Page 399 - Beholding Liberty!

ΙΙI.1.8
Unknown artist
Portrait of Alexandros Ypsilantis
lithograph, 33.5 x 27 cm
signed: D.A. (bottom right) inscribed: Alexander / YPSILANTIS. (low centre)
Hellenic Parliament Art Collection, inv. n. 256
A LITHOGRAPHED PORTRAIT of Alexandros Ypsilan- tis by an unknown engraver, signed with the initials D.A. It is iden- tical to the portrait of Alexandros Ypsilantis (drawn in 1828 by A. Lecler and engraved by de Mendouze), which adorns the frontis- piece of the History of the Greek Revolution by Alexandros Soutsos (Histoire de la révolution grecque, Paris: Firmin Didot, 1829).
ΙΙI.1.9
Georgios Lassanis
Double leaf obituary in honour of Alexandros Ypsilantis
Archive of G. Lassanis
Recognition code: GRHP_LHP A.2.12 Library of the Hellenic Parliament
THE OBITUARY IS AN EXPRESSION of the strong bond of friendship between Georgios Lassanis and Alexandros Yp- silantis. The two men had been acquainted in 1820, when Lassan- is invited Ypsilantis, as leader of the Society of Friends, to come to Odessa, to discuss about the revolutionary plans. After the stay of Ypsilantis in the city, Lassanis was employed as secretary and assign- ee of Ypsilantis. From then on, their course is intertwined: when on 24 February 1821 the revolution was declared in the Danubian prin- cipalities, G. Lassanis served as adjutant to Ypsilantis. They fought together in the battle of Dragatsani and, after the dissolution of the regiment, they crossed together into Austrian ground. They were both put to prison as political prisoners, when the Austrians violated the agreement and did not allow the two Greeks to descend to their re- volted country. Upon their release from prison, with the intervention of Tsar Nikolai I, Lassanis followed Ypsilantis to Vienna until his death.
Alexandros Ypsilantis (1792-1828)
ALEXANDROS YPSILANTIS, son of the former prince of Moldavia Konstantinos, was born in Constantinople in 1792. As officer of the Russian army, he distinguished himself in the wars against Napoleon. In 1813, at the age of 21, he fought holding the rank of colonel in the battle of Dresden, where he lost his right arm.
In 1820, at the age of 28, he assumes the leadership of the Society of Friends as General Commissioner of the Authority. On 22 February 1821, after he resigned from the Russian army, he crosses the Prouthos river, the natural border between Rus- sia and the Danubian principalities, and raises the flag of the Revolution at Jassy of Moldavia-Wallachia. There, on 24 Feb- ruary he publishes the revolutionary proclamation «Fight for faith and country». Two days later a patriotic ceremony takes place in the church of the Three Hierarchs, where Metropolitan Veniamin blesses the revolutionary flag. Ypsilantis addresses an invitation to the young volunteers from the area of the Bal- kans and forms at Foxani the Sacred Band, the first liberating military corps of Greece, consisting of 500 students. After im- portant clashes with the Ottoman forces, the members of the Sacred Band fell fighting in the battle of Dragatsani, on 7 June 1821, having first caused considerable losses to the Turks.
Only a few survived. Ypsilantis himself retreated to the Austri- an border, together with Georgios Lassanis, and was arrested by the Austrians. He was imprisoned in the medieval fort of Mugats, where he remained for seven years, subjected to tor- tures. He was released from prison by the intervention of the Tzar, but it was too late. His already fragile health was the cause of his death in 1828 in Vienna, at the age of 36.
Η ΑΦΥΠΝΙΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ Από την αρχαιολατρία στον Φιλελληνισμό 399