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8
The Revolt of Daskaloyiannis
The Cretan heroic myth is rooted in the revolts against the Turks, of
which there were not less than ten between 1770 and 1897. Of these
the most magnificent was that of Daskaloyiannis, whose grand concepttion
was to re-establish the old order, to restore Romaiosyne. He failed,
of course, as did all the other rebel chieftains until the time of Venizelos.
But, unlike those others who have gone down to history in comparative
anonymity, like puppets mouthing the invariable formula ‘Freedom or
Death’, Daskaloyiannis was lucky in having a chronicler. The revolt
took place in 1770. Sixteen years later a shepherd from Sphakia copied
down the story of Daskaloyiannis from the dictation of a master bard.
In a personal epilogue to the poem the scribe left us his name, Siphis
Skordylis, son of the priest Skordylis, and thus a branch of one of the
twelve great families of Byzantine aristocrats sent to Crete by the
Emperor Alexius Comnenus. 1
I began, and wrote a little every day . . .
I held the paper and I held the pen
And he told the story and I wrote it bit by bit,
‘He’ is Barba Pantzelios, the bard.
His eyes filled with tears as he narrated,
As he told me the plight of Daskaloyiannis.
His speech was cut short, he was gripped by thoughts
And from his entrails he uttered dark groans. . . .
He told it me in rhyme, being a rhymadoros,
For he has been given by God His greatest gift -
What he did not see he knew, and what he saw he remembers,
For he has a memory better than anyone.
Many things his eyes saw and his ears heard,
Trials, suffering and troubles sent his hair white.
The scribe adds a rider of a certain condescension to this sympathetic
picture:
But if these lines are at fault, the words graceless,
If the lines are at fault, the words all confused,
Have sympathy, you who listen - they are not by me!
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