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	ESSAY ON PARPARIA THAT WILL TURN INTO A BOOK

PARPARIA, CHIOS

A forgotten history

A brief essay with photos

By Stavros Stefanidis

INTRODUCTION

 A few years ago I stopped in the Korais library in Chios. There I saw an old map of Chios. The map had the town of Parparia listed as a town. I could not figure out the date of it because it was written in Roman numerals. I wrote the Roman numerals down and when I got back home to where I lived at the time in Puerto Rico, I looked up MCCCCXX. The year was 1420. I was amazed how old Parparia could have been. This little almost nothing town was at least 580 years old. This sparked my curiosity and little by little I started researching on my own to try to find the origins of Parparia.

If there was an easy answer to the question of origin of Parparia, I would not be writing this book. I would be able to point to historical references on Parparia, and the problem would be solved. However, the issue of Parparia’s origins are a little more complicated. There is very little written. I literally had to piece together dozens of pieces of disjointed information that I found in obscure libraries and locations that were basically gathering dust.

The best history book the Parparousi left us had one word in it. That word was Parparia. That word was the arrow they left, showing us where they came from. That coupled with other clues (Like the fact that we were referred to as barbary corsairs by other towns in Chios), one can triangulate history and start to pinpoint events in history that would have allowed the Parparousi to settle in Chios.

One must ask him or herself, why did people from North Africa choose to settle in Chios? When could people of North Africa have realistically settled in Chios? When in history were migrations from North Africa to the eastern Aegean viable? What was their purpose? Who sent them there? Did they come as friends or foes? Were they being persecuted in their homeland? These are all questions I try to answer with documented historical reference. In this manner one begins narrow a time frame of the Parparousi’s arrival to Chios and one begins to see a picture emerge on Parparia’s origin.

From my research I draw my own logical conclusions on Parparia’s origin. From my research I also found other theories on Parparia’s origin, which I found partially inaccurate and I explain the reasons why I found that information inaccurate. My starting point was the 1420 map. From the map I was directed to the Chian author and historian Giorgios Zolotas, who wrote extensively about Chios and all its towns

Following the North Africa corsair/pirate theory of Parparia, I found extensive history on piracy throughout the Mediterranean and tried to develop a timeline throughout the centuries to try to order the information I was discovering.   If the Parparousi were truly corsairs, they would have followed the same history pattern of many of the corsairs incursions on the other Greek islands and throughout the Mediterranean. I tried to create a picture of the Mediterranean world between the years 600 AD and 1400 AD. I believe that the Parparousi came to Chios towards the beginning of that time frame.

Other important records I tried to find but was unable to get were Byzantine and actual Genoese records relating to Chios.

I basically divide Parparia’s history into five (5) eras. The first being Arab/Berber, the second being Greek Byzantine, the third Genoese, the fourth Ottoman and the fifth modern Greek.

What I really hope is that this essay sparks the interest of younger kids from Parparia to find out where the Parparousi came from. I hope that even others who have an interest in history or archaeology to follow-up on the research I have done and build on it.

CONTENTS

PARPARIA AND CHIOS IN THE ARAB AND GREEK BYZANTINE STAGE (657 AD- 999 AD)

ALGERIANS AND SARACENS (Σαρακηνοί)

BYZANTIUM AND NORTH AFRICA

PIRACY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN

Aegean History from the 600’s to the 1000’s dealing with Byzantium and the Saracen Empire.

PARPAROUSI AND VARVAKOURSI

AGIA MARKELLA

VARVARESSOU TON VARVARESON AND VARVATHOS

THEORY OF PARPARIA’S ORIGIN BASED ON THE TRIANGULATION OF HISTORICAL EVENTS

PARPARIA

THE KASTRO IN PARPARIA

GENOESE RULE FROM THE 1300’s to 1566.

