Many Cypriot volunteers, after the end of the revolution,
remained in Greece. Poor, ragged, miserable, many of them with large families to support, living in various parts of the newly created small Greek nation for the liberation of which they fought as well, with their wounds as medals awarded for bravery won with blood, lived the rest of their lives silently and quietly. When many years had passed, many of them, old men now,
submitted the certificate of their fights to the competent services of the state, signed by various known captains under whose orders they had fought, in order to obtain a meagre pension. From these certificates,
saved in the Greek state archives today, the names and actions of many Cypriots volunteer fighters in the Greek Revolution are known known. Some others are known from different other sources. Included with these men are fighters who, after the end of the Greek revolution, returned to Cyprus and spent the rest of their lives in their villages, although they acquired the Greek nationality. The consul of Greece in Cyprus,
G.F. Menardos, had prepared in 1866, a register of Greek subjects of Cyprus, of whom some were old volunteer fighters in the Greek revolution. Thus, the names of some more Cypriot fighters are known. However, many other Cypriot volunteers in the titanic struggle for the freedom of Greece remained unknown heroes. Either they remained in Greece free and their names were not recorded, or they lived their lives in other countries, or they returned later to Cyprus without proclaiming their participation in the revolution fearing the consequences. These remaining unknown Cypriot fighters are included in the thousands of anonymous heroes of the Greek population to whom the laurels of '21 belong in the first place.
It is therefore impossible to calculate the number of Cypriot volunteers in the Greek revolution accurately. The named or known fighters from Cyprus exceed 90 in number. If the fact that most of those who returned to their mother country, took care to hide their fighting activities in Greece is considered, and the names of many others were not saved because they remained poor and insignificant, it can be concluded that several hundreds of Cypriots have taken part in the Greek revolution.
Not all went together from Cyprus to Greece at the time of the revolution or did were enlisted at the same time. Some had already been living in Greece. Others were among those who succeeded in escaping from Cyprus to be saved from the slaughters of July 1821, went to Greece and were enlisted. Others went to Greece after 1821 during the years when the revolution continued.
The Cypriot fighters fought on land and sea and were present in the principal and biggest fights, serving under the orders of captains such as Kolokotronis, Makryannis, Nikitaras, Ypsilantis, Kanaris, Karaikaskis, Tzavellas and others. In addition, some were found in fights where epics were written in blood, such as the long resistance of Mesolonghi. Some of the Cypriot volunteers were officers and lieutenants and many were honoured with medals and certificates for their bravery.
During the revolution, a separate company of Cypriot fighters was created for some period of time,
as it appears from the fact that there was a separate military flag of the Cypriots. This banner was saved and it is preserved today in the National Historical Museum in Athens. It is white in colour with a big blue cross in the centre. On the upper internal white square (one of the 4 squares which creates the cross) the sentence
SIMEA ELLINIKI PATRIS KYPROU is inscribed.
The banner of the Cypriots was fastened on a light wooden staff which had on its upper part an iron cross ending in a spear, so that the flag bearer could also use it as a weapon. It is possible that the military flag of the Cypriots belonged to the volunteer fighters who, in June 1826 participated collectively in the forming of a special military body called the Ionian Phalange, which subsequently took part in many and important military operations in the Peloponese and Sterea until its dissolution in 1827. The Ionian Phalange was formed after a "general meeting of the Ioanians' and was named so because it consisted mainly of Greek fighters of Ionia (west Asia Minor). Greeks from the islands of the Eastern Aegean sea and from
Cyprus were members, as well as from other Greek parts (Macedonia, Thrace. Epiros, etc). From the saved list of the 359 fighters of the Ionian Phalange, it appears that
at least 19 were Cypriots, because they are clearly mentioned, instead of by surname, by "
Cypriot". The 19 members were the following ( in brackets their number in the list of members of the Phalange):
Michales Kypreos (no.142), Constantis Kypreos (no.143) Georgios Kypreos (No.144), Kyriakos Kypreos (no.154) Stavros Kypreos (no. 155) Gabriel Kypreos (no.152) Eleftherios Kypreos (no.160) Avramis Kypreos (no.197) Kyriakos Kypreos (no.216) Savvas Kypreos (no.223) Hadjiavgoustis Kypreos (no. 224) Demetiors Kypreos (no. 229) Philippos Kypreos (no. 289) Kyriakos Kypreos (no. 306) Hadjipetros Kypreos (no. 331) Vasilios Kypreos (no. 343) Yiakoumis Kypreos (no.344) Paraskevas Kypreos (no.354) and Christophis Kypreos (no.355).
