Rigas Feraios ( , sometimes Rhegas Pheraeos; ) or Velestinlis (Βελεστινλής , also transliterated Velestinles; 1757 – 24 June 1798), born as Antonios Rigas Velestinlis (), was a Greek writer, political thinker and revolutionary, active in the Modern Greek Enlightenment. A victim of the Balkan uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a pioneer of the Greek War of Independence, Rigas Feraios is today remembered as a national hero in Greece.

Early life

Rigas Feraios was born in 1757 as Antonios Rigas Velestinlis He later was at some point nicknamed Pheraeos or Feraios, by scholars, after the nearby ancient Greek city of Pherae, but he does not seem ever to have used this name himself; he is also sometimes known as Konstantinos or Constantine Rhigas (). He is often described as being of Aromanian ancestry, with his native village of Velestino being predominantly Aromanian. Although his family usually overwintered in Velestino, it had its roots in Perivoli, another Aromanian-inhabited village. Rigas' grandfather Konstantinos Kyriazis or Kyratzis relocated with his family to Velestino which had been transformed into a Perivoli parish. Some historians state that Rigas was a Greek, as Leandros Vranoussis, who assumes that his Greek family was long-time residing in Velestino.

His grievances against the Ottoman occupation of Greece regarded its cruelty, the drafting of children between the ages of five and fifteen into military service (Devshirmeh or Paedomazoma), the administrative chaos and systematic oppression (including prohibitions on teaching Greek history or language, or even riding on horseback), the confiscation of churches and their conversion to mosques.

Rigas wrote enthusiastic poems and books about Greek history and many became popular. One of the most famous (which he often sang in public) was the Thourios or battle-hymn (1797), in which he wrote, "It's finer to live one hour as a free man than forty years as a slave and prisoner" («Καλύτερα μίας ώρας ελεύθερη ζωή παρά σαράντα χρόνια σκλαβιά και φυλακή»).

In "Thourios" he urged the Greeks (Romioi) and other Orthodox Christian peoples living at the time in the area of Greece (Arvanites/Albanians, Bulgarians, etc.) and generally in the Balkans, to leave the Ottoman-occupied towns for the mountains, where they could find freedom, organize and fight against the Ottoman tyranny. His call included also the Muslims of the empire, who disagreed and reacted against the Sultan's governance.

It is noteworthy that the word "Greek" or "Hellene" is not mentioned in "Thourios"; instead, Greek populations are still referred to as "Romioi" (i.e. Romans, citizens of the Christian or Eastern Roman Empire), which is the name that they proudly used for themselves at that time.

Statues of Rigas Feraios stand at the entrance to the University of Athens and in Belgrade at the beginning of the street that bears his name (Ulica Rige od Fere). The street named after Rigas Feraios in Belgrade was the only street in Belgrade named after a non-Serb until World War I.

Rigas Feraios was also the name taken by the youth wing of the Communist Party of Greece (Interior), and a split of this youth wing was Rigas Feraios - Second Panhellenic.

His political vision was influenced by the French Constitution (i.e. democratic liberalism)

Feraios' portrait was printed on the obverse of the Greek ₯200 banknote of 1996–2001. A ₯50 commemorative coin was issued in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of his death. His portrait appears on the Greek 10 lepta (cent) euro coin.

Nikos Xydakis and Manolis Rasoulis wrote a song called Etsi pou les, Riga Feraio (Έτσι που λες, Ρήγα Φεραίο; "That's how it is, Rigas Feraios"), which was sung by Rasoulis himself. Also, composer Christos Leontis wrote music based upon the lyrics of "Thourio" and Cretan Nikos Xylouris performed the song in the 1970s.

Works

  • Anthology of Physics (Vienna, 1790)
  • School for Delicate Lovers (Vienna, 1790; repr. 1971)
  • Pamphlet, New Map of Wallachia and General Map of Moldavia (Vienna, 1797)
  • A Map of Greece (Vienna, 1797)
  • New Political Constitution of the Inhabitants of Roumeli, Asia Minor, the Islands of the Aegean and the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Vienna, 1797, included:
  • Thourios or Patriotic hymn (poem)
  • Man's Rights (35 articles)
  • Revolutionary Declaration for Laws and Fatherland
  • Constitution of Hellenic Republic (124 articles)
  • New Anacharsis, Vienna, 1797

<gallery class="center" mode="packed" heights="150">

File:Χάρτα του Ρήγα, Κύρια παράσταση και τίτλος, 1797.jpg|Frontispiece of Rigas's Map of Greece (Charta of Rigas)

File:Θούριος-Ρήγας Φεραίος-1797.JPG|"Thourios" print

File:Ρήγας.jpg|Rigas by Peter von Hess (National Historical Museum, Athens)

File:Ο Ρήγας Βελεστινλής και ο Αδαμάντιος Κοραής υποβαστάζουν την Ελλάδα - Θεόφιλος - 19ος αιώνας.jpg|Rigas and Adamantios Korais helping Greece to stand up. Work by Theophilos Hatzimihail (19th century)

File:Rigas Velestinlis memorial (12007921173).jpg|Commemorative plaque for Rigas in Vienna

File:Rigas Feraios Belgrade.jpg|Statue of Rigas Feraios, Belgrade

Image:Ρήγας Φεραίος, Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών 6627.jpg|Statue of Rigas outside the University of Athens (by Ioannis Kossos)

</gallery>

Notes

References

  • Scanned original draft of the New Political Constitution from the collection of the Hellenic Parliament
  • Collection of papers dedicated to Rigas Charta, e-Perimetron, Vol. 3, No. 3, 2008
  • Nebojša Tower will become a historical monument
  • Chalcography of Alexander the Great by Rigas Feraios, Vienna 1797
  • History of Modern Greek Literature by C. T. Dimaras