Athanasios Diakos

Athanasios Diakos was born as Athanasios Nikolaos Massavetas in Phocis, in the village of Ano Mousounitsa, or according to other sources in nearby Artotina. He became a monk and a deacon at the Monastery of St. John the Baptist, but he left the monastery after killing a Turkish official who insulted him. He then became a klepht, a rebel fighter against the Ottoman rule, and joined the army of Ali Pasha of Ioannina in Epirus. He befriended Odysseas Androutsos, another klepht leader, and served as his lieutenant. He also became a member of the Filiki Eteria, a secret society that planned the Greek War of Independence. When the war broke out in 1821, Diakos led his band of fighters to capture the town of Livadeia, after three days of fierce fighting. He then joined forces with Panourgias and Diovouniotis to stop the advance of the Ottoman army under Omer Vryonis and Köse Mehmed, who were sent to suppress the revolt in Roumeli and the Peloponnese. Diakos decided to block the Ottoman army at the pass of Thermopylae, the same place where Leonidas and his 300 Spartans had fought against the Persians. Diakos and his men fought bravely, but they were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the enemy. Diakos was captured and brought before Omer Vryonis, who offered him a high rank in his army if he converted to Islam. Diakos refused, saying "I was born a Greek, and I will die a Greek". He was then impaled and burned alive by the Ottomans, becoming a martyr and a symbol of the Greek struggle for freedom. His last stand inspired many Greeks to join the fight against the Ottoman oppression.