As it is known, the Ionian Phalange (which was put under the command of the Smyrnian fighter Yiannakos Karoglou) fought under the general command of captains such as Nikitaras, (Nikitaras Stamatelopoulos) against Ibrahim in the Peloponese, and afterwards marched in Attica and took part in the battles against Kioutahis who sieged the Acropolis of Athens (1826- 1827). It is worthy to mention that there fought other
Cypriots as well. In accordance with (unconfirmed) information (
F. Michalopoulos "Cyprus and the Greek revolution" Greek Cyprus, 1952, page 50) more than 100 Cypriots were killed in the battles in the region Athens - Phaliron. The Ionian Phalange took part in the campaign under Favieros for the liberation of Chios and other military operations.
In addition,
6 Cypriots are shown in the lists of fighters of this island among the people of Hydra who fought under Markyiannis, Demetrios Kallergis and Athanasios and Nicolaos E. Pappas, in the archives of the Community of Hydra. They were:
Kyriakos Kypreos, Tsaousis Savvas Kypreos, Nicolaos Vellas Kypreos, Simon Kypriotis, Ioannis Kypriotis and Ioannis Kypreos Tsaousis.
It seems that these men were members of
Cypriot families (principally merchants and sailors) permanently established in Hydra, who participated in the Hydran corps. Similarly, other Cypriots who were established in various other parts of Greece had been enlisted in units formed in the places where they lived; for example, the fighter
Constantinos Kypriotis who, as testified from relative certificates, lived before the revolution in Psara (motherland of the legendary incendiary Constantinos Kanaris). This fighter served on Psaran vessels which took part in various clashes, including the
fire vessel of Constantinos Kanaris himself, and was drowned at sea during a naval battle. On the fire vessel of Kanaris served also the son of this Cypriot fighter,
Georgios Constantinou Kypriotis, who also drowned during another naval battle. The relative certificates for both of them, signed by Constantinos Kanaris, issued in 1865 to their family, have been saved.
It is worthy to emphasize here, that the various certificates issued for Cypriot fighters and given to them or to their heirs by various captains of the revolution, were mostly written after 1844, principally after 1864; after a second vote in 1864 was passed, committees were constituted for the study of these certificates, so that a pension could be granted to the fighters or to their families. When this occurred, many Cypriots or members of their families rushed to secure and submit certificates of their participation in the struggle. However, by then surely many fighters had died or left Greece, and others, who did not bother or could not find their old chiefs in order to obtain their signatures, did not submit certificates. Consequently, this is an additional reason to support that the Cypriot fighters in the Greek revolution
numbered many more than those testified in documents.
The cases of the
Cypriots Ioannis Karatzas, companion of
Regas Fereos, and
Charalambos Malis, as well as of the national martyr
bishop Athanasios Karydis have already been mentioned.
The bishop Philotheos, a Cypriot prelate also suffered martyrdom (in Arkadia of Peloponese).
