Rigas Feraios (1757 – June 24, 1798)

Rigas Feraios (1757 – June 24, 1798)

From Velestino, west of Volos in Thessaly, he was a Greek writer, political thinker and revolutionary, a leading figure in the age of Modern Greek Enlightenment and a pioneer of the movement for Greek Independence.

Upon learning about the French Revolution (1789), Feraios came to believe something similar could occur for the Greeks, which was, self-determination for the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire.

He wrote enthusiastic poems and books about Greek history and drew historical maps of the Greek lands, arousing the patriotic fervour of his Greek compatriots.

He was a staunch critic of the Turk occupation of Greece, especially the Ottomans policy of kidnapping children from their families on a mass scale, who were either sold into slavery or forcibly converted to Islam and then indoctrinated with hatred for their own country, people and culture and trained to fight against them in the future.

Soon enough, Feraios’ activities would come to the attention of the Turks. After being betrayed, he was handed over to the Turks by the Austrians, who had arrested him in Trieste. The Austrians themselves also feared Feraios, for his writings about Revolution, Liberation and Independence, which they believed could endanger the future of their own Empire.

He was taken to Belgrade where he was interrogated and tortured mercilessly by the Turks. When it became apparent to the Turks that they had no hope of Feraios giving them any sort of information, they strangled him to death and dumped his body into the Danube River.

Rigas Feraios’ last words are reported as being – “I have sown a rich seed, the hour is coming when my country will reap its glorious fruits”.