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Les Femmes souliotes by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858).

The Catastrophe of Zalongo (Albanian: Katastrofa e Zallongut, Greek: Kαταστροφή του Ζαλόγγου, Katastrofi tou Zaloggou) refers to the massive suicide of Souliote women in 1803, in Zalongo, an event which is the epilogue of the wars between the Souliotes and Ali Pasha of Janina. As the catastrophe occurred, Souliotes were finally expelled from Souli, where they had established their own confederacy.

Background

Main article: Souliote Confederacy

Eviction

In 1803, the Sultan asked Ali Pasha to press immediately a planed siege of the Souliotes, after being transmitted information that the Souliotes had procured considerable supplies of ammunitions from French ships. The Souliotes obtained all of their supplies from Parga, and also acquired support from Europe. Russia and France provided weapons and ammunition to them. For the European powers, the Souliotes were seen as an instrument to weaken the Ottoman Empire. When the British politicians turned to the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen their forces against Napoleon, the weapons and ammunition supplies were interrupted.
Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Souliot clans started to split. The Botsaris family for political reasons left Souli and parleyed with Ali Pasha. However, the remaining Souliotes in Souli gathered together in Saint George's Orthodox Church and decided either to win or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2000 armed men. The main leaders were Fotos Tzavellas, Dimos Drakos, Tousas Zervas, Koutzonikas, Gogkas Daglis, Yiannakis Sehos, Fotomaras, Tzavaras, Veikos, Panou, Zigouris Diamadis, and Yorgos Bousbos.
The Souliotes won all of the decisive battles, which forced Ali Pasha to build castles in neighboring villages so as to prepare himself for a long siege. On 3 September 1803, the troops of Ali Pasha gained possessions of the village of Kakosuli, after the treachery of a Souliote, named Pylio Gousi, who admitted 200 soldiers into his house, after being paid for that by Veli Pasha, the second son of Ali. Gousi himself said that this action was taken by him, in order to release his son, who was in captivity by Ali Pasha. One of the two hills in the region, called Bira was abandoned by the clan of Zervas, while the other one, Kungi, where the village of Kiafa is located, was the only stronghold of the Souliotes.The military chief of the Souliotes was the priest Samuel, who was in charge of the magazines on Kungi, leading 300 hundred families in the battle.
Ali`s forces, lead by his son Veli Pasha, managed to launch a big offensive causing too many damages in the area. The Souliotes withdrew to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kughi, where they fought their last battle on December 7, 1803. Ali Pasha`s aim was not only to expel the Souliotes, but also to get their chieftains as hostages. Therefore, he ordered his son Veli to treat with Foto Tzavela, the father of Kitsos Tzavelas, later Prime Minister of Greece.
On 12 December 1803, Veli Pasha and Foto Tzavela signed a capitulation treaty, which made possible that the main pharas of the Souliotes, including those of Drako and of Zerva to retire to Parga. On the other hand, Ali Pasha planed to seize them as hostages during their road to Parga, not respecting his own pact, as he had done in a number of occasions. Ali ordered his soldiers to place an ambuscade on their road and to seize them; but some of the Muslim beys of Paramythia and amartoli of Veli`s army, hearing about this plan informed Souliotes, who changed their itinerary in the last minute and managed to avoid the danger.
Back in Kiafa, priest Samuel refused to trust the capitulation treaty with Ali, so, in the hill of Kungi, he retired onto the magazine, declaring that no infidel should employ ammunition entrusted to his care against Christians. He exploded the magazine, full of ammunitions and died himself in there.

Catastrophe of Zalongo

Those Souliotes who had betrayed their countrymen, reaching different agreements with Ali Pasha, had a worse end. As they inhabited in the mounting of Zalongo, under the promise of protection by the pasha, as soon as Ali gained Kiafa, send his troops towards them. About 150 men and women were seized and enslaved by Ali, while 25 were killed.
On their war with the troops of Ali Pasha, 22 women and six men decided to die, in order not to fall in the hands of Ali. Several young women threw their children from the rock and than fell themselves. The bodies of four children were reported to be found below. The story of the mass suicide of Zalongo, soon became known in the whole region and throughout Europe.
On the other hand, Markos Botsaris, leading a group of no more than 200 Souliotes starting defending themselves. After some battles, he managed to retire, with the women and children to Parga. This “disgrace” could not be stand by Ali; he ordered his troops to kill every Souliote family that lived dispersed in his pashalik, as well as sent the seventy Souliote families, who had surrendered to him, to inhabit the most unhealthy spots in his pashalik.
The eviction and the Catastrophe made Souliotes leave to Corfu, becoming part of the Albanian Regiment of the French Army. In 1820, they reached an agreement with Ali Pasha, and turned back to their homeland, fighting this time side-by-side with Ali against the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, in no more than a year, Souliotes became part of the Greek War of Independence, thus leaving forever their land.

Legacy

According to the legend, they did this while singing and dancing the syrtos, jumping down the precipice one after the other. The incident soon became known in Europe. At the Salon of 1827, a French artist named Ary Scheffer exhibited two Romantic paintings, one of which was entitled Les Femme souliotes ("The Souliot Women"). Today, a monument on the site of Mount Zalongo in Kassope commemorates their sacrifice. There is also a popular dance-song about the event, which is known and danced throughout Albania Greece today.

See also

• Moscho Tzavela
• Kitsos Botsaris
• Mass suicide
• Ottoman Greece
• Ottoman Albania

External links

• Athanassoglou-Kallmyer, Nina M. (1989). French Images from the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830): Art and Politics under the Restoration. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300045328.
• JSTOR (Organization) (1954). Journal of the International Folk Music Council, Volumes 6-10. Published with the assistance of the International Music Council, under the auspices of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the International Folk Music Council by W. Heffer, 1954.
• Mynatt, Constance Virginia; Kaiman, Bernard D. (1968). Folk Dancing for Students and Teachers. Wm. C. Brown Co.
• Papaspyrou-Karadēmētriou, Euthymia; Lada-Minōtou, Maria; Ethniko Historiko Mouseio (Greece) (1994). The National Historical Museum. Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. ISBN 9608557305.
• Pritchett, William Kendrick (1996). Greek Archives, Cults, and Topography. J.C. Gieben. ISBN 9050631479.
• Pritchett, William Kendrick (1991). The Greek State at War, Volume 5. University of California Press. ISBN 0520073746.
• Royal Society of Canada (1943). Mémoires de la Société royale du Canada. Royal Society of Canada.
• Sakellariou, M. V. (1997). Epirus: 4000 Years of Greek History and Civilization. Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 9602133716.

Category:Mass suicides Category:History of Epirus Category:Ottoman Greece Category:Souliotes {{Cham Albanians}}