His name was
Philotheos Hatzis, and he was born in Cyprus (the date remains unknown) and studied in Constantinople. (He occupied in 1795 the throne of Demetsana). He gave particular emphasis to education, by creating or reinforcing schools in his bishopric region. From the moment of his initiation into the
Filiki Etairia, he gave himself wholly to the struggle. As has been seen, he managed to initiate in his turn to the Filiki Etairia, collectively, the entire population of Demetsana, an accomplishment which constitutes a unique phenomenon
in the struggle of the Greeks. However another accomplishment which served the struggle under preparation in particular was that it became possible to operate the famous "gun powder mills" of the brothers Nicolaos and Spyridon Spiliotopoulos in Demetsana. They produced large quantities of gun powder which was stored in various parts to be used at the beginning of the struggle. The entire operation of manufacture and storage of gun powder was dangerous and was performed with the utmost secrecy under the supervision of
bishop Philotheos. However, at the beginning of 1821, Philotheos was invited by the Turks in Tripoli (administrative capital of Peloponese then, near Demetsna) together with other prelates of Peloponese, the bishops of Monemvasia of Christianoupolis, of Olenis, of Nafplion, Args and Adrousa. All these, together with other prominent citizens, 18 persons in all were arrested in Tripoli and imprisoned with heavy chains around their necks .
The Cypriot prelate, not able to withstand the hard life in prison, died there, exhausted from the hardships on 10 September 1821. If he had been able to survive a little longer he would have been able to witness the liberation of Tripoli (Tripolitsa) by the Greeks (23 September 1821).
There is a piece of (unconfirmed) information that another
important prelate of the revolution,
the bishop Paleon Patron Germanos,
was of Cypriot origin -
perhaps on his father's side, given that he was born in Demetsana in 1771.
Minas Hamoudopoulos writes in 1880 ("The Patriarchal Great School of the Nation" Alithia, volume I, 1880 - 1881 page 220) that bishop Germanos was of Cypriot origin.
The Cypriots who served
as officers, such as
Ioannis Stavrinos (or Stavrianos), and
captain Georgis the Cypriot made an important contribution to the struggle for liberation of the Greeks.
Captain Georgis went to Greece as a volunteer since the beginning and fought the entire duration of the struggle. He was distinguished as a fighter and an officer and promoted to the rank of "hiliarchos". He took part in the most important battles and campaigns and after the end of the struggle, remained in the newly-liberated Greece.
Ioannis Stavrinos was born in 1804 in the village of
Lofou in the Limassol province and died in Greece in 1887. His father was a
merchant and Joannios often accompanied him on his trips. On one such trip to Alexandria in 1820, father and son were initiated in the Filiki Etairia. In 1822 the father died, and young Ioannis went to Alexandria again. There, with his fathers inheritance,
he gathered and provided a group of 7 men (4 Cypriots and 3 Cretans) with arms and went to Greece. In 1823 he was enlisted in the unit of his compatriot
captain Georgis Kypriou as "boulouksis" (=group leader), then in 1825 he joined the regular army which had been created in the meantime. He took part in many battles, including that operation under Karaiskakis in the region Athens-Phaliro, where he was captured and made prisoner of war. The testimony of Stavrianos that Kariskakis had died of a Greek bullet is particularly important, clarifying the whole matter of the murder of this great hero. Later,
Stavrianos was able to go free and to return to his military service.
After the liberation of Greece, he remained there and had a family. He belonged to the liberal rank of fighters who were against the foreign king of Greece Otto and because of this, sustained persecutions. He even took part in the naval battle of 1862. In 1863 he was demobilized with the rank of major. He wrote his memoires (which were saved, under the title "Narrative of the adventures of my life and collection of various events still unknown in the Greek history"). Another Cypriot officer of the Greek revolution,
captain Ioannis Kyprios (or captain Yiannis Kypriotis) who was promoted to captain was involved in remarkable military activity. Before the start of the revolution he worked in a Turkish - Egyptian vessel. In Tenos, he was initiated into the Filiki Etairia. Shortly before the proclamation of the struggle,
he seized the vessel on which he worked and led it to Hydra. After having armed it, he put it in the service of the revolution and with it, he took part in many naval battles. He was also in Mesolonghi where he fought during the first and the second siege, as well as in Peloponese in the critical battles against Dramalis under the commander-in-chief
Theodoros Kolokotronis. He was captain of various other military vessels, such as "Poseidon" and the two-canon "Athina". In the battle of Argos, he was seriously wounded on the head. After the end of the struggle he remained in Greece and was honoured with the rank of captain of the Phalange and was named an officer on land and sea.
