldier who did this insidious trick, was looking to find the beautiful princess to make her his wife, but already this great heroine had fallen from the bastions so as not to fall into the hands of any enemy, so we will always know this castle as that of Oria, the beautiful and brave heroine that the Ottomans did not manage to defeat, except with deceit. The story of the heroine is saved through traditional songs of the Tsakonian people.

the famous castle of Oria

Summer 1826. The Turks send the elite of the Ottoman Empire to crash the revolution in the Peloponnese. Ibrahim disembarks in Methoni (Messenia), where he burns everything and slaughters all the inhabitants. In Maniaki, the hero Papaflessas tries to stop him, but gets killed along with his 300 comrades-in-arms. The national division is at its peak, as the legislature dismisses Petrobeis Mavromichalis from being a president and replaces him with Koundouriotis, resulting in two governments: one in Tripolis under Petrobei and one in Kranidi under Koundouriotis. On his way, Ibrahim conquers Monemvasia (Laconia) and arrives in Messolonghi (Aetolia - Acarnania) where he occupies the besieged city. Ibrahim then descends again to the Peloponnese with the sense of invincibility and aims to extinguish the last hope of the Greeks, the unconquerable Mani (a land between Laconia and Messenia), which was never conquered by the Ottomans, so the last free fort of the Greeks had to be conquered. Arriving, Ibrahim with his army in Verga of Almyros, demands that the Mani's people be surrendered, otherwise he will cross all of Mani with fire and sword. Then the heroic Giorgakis Mavromichalis, like another Leonidas, answers: "We are waiting for you with all the forces you have, we, the inhabitants of Mani, are writing to you and we are waiting for you". In the battle of Verga something happened that Ibrahim's arrogant mind could not have imagined. His army was not only defeated by the Mani people, but literally decimated. Ibrahim opened a second front, this time in Diros. As the men of Mani were fighting in another place, the Mani's women were defending Diros. Like lionesses fighting with scythes, stones and sticks, these women literally humiliated Ibrahim's empirical army. Mani had just become a death trap for his army. It is really unbelievable how the Mani's women managed to defeat the one that no one had managed to defeat until then, there in the wild land of Mani, the Arabs were harvested by the scythes of the women who angrily guarded other Thermopylae. Characteristic is the statue of the Mani's woman with the scythe, where according to some stories, during the battle, an Arab had grabbed a Mani's woman to kill her. But the heroine fought with animosity, then the Arab ran to save himself, but the Mani's woman's clothes got stuck in the enemy's belt, then the woman picked up her scythe, cut the garment and along with it the enemy.

the statue of Mani's woman holding a scythe

Stavriana Savvaina from Parori, Laconia. When the Turks killed her husband, she created a war corps consisting of women and joined the army of Kyriakoulis Mavromichalis. She fought in the Fall of Tripolis, in the battle of Valtetsi, in the battle of Trikorfa, in the battle of Diros and in many other battles. Konstantina Zacharia, a Spartan warrior who hunted down the Turks from Sparta to Mystras where they ended up getting trapped. She also took over Leontari in Arcadia, killed the Ottoman commander, took the Turkish crescent banners down and burned all the mosques.

the glorious heroines of the Peloponnese

Kyniska, daughter of Archidamus II and Eupolia, who was born around 430 BC a great Spartan woman, who was the first female Olympian in history. Kyniska won twice at the Olympic Games, in 396 BC and in 392 BC both times in the chariot race. She was incredibly appreciated by the Spartans, but also by other Greeks. It is characteristic that they made a bronze statue of her in Olympia, a work by Apellis, who was a painter from Kos.

Kyniska, the first female Olympian

Evryleonis, also a Spartan woman, the second after Kyniska, who managed to be crowned Olympian. Evryleonis won the Synoris race, a two-horse chariot race at the Olympic Games of 368 BC. In her honor, the Spartans raised a statue of Evryleonis, something that Pausanias mentions. In 84 BC two women from Elis won the Olympic Games. Timareta in the race Synoris, while Theodota in the race Polikon Tethripon (carriage with four horses). However, even in 153 AD a woman from Elis managed to be crowned Olympian, Kasia Mnasithea, who excelled in the Polikon Tethrippon event.

women Olympians

Diotima from Tegea in Arcadia, was a priestess of Apollo in Mantineia. She is mentioned in the Platonic Symposium as a wise woman, who taught the great philosopher Socrates. A connoisseur of Pythagorean numerology, according to Xenophon, who was a student of Socrates, Diotima was very capable of the most difficult geometrical theorems. Proclus, a Neoplatonic philosopher, considers Diotima to be a Pythagorean philosopher, a school derived from Pythagoras, which took a higher ground in mathematics, arithmetic, music, while they believed that the soul is not lost with death. Diotima was the priestess who purified the Athenians after the plague of 429 BC.

Socrates and one of his students talking to Diotima
work of Franz Kautsing

Lasthenia from Mantineia in Arcadia. She studied mathematics and philosophy at Plato's Academy, and after his death, she continued her studies at the school of Speusippus, who was nephew of Plato. Another philosopher was Axiothea from the city of Fleios, in the area of Nemea. She left the Peloponnese and went to Athens to study mathematics and natural philosophy, while after finishing her studies, she taught in Corinth. Nikareti the Corinthian, who was a philosopher, mathematician and geometer, studied in Megara, next to the philosopher Stilpon, around the 3rd century BC.

women philosophers

Of course, a tribute is not enough to record all the women whose names are written in gold letters in the history of Greece. En Astron, want to send a small message, that love and respect should be our two closest advisors, because only then can we hope for something better, only then can we be called people. We conclude with a phrase of the ancient comedian poet, Menander: "Ως χαρίεν εστ' άνθρωπος, όταν άνθρωπος η" ( = what a fine thing a human is, when truly human).