TURKISH RULE AND LEGENDS

THE KAVO MELANIOS HOLOCAUST

THE NEW PARPARIA

OTHER THEORIES OF PARPARIA AND B.C. HISTORY

BC HISTORY OF THE AREA OF PARPARIA

ANCIENT STONES WITH GREEK INSCRIPTIONS FOUND NEAR PARPARIA

OLD STONE HOUSES IN PARPARIA

CHURCHES AND SAINTS OF PARPARIA

THE HARVEST IN PARPARIA

SOME TRADITIONAL CLOTHING OF PARPARIA

CLOSING

TIMELINE OF CHIOS, BYZANTIUM, OTTOMANS AND GREECE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

TELOS

PARPARIA AND CHIOS IN THE ARAB AND GREEK BYZANTINE STAGE

(663 AD -999 AD)

ALGERIANS/BERBERS (Alidzerini) AND SARACENS (Σαρακηνοί)

This passage from Giorgios Zolotas’ book translates more or less into:

“As far as Parparia’s name, it’s good to keep in mind the following: People from the south of Chios called the people from Parparia, Varvaresous and the town they called Barbarian or Varvarian. There exists a song that talks about the pirate raids where it says “Leave town and go way over there” The song talks about the abandonment of the town by Parparia by the Paraparousi or Varvarousi. “Varvaresous and Barbaresous were called our forefathers, pirates from Barbaria”.

On account of the Italian writer Barbaresco they included    blacks and whites. The light ones were also called Algerians (Alidzerini) and Saracens. Barbaresco’s accounts almost certainly are the same as an anonymous writers accounts of an area called Varvakorso. There is also a Rhodes song that talks about Parparia’s territory.  There is also a place on the island of Siro called Varvarousa.  There existed at one time a Varvariotas, which was a special Byzantine army battalion under Theodoros Lascareus during the 1200’s AD.”

Above are some depictions of Saracens from the book series Tagmata.  

BYZANTIUM AND NORTH AFRICA

 In the 600’s AD, there was no Turkey or Ottoman Empire. Modern Day Turkey was called Anatoli and it was part of the Greek speaking Eastern Roman Empire. For most of the 600’s AD and before that, there were no Arabs in North Africa (Barbaria or Barbary Coast). In the 600’s AD Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and parts of Iraq were all part of the Roman Greek speaking empire that called itself Rome (Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων)
and later came to be referred as Byzantium, which had its capital in Constantinople-present day Istanbul. The people in the empire called themselves Romans. The coast of North Africa was littered with colonies of Greek and Phoenician descent. Many colonies on the coast of North Africa spoke Greek and were considered part of the Roman Empire. Further inland from the North African coast lived another Mediterranean race called the Berbers who lived for the most part in nomadic tribes.

In 610 AD Heraclius (Ἡράκλειος) came from Carthage (Modern day Tunis) and took the throne as Byzantine Emperor. He ended the use of Latin in government when he made Greek the official language of the Byzantine Empire.

After the conquest of North Africa by the Arabs, today synonymously referred to as Saracens (Sarakoinoi in Greek), they went on to convert the area to Islam and mix with the Berbers, Greeks and Phoenicians.

The Saracens took over in what today encompasses the countries of Tunisia, Libya and Algeria, Morroco and Egypt. During the Roman Empire the North African coast was divided into 3 colonies, which were referred to as Carthage, Cyrenaica or Kyrenaica in Greek and Africa. The word Africa comes from the Latin word Africus which means southwest wind. During the Middle Ages after the Arab conquests it was often referred to as Barbaria.

  Below is a map of what was the predominantly Greek speaking Byzantine Empire from around 565 AD to 640 AD. As you can see all of the north coast of Africa was Byzantine. The western part of the empire had been lost to Barbaric tribes of the north when the eastern part came to its rescue and reclaimed it.

North Africa and the Middle East under the Byzantine Empire was predominantly Christian. It was not until the Arab Prophet Mohammed’s death in 632 AD did the Arabs and Islam start to spread.

Islam took over the vast majority of the known civilized world at the time. Islam shattered a Mediterranean unity that existed at the very moment when Europe was on the way to becoming Byzantinized.

When the Arab conquest came in the middle of the 600’s AD, many areas of the Byzantine Empire gave in to the Arabs rather easily for various reasons.

In those times Orthodox Christianity had broken off into several different sects. Many Byzantine Romans believed in Jesus in their own way and that was a problem with the Orthodox Church in Constantinople. The Orthodox Church leaders would not hear of such things and persecuted many other Christian Orthodox teachings. This was especially prevalent in North Africa and the Middle East. The Orthodox Church leaders had done their best for many years to undermine the Middle East, and North African Orthodox doctrines.