In the epic resistance of Mesolongi, during the time of its great siege, other Cypriot volunteer fighters took part and fought: Pantelis
Georgiou Orphanos, officer who fought also in Dervenakia, in Crete and elsewhere,
Yiannis Passaportis, who took part also in the legendary Exodus of the Messolonghi and survived as did
Hadji - Christodoulos Kokkinoftas and others.
Among the Cypriot volunteers who died fighting during the period of the revolution, besides the above mentioned sailors in the
fire ship of Constantinos Kanaris, and the martyrs prelates Athanasios Karydis and Philotheos of Demetsana,
Michael Kyprios can be mentioned. He was one of the young men of
general Makriyiannis (he mentions his leader in his "Memoires") and
Georgios Markou Kypreos who was killed in the battle of Karystia (March 1826) fighting under Favieros ( his brother,
Adam Markou Kypreos fought under Nicolas Kriezotis from 1822 onwards in many battles including the famous one of Dervenakia, and was wounded in Naupaktos. Later he was enlisted in the regular army).
Many others were wounded in various battles or obtained honorary promotions to officers and non-commissioned officers, while several received decorations and medals of bravery.
Christodoulos Demetriou Kypreos fought since the beginning of the revolution and was wounded in the battle of Argos. He was honoured with a silver and bronze medal of the battle.
Vasilios Andreou was honoured with an iron medal which was bestowed upon him after the struggle by king Otto. From Otto, the bronze medal of the struggle was also awarded in 1835 to
Antonios Thomalis, known as Roussos (or Rossos). Many people were awarded medals:
Loizos Papachristou, who went to revolutionary Greece in 1826, the non-commissioned officer
Georgos Kypreos - Kaltzis who fought since the beginning of the revolution under A. Ypsilantis and took part in the battles of Tripoli, Athens, Nafapaktos, whilst he served in Chios for 6 months, until its destruction,
Georgios Philippou who fought from 1822 onwards, and was "penintarchos" (leader of a platoon of 50 men). The latter served under
Hadjichristos, Londos and other captains, as well as under Karaiskakis in Athens.
Pavlos Ioannou Toufexis (or Cyprios) served as a non-commissioned officer under Makryiannis and other captains in Sterea, Athens, Dervenakia and elsewhere,
John Demetriou Kypreos served as non-commissioned officer in the cavalry and was wounded,
Theoharis Avraam served since the beginning of the struggle under Ypsilantis, Makryiannis and other chieftains, took part in many battles and was promoted to sergeant in the cavalry;
Nicolaos Hadjisavvas served as a corporal,
John Kypreos served during the period of the struggle under Makriyiannis, Nikitaras and other captains, as well as at sea as gunner on vessels;
Angelis Michail Kypreos, was sergeant and took part in many battles under Ypsilantis, Favieros and captain
Georgis Kyprios, Makriyiannis, Kitsos Tzavellas and other chieftains. He was promoted to officer later and was prisoner of the enemy for 9 months.
Demetrios Antoniou Kyprios served since the beginning of the struggle and obtained the rank of corporal,
John Georgiou Kyprios, served since the beginning of the struggle as sailor under captain Apostolis in 1821, in Peloponese under Theodoros Kolokotronis in 1822 - 1824, under Karaiskakis and other captains, took part in many important battles and was wounded in Phaliron (where Karaiskakis was killed ) as well as in Dervenakia; he obtained various promotions up to the rank of naval lieutenant;
Phylaktis Ioannou went to Greece in 1826 and served for 6 years principally as gunner under Favieros.
