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Στων Ψαρών την ολόμαυρη ράχη

<< Στων Ψαρών την ολόμαυρη ράχη
περπατώντας η δόχα μονάχη
μελετά τα λαμπρά παλικάρια
και στην κόμη στεφάνι φορεί
γενωμένο από λιγα χορτάρια 
που είχαν μείνει στην έρημη γη. >>

Δ.  Σολωμός.

 

Background to Poem:

This poem was written by D. Solomos who also wrote the national anthem of Greece.  He wrote it in remembrance of the victims of the massacre and total devastation of the island of Psara by the Ottoman Turks in July 1824.  

In retribution for uprising against the Ottoman Empire the Turks committed a heinous crime against the island of Psara, of the thirty two thousand residents of Psara only thirteen thousand managed to survive fleeing to the surrounding islands.  As a result of the brutality of the Ottoman Turks on this island and other places throughout Greece Phil Hellenism swept through much of the western world at the time.