Most of the Middle Easterners and North African Orthodox followers were called Monophysites as opposed to Orthodox. Basically, the Orthodox Church believed that Jesus was a divine being before he was born and became a regular man when he was born, and then divine again after his death. The Orthodox Monophysites believed Jesus was a divine being all the way through even while he was a man on earth. I won’t get into further differences, but people were being executed, mutilated, jailed, blinded and even their tongues cut out for preaching these differences. At one point the two church doctrines tried to unite under the Emperor Heraclius by creating a Monothelites belief, but it did not win any popular support, especially from Rome, where the Pope was. Another theory as to why many Orthodox Christians in North Africa and the Middle East gave in to the Arabs was the iconoclast/iconodule controversy which will be explained as you read further.

The influence of the Greek language on the Roman Empire and Christianity was tremendous. During the first 4 centuries AD, the liturgy was given in Greek, the same way it is celebrated by the Orthodox Church today. Although the language of Rome was Latin, the first Christian community in the imperial city celebrated the liturgy in Greek and it remained so throughout the second and third centuries. Only during the end of the fourth century did it switch to Latin in the west. Despite the Mediterranean’s ethnic diversity, it was the Greek that had the most influence on its expansion and following. The lingua franca at the time was Greek. Areas of the Empire were bi and tri lingual. If a Syrian tried to speak to an Egyptian and the Egyptian did not understand Syrian and the Syrian did not understand Egyptian, they would speak to each other in Greek. The same way English has become the lingua franca of the world today. Jesus was from Galilee which was a bi and tri-lingual area. When he was crucified the inscription put on the cross was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. It was an everyday matter in Palestine to put notices in three languages. There was the language of the province (Hebrew or more correctly Aramaic), the official language of the Roman Empire (Latin) and the common lingua franca of the Mediterranean world (Greek). Greek was the language that the Apostoles used to spread the word of Christ. They spoke and wrote Greek. Greek is how they communicated to the known civilized world at the time and that is the way convinced people the way of Christ.

This Greek was called koine (common) (ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος) and was carried over all of the Eastern Mediterranean and as far as India three centuries earlier by the armies of Alexander the Great.

Before the split of Orthodoxy and Catholicism there were at least 14 Catholic Popes that were Greek and 7 that were Syrian.

The Greek Popes were:

Anacletus (91 AD)

Telesphorus (139 AD)

Hyginus (142 AD)

Eleutherius (192 AD)

Anterus (235 AD)

Sixtus II (258 AD)

Eusebius (310 AD)

Zosimus (418 AD)

Theodore I (649 AD)

Agathos (681 AD)

Leo II (683 AD)

John VI (705 AD)

John VII (707 AD)

Zacharias (752 AD).

The Syrian Popes were:

Evaristus (107 AD)

Anicetus (168 AD)

John V (687 AD)

Serguis I (701 AD)

Sisinnius (708 AD)

Constantine I (715 AD)

Gregory III (732 AD).

In the beginning, when Islam first started to appear, it was viewed by some as a just another heretical Christian sect. Many converted as a matter of convenience. When the Arabs conquered the Middle East and North Africa, they let those that continued to be Christians pray however they wanted, as long as they paid their taxes. Instead of being persecuted for praying to the same God and a very similar Orthodox religion, those areas could pray in peace under the tolerant Muslims. That is why today there exist Syrian, Egyptian and Lebanese Orthodox churches in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Muslim rule in many ways preserved these Orthodox Christian sects. This later included Greek Orthodoxy after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The Muslims considered Christians and Jews as people of the scriptures. The Muslims believed in many of the teachings of the Old Testament. The reason they were tolerant of Christian and Jews was that they believed that God made errors and that if he didn’t he would have made everybody the same. So the Muslims tolerated “error” and gave it a chance to correct itself.

On the other side of the coin, having Moslems convert to Christianity was a strategy of the Byzantine Empire. The Empire felt that if the Empire it could convert Moslems to Christianity, the Moslems would be reduced in numbers and the attacks would diminish. The Byzantines would then ultimately be able to defeat them. Also there was a theory that doing away with icons would attract more Arabs and Jews who would convert to Orthodoxy if icons were banned, since the Muslims and the Jews believed that worshipping figures was idolatry. The Empire went even as far to tweak the Orthodox religion by attempting to make it more appealing to the break off sects of Orthodoxy and Islam. This was seen when the Emperor Heraclius attempted to fuse Orthodox Monophysitism with Orthodoxy and when Emperor Leo III, the Isaurian tried to do away with icons in one of the most controversial decisions made by the church during the era of iconoclasm (711-843 AD). Both these strategies were very unpopular and were some of the degenerative factors which continually alienated the church in the west under the Papacy.

