The ''Alipashiad'' or ''Alipashias'' ( el, Αληπασιάδα or Αληπασιάς) is a
Greek epic poem, written in the early 19th century by the
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Albanian
Albanian may refer to:
*Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular:
**Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans
**Albanian language
**Albanian culture
**Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
Haxhi Shehreti
Haxhi is an Albanian masculine given name that derives from the muslim title Hajji, and may refer to:
*Haxhi Ballgjini (born 1958), Albanian footballer
*Haxhi Ymer Kashari (fl. 18th-century), Albanian poet
* Haxhi Krasniqi (aka Robin Krasniqi; bor ...
. The work is inspired by and named after
Ali Pasha Ali Pasha was the name of numerous Ottoman pashas named Ali. It is most commonly used to refer to Ali Pasha of Ioannina.
People
* Çandarlı Ali Pasha (died 1406), Ottoman grand vizier (1387–1406)
* Hadım Ali Pasha (died 1511), Ottoman grand v ...
, the
Ottoman lord of
Ioannina
Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...
,
Epirus, describing, in heroic style, his life and military campaigns.
Background and historical value
Although Ali Pasha was Albanian, he used Greek in his courtly dealings, since this was the dominant language in the regions he controlled.
Moreover, the use of Greek language in various works of Albanian authors was very common.
[ In accordance to this, the composer of the ''Alipashiad'', who was Ali's personal balladeer, Haxhi Shehreti, composed this work in Greek language, considering it a more prestigious language in which to praise his master.]
/ref>
Historically, the ''Alipashiad'' contains the unusual feature of being written from the Muslim point of view.[ Apart from describing Ali's adventures the poem describes Ioannina, which was a center of Greek culture and renaissance that time,][ as well as the activities of the local mercenaries (]Armatoles
The armatoles ( el, αρματολοί, armatoloi; sq, armatolë; rup, armatoli; bs, armatoli), or armatole in singular ( el, αρματολός, armatolos; sq, armatol; rup, armatol; bs, armatola), were Christian irregular soldiers, or mi ...
) and revolutionaries ( Klephts) that Ali had to deal with.[
]
Text and date
The ''Alipashiad'' consists of 15,000 lines and was written in installments in the first years of the 19th century, when Ali Pasha was at his height as the powerful and semi-independent ruler of much of Ottoman Greece. The poem is written in a modern demotic Greek language and contains some dialectical interference and foreign expressions.[ A copy of the poem was found by the British ]antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and topographer, William Martin Leake, in 1817. In 1835 he published 4,500 lines of the ''Alipashiad''. The entire poem was published by the Greek historian Constantine Sathas in his volume ''Historical Disquisitions'' in 1870 (The Alipashiad, of the Turkalbanian Hadji Sehreti).
References
External links
*Leake William Martin
''Travels in northern Greece''
J. Rodwell, 1835.
* Κ. Ν. Σάθα
''Ιστορικαί διατριβαί''
''H Αληπασιάς, του Τουρκαλβανού Χατζή Σεχρέτη. (The ''Alipashiad'', of the Turkalbanian Hadji Sehreti)'' in "Ιστορικαί Διατριβαί" (Historical Disquisitions), Athens, 1870, pp. 123–336 (original text of the ''Alipashiad'' with comments and bibliography on Ali Pasha, in Greek).
*Irakli Koçollar
The ''Alipashiad'' of Haxhi Shehreti
Onufri, 1997 (Albanian)
{{Authority control
Ali Pasha of Ioannina
Epic poems in Greek
19th-century poems
1870 books
Modern Greek literature