Iraklis Patikas (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Ηρακλής Πατίκας), known as well with his nickname Kapetan Iraklis, was a significant

chieftain of the

Macedonian Struggle The Macedonian Struggle ( bg, Македонска борба; el, Μακεδονικός Αγώνας; mk, Борба за Македонија; sr, Борба за Македонију; tr, Makedonya Mücadelesi) was a series of social, po ...

Biography

Patikas was born in the 1870s in Vasilika of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

. Initially, he served as a soldier in armed groups operating in the areas of

Thermi Thermi ( el, Θέρμη) is a Southeastern suburb and a municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Its population was 53,201 at the 2011 census. It is located over the site of ancient Therma. Municipality The municipality Therm ...

Langadas Lagkadas ( el, Λαγκαδάς, ) is a town and municipality in the northeast part of Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. There are 41103 residents in the municipality and 7764 of them live in the town of Lagkadas. Lagkadas is located northeast o ...

and

Polygyros Polygyros (Greek: Πολύγυρος) is a town and municipality in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is the capital of Chalkidiki. Geography Polygyros town (pop. 6,121 at the 2011 census) is built in the shape of an amphitheatre on a plateau on th ...

, against the

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

komitadji Komitadji, Comitadjis, or Komitas (Bulgarian, Macedonian and sr, Комити, Serbian Latin: ''Komiti'', ro, Comitagiu, gr, Κομιτατζής, plural: Κομιτατζήδες, tr, Komitacı, sq, Komit) means in Turkish "committee memb ...

s who were trying to penetrate this geographical area, but also against the Ottoman authorities. He soon emerged to a great chieftain who acted autonomously in the same areas. In the spring of 1908, he collaborated with the officers Ar. Kois, P. Papatzaneteas, D. Galanopoulos and D. Kourtzis, as well as with chieftain Georgios Vlachos, a local of

Chalkidiki Chalkidiki (; el, Χαλκιδική , also spelled Halkidiki, is a peninsula and regional unit of Greece, part of the region of Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. The autonomous Mount Athos region co ...

. In June of that year, he successfully defeated a Bulgarian attack in

Arnaia Arnaia ( el, Αρναία), is a town and a former municipality in Chalkidiki, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Aristotelis, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 288.739&nbs ...

. With the

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

of the Young Turks and the general amnesty that they gave, he returned to his home town, just like the rest of his cooperators. In 1916, with the outbreak of the National Defense coup d'état, the family of Patikas was expelled by the

Venizelist Venizelism ( el, Βενιζελισμός) was one of the major political movements in Greece from the 1900s until the mid-1970s. Main ideas Named after Eleftherios Venizelos, the key characteristics of Venizelism were: *Greek irredentism: T ...

forces, who, after destroying the property of his family, also pursued him, forcing him to escape in order to avoid imprisonment.

Sources

''Εφημερίδα:'' Άποψη ''και όχι μόνο'', τεύχος 9, Ιούνιος 2010, Η άποψη της Δ.Ο. ΠΑΣΟΚ Βασιλικών για την ονομασία του νέου Καλλικράτειου ∆ήμου Βασιλικών - Θέρμης - Μίκρας

Παλαιοχώρι Χαλκιδικής, Η ωμότητες των Βενιζελικών στη Χαλκιδική
* Konstantinos A. Vakalopoulos, ''Ο ένοπλος αγώνας στη Μακεδονία 1904-1908'', Irodotos, Thessaloniki, 1999, p. 325 {{DEFAULTSORT:Patikas, Iraklis Greek people of the Macedonian Struggle Greek Macedonians People from Thessaloniki (regional unit) Macedonian revolutionaries (Greek)