Another theory that iconoclasm came to be was that it was believed that praying to icons was the reason the Byzantines were losing battles to the Arabs (praying to icons was idolatry).

The Influence Arab and Greek culture and religion had on each other was profound. The two influenced each other in major ways. Icons in the Orthodox Church can be viewed as compromise or a happy median between prayer to statues (like those of the Catholic church-which many consider an adaptation of a form paganism passed down from the ancient Greeks and Romans) and to no idols (including icons) whatsoever.

The icon represents a likeness to the Saint it represents. Likeness means that we worship the real life saint that lived and died not the actual icon itself. The icon is meant to invoke our pathos for the particular Saint’s martyrdom (all the tremendous pains and tortures suffered and eventual death) for their love for Christ. The icon itself is not meant to be worshipped. Only the saint is worshipped. It is a difficult concept to understand. Even the colors have to be specific and not just any colors. Icons are drawn the way they are in the abstract on purpose. They cannot look too real, because the person will get involved in their beauty and thus take away from the prayer. The influence of the icon came from Egypt, where images of the dead were painted onto coffins of Greek Egyptians. The influence of statues, originally Greek in nature, was adopted by the Romans and the Catholic Church.

There are indications that Eastern emperors were strongly impressed by Islamic culture and its prohibition of images. The emperor Theophilus (829-842 AD), for example, was a student of Muslim art and culture. Byzantine emperor Leo the Isaurian (ruled from 717- 741 AD) spoke fluent Arabic. In 827 AD Euphemius, a Byzantine admiral and resident governor of Sicily offered the governorship of the island to Ziyadat Allah, the Aghlabid Emir of Al Qayrawan (in Tunisia). This resulted in the landing of over ten thousand Arab and Berber troops at Mazara in the western part of Sicily. This led to Sicily's Arab period which lasted from 827 AD to 1087 AD

This focus on the east by the Byzantine Romans led to the continual deterioration between the eastern and western churches.

Another reason given for the rather swift Arab conquest of the Empire’s outlying areas was that the Empire had also grown so big that it could not effectively defend its outlying territories. At least it couldn’t afford to. It had even stopped paying many of the defenders in many of the outlying areas of the Empire. This alienated those areas from their Byzantine allies and made it easy for them to defect and change religions.

Arab conquests starting around 632 AD to 656 AD. The pink area was the suddenly shrinking Byzantine Empire.

In North Africa, the Arabs pushed westward from Egypt, taking Tripoli circa 643 AD and Carthage (Qartajanna) circa 663 or 697 AD. The Arabs absorbed much of the Greek, Berber, Egyptian, Phoenician and Moor populations in those areas and converted them to Islam. These areas were in neglect by the Byzantine Empire that was struggling economically and in an era where the Christian church was still trying to decide as to what edicts were correct or not correct. Although the Islamic faith also had its controversies and fights for power and leadership within, it appeared to be more certain, organized and fair. It blew through those areas like a typhoon sucking up everyone in its path. Even for those Christians that didn’t convert, the Islamic faith allowed for the tolerance of all Christians denominations, something that the Christian Church did not do very readily. The resistance by those areas in North Africa was little and weak. Some of the larger resistance came from pagan Berber tribes. The Greek Byzantines located mostly in the coastal cities of North Africa held out as much as they could, however, reinforcements were so far away and the Arab onslaught so relentless that they were only able to hold on for so long. This was especially seen in the city of Alexandria and Carthage.

When the Arabs first appeared, they were people from the plains who only knew warfare on horseback. The Turks and Arabs did not learn how to sail until they learned from Greeks many of who had converted to Islam, during the phase or Arab domination. 

