Page 168 - Beholding Liberty!

168 BEHOLDING LIBERTY!
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Manuscript of the Narrative of events of the Greek race from 1770 to 1836
by Georgios Tertsetis Manuscript no 531
Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE TEXT OF THE NARRATIVE was published in 1846 in Athens, in the Printing House of Ch. Nikolaidis Filadelfeus. It is the dictated re- cording of the memoirs of the «barely literate but keen on learning» Theodoros Kolokotronis to Geor- gios Tertsetis. Its pompous title creates the ex- pectation that the reader will not just encounter a simple memoir narrative, but the acts of the Greek race itself for 66 years, from the era of the Or- lov Revolt to the first years of the Greek Kingdom. The book was considered a national legacy, it be- came very popular and was reprinted many times. Already in the 1851 reedition, the title changes to
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Georgios Lassanis
Ode to freedom, handwritten poem Archive of G. Lassanis
Recognition code: GR HP_LHP A. 2.2 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
Ο Γέρων Κολοκοτρώνης/The Old man Kolokotronis,
transferring the centre of gravity to the figure of the emblematic narrator.
On sheet 709, the Old Man of the Morea, referring to the outbreak of the Revolution, comments: «Our movement took place on 22 March in Kalamata. On 6 January up until 22 March, I tried, I took action in Mani to join together various Maniot homes in contrast to their habit, and we joined them, we rec- onciled them [...] and I was telling them, that on the day of the Annunciation they should be ready, and every province should move against the local Turks, and lay siege to the various forts [...]».
THE MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS GEORGIOS LASSANIS was secretary and trusted friend of Alexandros Ypsilan- tis. He took part in the declaration of the revolu- tion in Moldavia-Vlachia as adjutant of the prince. He held a leading role in the formation of the Sa- cred Band and on 7 June 1821 participated in the battle of Dragatsani and was saved thanks to the help of Georgakis Olympios. With the suppression of the revolution in Moldavia-Vlachia, Ypsilantis and Lassanis took refuge in Austria, where they were arrested and put in prison. Lassanis spent seven years in Austrian prisons, writing patriotic poems, among which the Ode to freedom where he expresses his ceaseless desire for the «loved by all freedom», which is an «ever-flowing spring of happiness».