1770 marked 101 years since the collapse of Candia, the final stronghold of Venetian Crete. The city had withstood the longest siege in history and it subsequently followed the rest of the island in its subjugation to Ottoman rule. The region of Sphakia encompasses the highest areas of the White Mountains down to the coast of the Libyan Sea in Western Crete. Historians claim it had faired relatively well under Ottoman rule in comparison to other regions of the island. Turkish officials for the most part refrained from direct forms of control in the area. Apart from taxation they had little strategic interest in the region of Sphakia. The rugged nature of its terrain was certainly a contributing factor in this situation. This geographical hardness is often characterized as definitive of past and contemporary identity by historians and local people alike.

In 1770, Yannis Vlachos was a wealthy ship owner, a traveler, a local chairman, and had designs on the role of liberator. In portraits, a prominent item on many walls in the area, Vlachos is always pictured as a figure of resistance. His physiognomy is striking: somber expression, dark eyes, penetrating gaze, with a long slender moustache, probably waxed, twirled at the tip, behind which only his bottom lip is evident; the beard hangs low, covering his neck. An embroidered cap covers his head; he wears a double-breasted coat, rickrack or perhaps floral swag trim; a flintlock pistol with a brass butt is tucked in his large belt, revealing the trigger and the cock; adjacent to it protrudes the curved handle of a short sword, a few inches of the scabbard can be seen. Such is the typical visage of the heroic Cretan figure. It is apparent in later nineteenth and early twentieth century photographs of Cretan revolutionaries.

Through contacts developed in his capacity as a mobile representative of Sphakia, Vlachos had secured a Russian pledge of aid in a great revolution against the Ottomans. Brandishing the banner of the Russian commitment, Vlachos, more popularly known under his pseudonym “Teacher Yannis” (Daskaloyannis), garnered support locally in the form of manpower and munitions throughout the year preceding the revolt. “Every Christmas he doffed his cap and exclaimed to the priest, ‘I’ll bring the Muscovites,’” as is recounted in his ballad. Easter (April 4th) 1770, some 2000 Sphakian men moved north forcing hundreds of terrified Turks to seek refuge in the coastal city of Hania. However, this power imbalance was short-lived. Within a month, with no Russian support on the horizon, 15,000 Turkish troops were poised for attack upon the borders of the region.

With their women and children in refuge off the island, the Sphakians made a stand. After the battle of Krapi this tactic was abandoned and they immediately took to the high mountains where they defended themselves for the next six months. By winter, Daskaloyannis’ hopes for Russian involvement had waned. Conditions were harsh. And between Ottoman assurances of amnesty to the rebels and the capture of his immediate family, the strain of resistance proved too great for Vlachos. He gave himself up to the Pasha of Candia.

In the early hours of June 17, 1771 Daskaloyannis was flayed alive. Oral histories recount that Vlachos’ brother was forced to bear witness to the gruesome spectacle. He subsequently went mad. His leadership in the resistance ensured that Vlachos would be remembered as a heroic figure. The Ottomans made a martyr of him. Like the hardness of the sublime Sphakian terrain, the obstinate character of the revolutionary Yannis Vlachos is representative of the local identity to which Sphakians lay claim.

The Song of Daskaloyannis

History of Project

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