In 649 AD, the first ever Saracen naval expedition went to sea under a Saracen general named Mu’awiya (معاوية بن أبي سفيان). Mu’awiya ruled one of the first Arab Dynasties from 661 AD to 680 AD as part of the Umayyad Caliphate. Using the islands as a ladder up to Constantinople, the Saracens under Mu’awiya climbed their way up to Constantinople. They invaded:

Egypt circa 642 AD

Cyprus circa 648 AD

Rhodes circa 654 AD

Chios circa 663 AD

Smyrna circa 672 AD

MAPS OF THE PATH THE ARABS TOOK TO ATTACK CONSTANTINOPLE AND THEIR MOVE WESTWARD IN NORTH AFRICA.

Mu’awiya then tried to take over Constantinople. The Muslim onslaught on Constantinople began in 674; but a Greek architect from Syria named Callinicus brought a secret invention called "Greek fire" that apparently combined petroleum with saltpeter with explosive results and enabled the Byzantine navy to be victorious in the war that may have saved Europe from Muslim domination. Finally in 678 the aged Mu'awiya surrendered and agreed to a thirty years' peace with the Byzantines and agreed to pay an annual tribute which included 3,000 gold coins and evacuate the islands of Rhodes, Cos, and Cyprus. After Mu’awiya’s death in 680, the Arab fleet withdrew from Aegean waters, although pirate attacks continued.

Just to note, Mu’ awiya is the one that sold the remains of the fallen Colossus of Rhodes to Jewish traders. The Collossus of Rhodes, which one of the 7 wonders of the Ancient World, stood in the harbor of Rhodes and had been toppled by an earthquake and lay in pieces for centuries until the Arabs came and sold the pieces. The pieces, they say, were carried away on 900 camels. In modern times it influenced the French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi to design and build the Statue of Liberty in New York City.

ONE OF THE VARIOUS DEPICTIONS OF THE COLLOSUS OF RHODES

History clearly outlines that the Saracens were in Chios during the 7^th Century. There is a mention by an anonymous writer/historian under Justinian II (Ιουστινιανός Β΄-Ρινότμητος) that refers to a place called Varvakorso in Chios during Justinian II reign (685-695 AD and again from 705-711 AD). Zolotas does actually specify which Emperor Justinian this anonymous writer was from, but history points that in all likelihood it was Justinian II.

A look at the history just before the reign of Justinian the II shows that the town of Mesta in Chios, which lies on the south eastern shores of the island underwent one of the most disastrous raids by the Arabs between the years 668 and 678 under the reign of Emperor Constantinos Pogonatos (Constantine IV). In some ways it makes sense that the Arabs attacked Chios’ west coast. On the east side of the island, an attack could have proven fatal for the Arabs, since the Anatolian coast at the time was Greek. The Arabs would have opened themselves up to be surrounded or attacked from behind with an attack on let’s say present day Chora.

Zolotas also writes of the Aegean’s plight during the Arab domination of the Mediterranean

All of what today is Turkey was divided into Byzantine army themes or themata in Greek. The re-organization of the Byzantine Roman army was started by Emperor Heraclius in 610 AD. Below are some themes around 650 AD. Knowing the names of some of the later themes are important clues in Parparia’s history as we shall see later on.

The Varvakorsi were probably dropped off at the bay of Agia Markella to form a contingent that would eventually be in charge of taking over the island of Chios. This was a common tactic by the Saracen forces. This is the same method used to attack Constantinople. The Saracens had captured the peninsula of Cyzigus, near Constantinople and started amassing troops and planning for their eventual attack on Constantinople.

When the Saracens attacked Constantinople for the fist time in 674 AD, they were defeated and their expeditions and small colonies on the islands had to be abandoned or evacuated under the agreement terms of the Arab defeat.

Once Mu’awiya was ordered to evacuate or abandon most of the Aegean islands, it is conceivable that at this point, the Varvarousi or Vavakoursi of Chios, not wanting to abandon their new found land decided to stay in Chios and converted to Christianity. The conversion was probably painless since the Varvarousi were probably more mercenaries or merchant in nature than religious fanatics. Islam at that time was less than 100 years old and even less than 40 years old since Mohammed’s death in 632 AD. Before the onslaught of Islam, most North Africans, and Middle Easterners were Christians, Jews or part of pagan tribes like some of the Berbers of the interior of North Africa. It was the Berbers as well, as mentioned earlier, that gave the Arabs some of the fiercest resistance.