Iossif (Yiosifis) Kyprios was enrolled and fought since the beginning of the revolution.
Antonios Hatjichristou Kypraios took part in many battles, in Tripoli, Athens, Neokastron, Naupaktos and others.
Theodoros Ioannou Kyprios was an officer under
Hadzichristos Nikitaras, Makriyiannis, and other chieftains.
Stavros Antoniou Kyprios served from 1822 till 1828 under
Hadjichristos, and later enlisted in the gendarmery (on some of his certificates he is mentioned with the surname
Hadjiantoniou).
Paschalis Michail Kyprios served from 1826 till 1828 as a soldier and from 1828 as a gunner. Later he was enlisted in the gendarmerie. Ioannis Michael was enlisted in 1821 and in Samos where he mainly fought, he was seriously wounded on the foot.
Christos Michailou Kyprios served since the beginning of the struggle. He took part in many battles and campaigns as an officer under Yspilantis, Kolokotronis, Karaiskakis Nikitaras, Kriezotis and other captains.
Constantinos N. Kypriotis was a teacher in Trieste from where he went to the revolutionary Greece in 1826 and fought under various leaders.
Christodoulos Vasiliades took part in the struggle from the start under Petrombeys Mavromichalis and other captains. Later he continued with the profession of teacher in liberated Greece.
Nicolaos Papaioannou served from the beginning of the struggle as a boulouksis (leader of a group).
Antonios Pavli Kyprios served since 1825 in the regular army while sergeant
Michalis Markou became an officer when he went to Greece from Cyprus after the beginning of the struggle and served during the entire period under Nikitaras and other captains. He took part in many important battles too.
Peter Georgiou Malliaros also served under Makriyiannis and other captains from 1821 until 1828. He fought in Myloi and other battles in Peloponese, Crete and elsewhere.
At the head of a family of fighters was
Antonios Iacovou Loizou who went to Greece from Cyprus at the age of 20 and served under Favieros. He was wounded during the siege of Acropolis (Athens). He was the father of
Sozos Antoniou, who fought as a volunteer in Crete during the Cretan insurrection of 1866 and grandfather of the
mayor of Limassol Chrisodoulos Sozos, who fought in the Balkan wars and was killed in Bizani on 6 October 1912.
Christos Papanicolaou Livaditis went to Greece in 1819, and since the beginning of the revolution in 1821 and for 10 years afterwards he served in the struggle at sea as a sailor.
Theoharis Tripsimos served in a group of euzones.
Kyriakos Christou went from Cyprus to Greece in 1825 and served for 11 years in the regular army.
Marcos Ieronimos went to Greece in 1824 and took part in the struggle at sea as a sailor, serving until it ended.
Georgios D. Economides (of the well-known family Economides about which we speak below), went to Greece in 1821. He served as officer, indeed maintaining himself and 12 of his men. He fought under A. Ypsilantis and Th. Kolokotronis. Later, he held various political posts, such as prefect of Cyclades. He was awarded the medal of the silver cross of the order of Saviour.
Hadji-Christodoulos Macris went voluntarily in Greece as a youth and fought as a simple soldier.
Theoharis Hadji-Elia Lapathiotis left Cyprus after the execution of his father by the Turks in July 1821, through the French consulate of Larnaca, in which he took refuge with other members of his family. He went to Greece where he fought until the end of the struggle. Later he served as adjutant of king Othon.
Demetrios Economides, a member of the well-known
Cypriot family Economides,
of which many members were initiated in the Filiki Etairia, departed secretly from Cyprus after the slaughters of July 1821 together with other members of his family. In Greece he served as a volunteer until the end of the struggle and later he served in various government posts.
