Giorgakis Olympios

Giorgakis Olympian (Greek Γεωργάκης Ολύμπιος, Romanian Iordache Olimpiotul; * 1772, † 1821) was a Greek military commander and Armatole during the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. Known for its activities for the Greek Secret Society Filiki Eteria in the Danubian Principalities, he is considered a leading figure of the Greek Revolution.

Biography

Early activities

He was born in Ottoman -ruled Greece in the village of Livadi, near Larisa. After joining the Armatolikia in the area around the mountain range Mount Olympus at the age of 20 years he was a prominent member of the local society, by protecting villages against depredations of Ali Pasha. In 1798, however, he was forced to leave his birthplace and fled to Serbia, where he collaborated for some time with Karađorđe Petrović during the First Serbian Uprising, under the name Kapetan Jorgać.

He became a follower of the ideas of Rigas Feraios in terms of a common Balkan revolution against Ottoman rule, and moved into Wallachia. There he presented, with the help of Constantine Ypsilanti, a Greek army, which participated with the Russian Empire in the Russian - Turkish war of 1806. After the battle of Ostrova he was appointed polkovnik ( Colonel ) in the Russian army.

Greek War of Independence

In 1817 he joined the secret society Filiki Eteria, in the high rank of the Shepherd. He recruited many others for Eteria and established contacts with the Wallachian Pandur Tudor Vladimirescu, who led the Wallachian uprising of 1821. He met and married Veljko Petrovic's widow, Cucuk Stana, who came from Serbia to fight in the Greek War of Independence. They had three children.

At the beginning of the Greek revolution, when the Eteria began their expedition in Moldavia and Wallachia, he was leader of the Greek forces in Bucharest.

He participated in the Battle of Skuleni part on 29 June 1821 where Ottoman troops, together with Yiannis Pharmakis and a small force of 400 Greeks chased him until the Secu Monastery. Olympius died during the Ottoman attack on the monastery.

Credentials

• Paroulakis, Peter H. The Greeks: Their Struggle For Independence. Hellenic International Press, 1984. ISBN 0-9590894-1-1.
• Stratiki, Poti. To Athanato 1821. Stratikis Bros, 1990. ISBN 960-7261-50- X.