Even more logically, it is conceivable that by this time that many from the town of Varvathos near the bay of Agia Markella, had intermarried with Christian women or Christian slaves (since there were no Muslim woman available). Their children no doubt were being brought up Christian. Eventually, Varvathos’ isolation from any Muslim contact phased out whatever Muslim faith had existed and converted it to a Christian one in a matter of a few generations.

It was at this aperture in history (663 AD to 685 AD), where a North African migration of Berbers or Alidzerini could have occurred in Chios. This North African migration mixed with Arabs and no doubt Greek converts gave birth to the town of Varvakorso or Varvathos. This prelude settlement called Varvathos in the bay of modern day Agia Markella eventually came to be known as Parparia or Barbaria. Barbaria was a name tribute given by the great grandchildren of these first North African migrants.

When the Arabs attacked Constantinople for the third and last time in 717 AD, it was Emperor Leo the Isaurian that destroyed the Arab fleet, once again with Greek fire. However the sporadic attacks by Arabs in the Mediterranean continued.

LEO THE ISAURIAN-THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ARABS

Between 648 and the 800’s AD all the major islands in the Mediterranean were either taken over or sacked by Saracens and Arabs. 

Cyprus (648 AD)

Rhodes (654 AD)

Chios (657, 663, 668 and 678 AD)

Sardinia (711 and 827 AD)

Corsica (754 and 850 AD)

Crete (823 and 825 AD)

Sicily (827, 831, 834, 842 and 878 AD)

Malta (870 AD).

Some islands were taken back quickly by the Byzantines (especially in the Aegean), however others remained under Arab rule for longer periods, especially in the western Mediterranean. Since there was no naval defense in the West, the Western Mediterranean had become a Muslim lake.

The Arabs used pirate attacks as part of their warfare. They used piracy to continuously weaken their enemies. Many port cities in the Western Mediterranean, especially in France had become abandoned because of these attacks.

In 902 the Arabs completed the conquest of Sicily, but they were kept out of the Byzantine provinces of Southern Italy. Emperor Basil I and Western emperor Louis II cooperated to help defend those areas. However, the worst damage during that time frame was done by Arab pirates who had taken over the island of Crete. In 904 the Arabs based out of Crete plundered Thessalonica, carrying off quantities of loot and prisoners. Leo VI sent a naval expedition to Crete in 911, but the Muslims drove it off and humiliated the Byzantine Roman navy off Chios in 912.

PIRACY IN THE MEDITERRENEAN

 Pirates operated in any remote areas advantageous for them to attack. Piracy was able to operate as a state without immediate reprucussions. In this case it was within the Byzantine Empire. Pirates could find quiet uninhabited areas of an island, build a camp near the water and attack ships as they came by. Or they could go to neighboring islands, surprise attack and return to their hideout. If the attacks were successful, they would probably come back to the same camp. The camp would eventually grow into a village after all the slaves and loot they would bring back. 

Arab dynasties from North Africa were known to send out expeditions throughout the Mediterranean. These expeditions were usually preceded by many piratical raids. These expeditions and raids coupled with further expeditions would ultimately result in the complete conquest of certain areas, as was the case of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and coastal areas of France and modern day Italy. Raids by Arabs included raids on Rome during the 800’s and 900’s AD.

In the case of the Arab conquest of Sicily, it was the Sunnite Aghlabids in the 800’s AD based out of Africa Minor (modern day Tunisia) that were responsible for the expeditions. Sicily was an important base for the Moslems, because it brought them closer to the mainland in Europe to conduct further attacks and trade.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the Mediterranean in the east was Crete. Crete was used by the Arab Muslims the same way Sicily was used in the west. The Muslims repeatedly attacked the Greek islands and mainland. Recent archeological findings in Athens have also found a possible Arabic settlement from that era in the 900’s AD.

During the Arab conquest, the islands in the Aegean had turned into pirate lairs for both Arabs and Christian mercenaries. The “profession” of piracy was considered honorable and profitable and was passed from father to son. The word leventes (brave handsome fellow) came from levante, which at the time signified a fearless pirate of the eastern Mediterranean. The east coast of the Mediterranean was also referred to as the Levante (Where the sun rises- from the Latin “levantar” which means to rise) and it included the coasts of Asia Minor, the Middle East and Egypt.

