#Ámfissa

[gemsofgreece]

Do you think that in Ancient Greece they had big animals? Of course myths exaggerate with Minotaur and Hydra, but is there a possibility that back then they would encounter bigger in scale animals like the average? Also did they have lions as well?

Well, in the past animals were indeed larger. Evolution made animals smaller so as to not waste too much energy without significant advantage. However, evolution works very slowly. I don’t think you would see any difference in 3,000 years. Maybe animals were slightly larger but only slightly, it would almost certainly escape your notice.

There were indeed lions in Ancient Greece. I am so bitter about this. They disappeared after the Classical era, because apparently they were hunt down. I hate this so much.

There were orcas and sperm whales. Orcas have become super super rare in the East Mediterranean, to the point that any presence here is doubted, although some claim to have seen them. On the contrary, sperm whales remain common in the deep Greek seas.

There were elephants that were used in the Greek army, however that was after Alexander the Great marched to the east and took tips from the Persian army. So elephants were not indigenous. However, the myth of the Cyclops is speculated to have developed after Greeks found either elephant or mammoth skulls. There were certainly mammoths in Greece, there were even endemic species of mammoths but of course all of these were extinct after the Ice Age. So there is generally the theory that many mythical creatures were imagined after fossils of long extinct large animals, and not so much after big living animals. But it’s also the mythological aspect of it all that just needs to impress. Ancient Greeks also thought heroes, demigods and gods were bigger than regular humans.

There were also camels btw, most likely not indigenous. Interestingly, the camels only disappeared less than a hundred years ago, as the Ottoman Empire did use them in trade caravans and the independent Greek state did maintain this until the popularisation of the car.

Camels in Ámfissa.

Other than these, the fauna was mostly the same. Some rich Greeks would bring exotic birds like mynas from India and the east in general during the Hellenistic era. But those species did not successfully expand here.

[bluezzies]

Ámfissa, Greece

[gemsofgreece]

Maria Pentayótissa

Maria Pentayotissa was a woman who became a folk legend in Greece thanks to her great beauty and her tragic love life. Her true name was Maria Daskalopoulou but she became known as Pentayotissa, because her home town was the Pentayí village in mountainous Phocis, Sterea Hellas. She was born in 1821 (the year the Greek Independence War started).

Pentayi of Phocis.

Her father was a teacher and she was very beautiful, strong willed, educated and liberal. According to legend, she was also a cunning woman with a long string of lovers. She would choose her lovers and men would often fight physically to win her heart, or attention, at least.

That's what these folk song lyrics were based on: " Lambs get slaughtered in Sálona, rams get slaughtered in Chrissós, but on Maria's lap young lads get slaughtered".

The constant fights amongst the young men were disturbing the tranquil routine of her town and the nearby villages. But Maria had found her sweetheart. She started a relationship with a young man named Dimitris Tourkakis, which was a secret known to everyone in the region and was, obviously, not an engagement. The conservative villagers were outraged, fearing Maria would set an example for other girls too, and were pressuring Maria´s brother, Yannis, to put an end to his sister´s affair.

Once, King Otto and Queen Amalia visited Ámfissa, the chief town of Phocís, and all the villages of the region sent representatives to welcome the royal couple. Maria was one of the representatives from Pentayi. It is said that Queen Amalia was so impressed by her beauty that asked her to become one of her ladies-in-waiting in the royal court in Athens.

The arrival of the king and queen was followed by festivities in Sálona in their honour. Maria was dancing and Dimitris slipped right next to her in the dance, taking her hand.

Her brother Yannis saw this, and pressured as he was by the narrow-minded society, he angrily dragged Maria out of the dance in front of everyone. Maria took this as a great insult and when she later met Dimitris back in their village, she told him she wished to never see him again, because he was a coward and did not support her in front of her brother and the villagers, neither did he own up and ask her hand in marriage.

Dimitris decided to prove to Maria that he was no coward and for that reason, of all things, he chose to sneak upon her brother at night and kill him. He then carried the corpse to mount Xerovouni above the village and throw it to a gorge called Kárkanos.

Xirovouni of Phocis by Sotiris Marinopoulos via Flickr.

Dimitris then rushed back to Maria's house into the night and announced the murder of her brother triumphantly. Maria cried: "Alas, brother, I killed you!". So when shepherds found the corpse days later and police arrived for inquiring, Maria's little sister, who had overheard their conversation, told the policemen of Maria's "confession". It is often suggested that the young sister knew the true context of Maria’s cry - she betrayed her due to a slow-burning envy for the attention Maria was getting thanks to her beauty.

Dimitris Tourkakis and Maria Daskalopoulou were lead to the Criminal Court of Missolonghi. Tourkakis was sentenced to many years or life in prison but there are many different tellings regarding what happened to Maria, who was being trialed as an accomplice. All versions agree to this: Maria was punished lightly.

According to the most popular version, the judges were biased because of her beauty and gave her a short sentence. Another version claims that a juror's son pressured the judges to not punish her because he didn't want his own affair with Maria to be revealed. And according to a third, a guard helped Maria to flee prison, seduced by her charms.

Whatever the truth is, after her sentence was through (or she escaped prison), Maria returned to her place on foot. She arrived at Pentayi on Easter Day and found her people to dance on the aforementioned folk song about her. When they saw her, some were judgemental and some hostile. Maria confronted them but eventually abandoned the village, fearing she would get caught again. Maria joined a band of wanted criminals who were hiding in the mountains.

Mountainous Phocis. Source: www.difno.gr

She did not stay with them for long. The priest of Pentayi found her in the mountains and appeared understanding towards her. With gentle words, he convinced her to return to her home. The priest and the villagers then helped her get an amnesty and after that her turmoil was over.

Some years later, she married Konstantinos Armaos from the nearby town of Krokílio, a widower with four children. Maria raised his children with principles and good education. She did not have children of her own. She died honoured in the age of 84.

Her story has become the subject of numerous songs and poems, novels, theatrical plays, even shadow theater plays - sometimes with a lot of liberties taken, including some which connect her to the Greek Independence War, which is entirely false. The famous actress Aliki Vougiouklaki starred as Maria Pentayotissa in a movie about her life.

Sources for the post:

newsitamea.gr

athensvoice.gr