He is known for his involvement in the effort to liberate Cyprus. Also belonging to the
Economides family was the old notable of Nicosia, Petros Economides, who was executed by the Turks in July 1821, and Hadji David Economides, great orator of the archbishopric who spread and extended the Greek education in Cyprus. In July 1821, the entire family suffered unprecedented persecution but several of its members succeeded in escaping abroad, through the foreign diplomatic missions in Larnaca. Other members of the family
took refuge in Trieste, Marseilles and Corfu, and others fought as volunteers in the Greek revolution. After the end of the revolution, members of the
Economides family remained in liberated Greece where they had careers, mainly as teachers.
Among the Cypriots involved in the whole effort for the liberation of Cyprus were also
Kypridimos Georgiades and Kyprianos Vikentios. The first served in the struggle since the beginning and developed great fighting activities and was later appointed in the very important post of member of the
three-membered Military Covention. The latter, also a remarkable fighter, was among those who
escaped from Cyprus after the slaughters of July 1821.
Ioannis Frangoudis, son of the merchant and consul Demetrios Frangoudis of the reknowned Cypriot family Frangoudis was also a remarkable fighter.
Ioannis Frangoudis took part in the Greek revolution since the beginning in 1821 as a sailor; he took part in many sea battles and clashes. When he served on the vessel "Hercules" he kept the war log book of this vessel. The log book was saved and is kept today at the Ethnological Museum in Athens.
While the struggle for liberation in the revolutionary Greece carried on,
new volunteers from Cyprus continued to be enlisted from Cyprus and fight alongside the Greeks. The names of some fighters are known, such as that of
Kyprianos Georgiades, who went to Greece in 1827,
Charalambos G. Frangos who went as a volunteer also in 1827 and served in the regular army until 1833,
Frangiskos Antoniou, who went to Greece in 1828, as well as
Michail Antoniou Kyprios, who served as non-commissioned officer.
Three brothers by the name of Kyprianos, Nicolaos and Theophylaktos (or Theophilos) Theseus, sons of Papasavvas from Strovolos, a cousin (not a brother as some alleged) of the martyr archbishop Kyprianos, had remarkable diverse activities. The youngest brother,
Theophylaktos (civilian name Themistoklis) became archimandrite, during the time of
Kyprianos, after he studied in
Switzerland. When he was initiated into the
Filiki Etairia, he showed overwhelming enthusiasm which was dangerous when expressed carelessly shortly before the outbreak of the secretly prepared revolution.
When he brought revolutionary leaflets to Cyprus, entrusted with him by Ypsilantis, it is testified that he distributed them here and there carelessly (as writes Vasilis Michaelides himself in his poem "9th July 1821"), which resulted in him being spotted by the Turks and his life put in danger and giving Koutsiouk Mehmed another reason to proceed with the slaughters of May - July 1821. Theophylaktos succeeded in escaping to Symi and from there to other places (he participated in the "synaxi" / meeting of Rome and co-signed the proclamation of 6 December 1821). He was involved efficiently in the efforts for the liberation of Cyprus, and in this respect acted as emissary of his brother
Kyprianos to the committee of the elders in Hydra and to Ypsilantis. He also carried out (in1822)
a money-raising campaign in Russia. However, when he reached Marseille he failed to deliver the money collected for the cause and the Cypriots there filed charges against him and obliged him to leave town. He was later involved in the case of securing a loan for the campaign of general de Vintz for the liberation of Cyprus. After 1824 he went to Greece, where he fought, taking part in important battles (Tripoli, Mesolonghi etc) where he was wounded and lost his left hand; he was promoted to officer and after the end of the revolution was put in the service of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In 1833 he was in Cyprus where he was involved in the revolutionary movement under his brother Nicolaos. His last traces are some letters he sent in 1851 from Constantinople through which he tried to regain some confiscated land property of his as well as to claim the bishop seat of Kyrenia which was then vacant. It was not given to him. Kyprianos Theseus, the oldest of the three brothers, was a successful merchant and principal shareholder of their company ("
Kyprianos Theseus and Co), which had its head office in
Larnaca and in Marseilles (where in 1815 his brother Nicolaos was established as his representative). A document has been saved concerning a
donation of Kyprianos Theseus of 2.000 gross in 1819 for the creation of a Greek School in Limassol. He was an important lender to the Church of Cyprus, of which the debt was enormous as we have seen. Escaping from Cyprus during the time of the slaughters of 1821,
Kyprianos Theseus was actively and in a leading role involved in the effort for the liberation of Cyprus; initially he addressed himself to the inhabitants of Hydra and through them to Ypsilantis, trying to secure quantities of ammunition and other provisions for the Cypriot fighters and later repeatedly and insistently tried in Nafplion, to convince the Greek command to undertake some responsibility in the effort for the liberation of Cyprus and particularly to guarantee the enormous loan demanded in London for the campaign of general de Vintz. After the end of the revolution
Kyprianos Theseus settled in Syros.