Levante was also what was referred to as the “east wind” in sailing. For educational purposes, here are the other winds and how they were referred to at one time during the middle ages.

Northwest wind: O Maestros

Southwest wind: O Garmbis

West wind: O Pounentes

Southeast wind: O Sorkos

Northeast wind: O Graigos

East wind: O Levantes

As mentioned earlier, a name tied with the people of Arab mixed with North African pirate origin is Sarakinos and all its variants. Sarakinos is a Greek word synonymous with the word Arab. There are many Greek island areas and mainland areas with the variant name of Sarakinos. There are also various other areas in other countries in the Mediterranean like in Italy and France which have either a variant of the name Sarakinos or other similar influences from pirates from North Africa.  Most of these areas are located near coastline areas. These names come from North African immigrants (who were usually pirates) that settled those areas during the combined Saracen and North African raids by the various Caliphates throughout the era of the middle ages. Those raids and attacks conceivably started during the 600 AD’s and lasted arguably up till the middle 1800’s. “The town of Parparia also has some fields called “Tou Sarakinou” meaning “belonging to the Saracen”.

Piracy was directly related to the slave trade, which greatly flourished for many centuries, especially during the middle-ages starting from the 600 AD’s. Pirates made a lot of money selling people. The sufferings of the inhabitants of the coastal towns and particularly the Aegean islands at the hands of pirates of every race and origin can hardly be described. In 904 AD Arab pirates led by a Greek named Leo of Tripoli from Crete who had joined the Muslim forces, according to one source, carried off approximately 22,000 inhabitants from Thessalonica. This same Leo from Tripoli along with another Greek pirate who had converted to Islam, named Damianos, defeated the Byzantine navy off the northern coast of Chios during the Byzantine war campaign against the Arabs in an attempt to take back lost Byzantine territories.

Other towns in Chios have similar stories about Algerian (Alidzerini-Berbers) and Saracen pirates. Some of the ones I read about were Thymiana, Kardamyla, Kambia, Mesta and Neochori.

In the late 900’s AD, the island of Lesbos had the same types of attacks from a Saracen pirate chief named Sirhan. Saracens had attacked the bay of Stenacus but were defeated when the town set their ships on fire.

During the early part of the middle ages, pirate attacks on the island on Lesbos from Saracen invasions occurred in the years 821, 881 and 1055 AD. There are places on Lesbos with the name Sarikinou as well, which in all likelihood were pirate lairs at one time.

The island of Paros was also plundered by the Saracen pirate Nissiris between 821 AD and 827 AD.  Nissiris as a pirate was active from 821 AD to 827 AD. Nissiris went to the island of Paros and stole all the church treasures. In Paros there are also places with the name Sarakoinou.  The encounters with pirates on Paros were documented in the year 905 AD,  when Nikitas Magister, a government official during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Leo VI was sent from Constantinople to Crete to negotiate with the Saracens (Crete was captured by the Saracens and Arabs in 823 AD). As they approached the island of Ios, winds drove them to the island of Paros (Which at that time was uninhabited). There he met a monk who told him about the island and their encounters with Saracen pirates.

 In 961 AD the Byzantine army under emperor Nicephoros Phocas took back Crete from the Arabs and killed, according to one source 20,000 Arabs in the process. There is a town in Crete called Barbaro or Varvaro. The Byzantine soldiers that took over the town during the re-taking of Crete named it like that because of the people there who were Arabs or Berbers from Barbaria in North Africa. It is in all likelihood, the same way the town of Varvakorso and its people the Varvarousi got their names from the Greeks on the island of Chios.

There are dozens of accounts of Saracen pirates invading and settling areas of the Mediterranean between the 900’s AD and 1000’s AD. These places included

St. Tropez and La Garde Freinet (937 AD) in France

Fontanarossa (935 AD) in Italy

Malta (870 AD)

Sicily (827 AD)

Corsica (754 AD) and others.  Corsica even has a pirate head as their symbol on one of their flags.

In some of these places, it was recorded that these pirate settlements once they were re-conquered by the Christians remained in those areas and converted to Christianity. 

 By paralleling history in other areas with pirate history in the Mediterranean an image starts to emerge for the the history of Parparia.  Parparia’s history mimicks the history of dozens of other places in the Aegean that attribute their origins and history to Saracen pirates, especially islands.

