Athanasios Diakos (1788 – April 24, 1821)
From Fokida in Sterea Ellada, he was a Monk, Deacon, later becoming a Klepht and a Greek Military Commander during the Greek War of Independence, who was posthumously elevated to the rank of General in the Hellenic Army.
Becoming a Monk at 16, soon he was ordained as a Deacon. After an Ottoman official had entered his monastery and disrespected Diakos, he killed the Ottoman, before fleeing to the mountains to join the resistance in the years preceding the Greek Revolution.
During the Greek Revolution, Diakos involved himself in numerous battles. One of his greatest successes was leading a detachment into the battle to Liberate the town of Livadeia which he duly achieved.
Later at the Battle of Alamana, near Thermopylae, Diakos led a force which was grossly outnumbered by the Turk-Albanians, as result, he was wounded and captured. Diakos was then made an offer – renounce your Orthodox Christianity and convert to Islam – and you will be spared, made an officer in the Ottoman Army and you will be saved.
Diakos flatly refused the offer, replying “I was born a Greek and I shall die a Greek”. The Turks tortured him and then decided to impale him, Diakos was held upright, with the Turks pushing a sharpened spear through his body, so that it missed all his vital organs and he was placed, so he would face the sun, meaning he would stay alive for longer and thus suffer for longer, before dying.
His final stand near Thermopylae, echoing the heroic defence of the Spartan King Leonidas, made him a martyr for the Greek cause. A monument now stands at the bridge near Alamana, the site of his final battle.
