Thanasis Vagias

Thanasis Vagias (Greek: Θανάσης Βάγιας, 1765–1834) was a Greek counselor and confidant of Ali Pasha, a Muslim Albanian ruler of Ottoman Epirus.[1][1]

Biography

Thanasis Vagias was born in Lekël, Tepelenë.[2] His name had become notorious because, under Ali's service, he led an attack against the village of Kardhiq, near Gjirokaster, modern southern Albania. As a result of this operation, hundreds of men, women and children were killed.[3] When the Greek War of Independence ended, Vagias moved to the newly founded Greek state and was given a government post and later acquired a pension, by the head of state of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias.[1]

As a native of Epirus, Vagias proposed to Kapodistrias that Epirus should become part of Greece, but his plan was not accepted due to the difficult conditions the Greek revolution faced that time.[4]

Legacy

According to various authors, Vagias was wrongly regarded as a traitor of the Greek cause by various historians and authors of that period, like Ioannis Makrygiannis, Aristotelis Valaoritis, and Alexandre Dumas, père.[1][5][6] Valaoritis's masterpiece was titled Thanasis Vagias after him. In this work, Vagias is presented as a traitor, who after his death returns to his home place as a vampire.[6] Additionally, one of the main characters of the Greek traditional shadow theatre, Karagiozis, is named Thanasis Vagias, who is a servant of Ali Pasha and is portrayed as a cowardly warrior.[7]

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References

Citations
  1. Woodhouse, Lidderdale & Makriyannis 1966: "VAYIAS, Thanasis, 1765-1834, Epirot Greek, a confidant of Ali Pasha, wrongly thought by Makriyannis to be a betrayer of the Greek cause. Returned to Greece 1829 and given Government post by Capodistrias."
  2. Murray 1845, p. 251.
  3. Santas 1976, p. 67: "Thanasis Vayias, a man who allegedly led the hordes of Ali Pasha against a village of Epirus, Gardiki, resulting in the massacre of seven hundred men, women, and children."
  4. Skoulidas, Ilias (2001). "The Relations Between the Greeks and the Albanians during the 19th Century: Political Aspirations and Visions (1875 - 1897)". www.didaktorika.gr (in Greek). University of Ioannina: 27. doi:10.12681/eadd/12856. hdl:10442/hedi/12856. ... του ηπειρώτη Θανάση Βάγια ...να απελευθερώσει την Ήπειρο με τη συγκατάθεση (που δεν απέσπασε) του Καποδίστρια και τη μετάπειση των πρέσβεων των Ξένων Δυνάμεων (1827-32), κυρίως τον επηρεασμό του Ρώσου αντιπροσώπου. Οι συνθήκες δεν επέτρεψαν να καρποφορήσει αυτή η προσπάθεια.
  5. Dumas 2008, Chapter V, p. 36: "Fear was nearly taking the place of mercy, words of pardon were on his lips, when a certain Athanasius Vaya [Vagias], a Greek schismatic, and a favourite of the pacha's, whose illegitimate son he was supposed to be, advanced at the head of the scum of the army, and offered to carry out the death sentence."
  6. Pallis 1964, The Ballad-Poetry of Modern Greece, p. 67.
  7. Myrsiades 1988, pp. 66, 210.

Sources
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