Manthos Economou ( el, Μάνθος Οικονόμου; 1754 – 22 August 1820) was a

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 ...

member of the

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends ( el, Φιλικὴ Ἑταιρεία ''or'' ) was a secret organization founded in 1814 in Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule of Greece and establish an independent Greek ...

, private secretary and advisor of

Ali Pasha of Ioannina Ali Pasha of Ioannina (1740 – 24 January 1822), was an Albanian ruler who served as pasha of a large part of western Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territories, which was referred to as the Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioanni ...

. He was executed by the Ottoman troops.

Biographical information

Εconomou was born in 1754 in Koukouli of Zagori region.Sp. P. Aravantinos, ''Ιστορία Αλή πασά του Τεπελενλή'', Εκ του Τυπογραφείου των Καταστημάτων Σπυρίδωνος Κουσουλίνου, Athens, 1895, p. 461. Later, he settled to

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 ...

in order to study at city's well-known schools. Due to his skills and personality, he was engaged in Ali’ s court, and soon he managed to become one of his most distinguished and trustworthy advisors. According to a theory,Sp. P. Aravantinos, 1895, p. 462. in 1807 he saved from certain death the notable Greek scholar and priest Konstantinos Ekonomos Economon when he was imprisoned in Ioannina. During the period 1817 to 1819, Economou was involved in negotiations with the British for the purchase of the coastal town of

Parga Parga ( el, Πάργα ) is a town and municipality located in the northwestern part of the regional unit of Preveza in Epirus, northwestern Greece. The seat of the municipality is the village Kanallaki. Parga lies on the Ionian coast between the ...

on behalf of Ali Pasha. Furthermore, he tried to dissuade the residents of Parga (whom by fearing Ali Pasha, they decided to abandon their homes and seek refuge in the Ionian Islands) or at least to achieve the reduction of the number of the refugees in order to reduce the amount of the compensation that Pasha had to pay. In order to achieve this, allegedly he attempted to bribe without success, the police authorities of the town. The same year he was initiated into the

by his brother Christodoulos and then he was the one that initiated the interpreter and advisor of Ali Pasha, Spyros Kolovos. During the war of Ali Pasha with the

Sublime Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

, Ekonomou played a key role in the defection of significant chieftains of Ali, such as

Omer Vrioni Vizier Ömer Pasha Vrioni (in Greek spelling: Ομέρ Βρυώνης, ''Omer Vryonis'') was a leading Ottoman- Albanian figure in the Greek War of Independence. Early life Omer Vrioni was a Muslim Tosk Albanian from the village of Vrioni near ...

, Tahir Abaz, Ago Vasiarj etc., to the sultan troops. According to

Lambros Koutsonikas Lambros Koutsonikas ( el, Λάμπρος Κουτσονίκας, 1799 – 2 June 1879) was a Greek general and fighter of the Greek Revolution of 1821, army officer and amateur historian of the Revolution. Biography He was the son of Yiannos, fro ...

, an agreement existed between Economou and the two pashas (Ismail Pasha and Mahmud Dramali) who were marching against Ioannina. Fearing that any revealing of his actions would lead to his certain death, Economou defected and fled to

Metsovo Metsovo ( el, Μέτσοβο; rup, Aminciu) is a town in Epirus, in the mountains of Pindus in northern Greece, between Ioannina to the west and Meteora to the east. The largest centre of Aromanian (Vlach) life in Greece, Metsovo is a large re ...

where he intended to meet with an old acquaintance of Ismail Pasha in order to offer him his services.Trifonas E. Evaggelidis, 1896, p. 668. However, he was captured by the vanguard of Dramali and after interrogation, he was executed in August 1820, being probably a victim of the personal rivalry between Ismail and Dramali.

Posthumous fame

Manthos Economou is presented positively by a portion of -

Epirotes Epirus (; Epirote Greek: , ; Attic Greek: , ) was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by ...

mainly - historians and writers: according to

Ioannis Lambridis Ioannis or Ioannes ( el, Ιωάννης), shortened to Giannis or Yannis (Γιάννης) is a Greek given name cognate with Johannes and John and the Arabic name Yahya . Notable people with the name include: * Ioannis I, Tzimiskis, Byzantine Empe ...

, Economou was a benefactor of Zagori because he took care of the preservation of the privileges that this region enjoyed while

Spiridon Aravantinos Spiridon may refer to: Given name * Spiridon (patriarch) (died 1389), Patriarch of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć 1380–1389 * Saint Spyridon or Saint Spiridon (c. 270–348), saint honoured in both the Eastern and Western Christian traditio ...

argues that the action of Economou benefited his fellow citizens and helped the work of the

. Also,

Dimitrios Kampouroglou Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter". Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumi ...

had a positive view about Economou in the section that he edited in ''Modern Encyclopedia Eleftheroudaki'' (''Σύγχρονος Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Ελευθερουδάκη'') for Economou. On the opposite, Trifonas Evaggelidis mentions him as wrangler and one of the "''abhorrently enforcers''” of Ali Pasha while a similar negative position is reflected in Moustoxidis and

Duval Duval is a surname, literally translating from French language, French to English language, English as "of the valley". It derives from the Normans, Norman "Devall", which has both English and French ties. Variant spellings include: Davolls, Deav ...

’s reference.Amaury Duval – Andreas Moustoxidis, 1851, p. 38.

References

Bibliography

*Amaury Duval – Andreas Moustoxidis, ''Έκθεσις των γεγονότων όσα συνέβησαν πριν και μετά την παραχώρησιν της Πάργας - Σύγγραμμα εκδοθέν εν Παρισίοις γαλλιστί κατά το 1820 έτος Νυν δε μεταφρασθέν υπό Ιωάννου Βερβιτσιώτου'', Τυπογραφείον Ερμής Χ. Νικολαΐδου Φιλαδελφέως, Corfu, 1851. *Trifonas E. Evaggelidis, ''Ιστορία Αλή πασά του Τεπελενλή Σατράπου της Ηπείρου ( 1741 - 1822 )'', Εκδοτικόν Κατάστημα Π. Ζανουδάκη, Athens, 1896. *Ioannis Filimonas, ''Δοκίμιον ιστορικόν περί της ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως'', vol. 1, 1859. *Lampros Koutsonikas, ''Γενική ιστορία της Ελληνικής Επαναστάσεως'', Τύποις του "Ευαγγελισμού" Δ. Καρακατζάνη, Athens, 1863. *Ioannis Lampridis, ''Ζαγοριακά οις προσετέθησαν και τινά περί Ηπείρου'', Εκ του Τυπογραφείου της Αυγής, Athens, 1870.

External links

Biography (in Greek)

Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oikonomou, Manthos 1754 births 1820 deaths Greek people of the Greek War of Independence People from Zagori