The other of the three brothers, Nicolaos Theseus studied in the school of Kydonion in Italy and perhaps in the School of Tenedos in Corfu as the adopted son (scholar) of Ioannis Kapodistrias (if indeed he was the one named Nicolaos Th. Kyprios, student in 1806 at that school). He had a very broad edaucation and was involved with publications; in Florence, he published "Homer's Iliad" in 1811 and the "Vatrahomyomachia, as a free translation by Th. Ghazis. Nicolaos Theseus also taught for short periods of time (in 1808 and 1820 - 1821) at the school of Trieste. In 1815, having obtained the Russian nationality, he settled in Marseilles and ran the branch there of his brother's company, carrying out a wide network of trade, of products from the Middle and the Near East. Travelling to Marseilles, Paris and Trieste,
he was involved in secret organizations working for the preparation of the Greek revolution, in places such as the Greek speaking Hotel in Paris (where his brother Theophylaktos was also a member) and, of course, the Filiki Etairia. The house of Nicolaos Theseus in Marseilles was a place where Greek Orthodox religious services were held, and a place where the Greeks and the Philhellenes would meet.
Nicolaos Theseus, in Marseilles as well as in Paris, Lyon and elsewhere, recruited former officers of Great Napoleon and others, to fight in Greece, acting as an "official" agent for Greek interests. As we have seen, the meeting of Cypriots in Rome had entrusted, through the proclamation of 6 December 1821,
Nicolaos Thesseus with the free handling of the whole matter of organizing the campaign for the liberation of Cyprus, indeed with the right to mortgage properties and other assets in Cyprus, for the securing of loans that would finance the operation of the Greek revolution .
Shortly, however,
Nicolaos Theseus abandoned this effort leaving the initiative to general de Vintz and to Cypriot fugitives in London, and went to Greece to fight. Upon request of the Peloponesian Senate, he took over the administration of the foreign fighters there. Having close relations with important leaders of the revolution (Demetrios Ypsilantis, Theodoros Kolokotronis, Nikitas Stamatelopoulos, better known as Nikitaras, etc.), Nicolaos Thesseus fought by their side in many battles, especially in Peloponese, giving away his fortune in favour of the revolution. Later, it seems that he objected to the undertaking of the political leadership of the new Greek state by Ioannis Kapodistiras, and, perhaps this was the reason that made him leave Greece in 1829, returning to his business in Marseilles.
Among Nicolaos Theseus's friends in France were many remarkable intellectuals, such as the writer and politician Lamartine (Alfonse Maria-Luis de Lamartine) who, in his book "Voyage to the East" describes Nicolaos Theseos as "a man with sparkling spirit and courage, who speaks all languages and knows all countries, capable of interesting and endless narration, fast thinking and fast acting". In 1832 and again in 1833 Lamartine came to Cyprus. He must have met with his friend Nicolaos Theseus who was then on the island leading an insurrection in 1833 as shall be seen later on.
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