The formula one sees is clear, once Christian armies started to push back Muslim forces and settlements, the prisoners or towns left behind were usually forced to convert to Christianity. In the areas of modern France, Spain and Italy, Saracens that converted to Christianity became Catholics. In areas of modern Greece they became Orthodox.  The Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and a large part of southern France was under Saracen or Arab rule at one time or another. In parts of Spain, Muslim rule existed for almost 800 years (Granada).

It is written that between 840 AD and 1017 AD the three great nations in existence were the Byzantines (Greeks), the Saracens (Arabs) and the Franks (French).

PARPAROUSI AND VARVAKOURSI

Folklore, legend and tradition often tie in with history. In the case of Varvathos and Parparia, history gives credibility to this folklore, legend and tradition.

Throughout Chian history, the people from other towns in the Notiochora (southern towns) referred to the people from Parparia as Varvakoursi (Barbary corsairs or pirates). Zolotas writes that an anonymous writer from a Justinian reign (in all likelihood Justinian II) referred to a place in Chios called Varvakorso, which, according to Zolotas, Parparia was almost certainly being referred to. Roman Emperor Justinian II ruled from 685 AD to 695 AD and from 705 AD to 711 AD. This marries up nicely with the facts that we know about the attacks of Chios from the Arab Admiral Mu'awiya during the mid and late 600’s AD, where it is highly likely that he left troops behind as expedition projects. This would make Parparia/Varvathos in my estimates approximately 1,350 years old. Depending on what season the Arabs landed or sacked Chios, on or around 657 AD, we would also be able to estimate around what months the Parparousi in all likelihood first landed at the shores of Agia Markella/Varvaressou.

 Varvathos, where present day Agios Panteleimonas is located (also known as the Paleokatalimata-old ruins), was a town that was eventually abandoned, according to legend because it was too close to the sea and subject to pirate attacks. According to legend, the inhabitants of Varvathos moved to present day Parparia where they built their new town.

AGIA MARKELLA-SAINT MARKELLA

 At Agia Markella I visited the area of where the church of Agia Markella was located. There my aunt told me that the church was built on top of the field that Agia Markella hid in to try to hide from her father that was chasing her. Her father set fire to the tall grass (batos) for her to come out (Could this be where Varva-batos (wild grass or forest) comes from?). When she fled from the field, she headed across the beach and to the stones and cliffs, which lead around to where Agio Aima (holy blood) is presently located. Agio Aima is located is where Agia Markella’s father caught up to her. She was actually first wounded by an arrow that her father shot at her while she was running. There are red marks leading up to Agio Aima, which they say is Agia Markella’s blood that was dripping after she was wounded. When she could not run anymore, she asked God to help her. God opened up one of the stones and she tried to go inside. She only made in up to her waist before her father caught up to her. He cut off her breasts and threw them on the stones. Then he cut off her head and through it into the sea.

 Unfortunately there are no known accounts of around when she lived. Some say she reached sainthood in 1500 but lived during the late 200 AD. Others say that she actually lived during the 1500’s. It is said that her father was not Christian and her mother was Christian. It is also said that Agia Markella was from one of the wealthiest families of Volissos and that her mother died at a young age. As she reached maturity, her father made passes to her to make her his wife or lover. She resented these advances made by her father and one day retreated to the mountains to avoid him. Her father upon finding out that she had left the house went out to seek her where he ultimately found her and killed her.

If she lived in the 1500’s Chios would have been under Byzantine/Genoese rule. It would have been difficult for a non-Christian to live in that area at that time, let alone be part of the wealthiest families.

The Genoese were Catholics. They were doing the Byzantines a sort of favor by helping them protect the island from the Ottomans who were Muslims.

If she lived in the late 200 AD’s as some say, Chios would have been under Roman rule and a time when Christianity was in its infant stage and still being heavily persecuted.  St. Nikon of Naples who visited the island of Chios during the reign of Decius (250 AD to 263 AD) said that there was no Christian community in Chios. St. Nikon said that he could not find a single Christian of the local or foreign gentry.

It is said that the first person to take the initiative to spread Christianity on the island of Chios was St. Isidore who was martyred in 250 AD. For a long time St. Isidore was considered the island’s sole patron saint and protector of Chios. If St. Markella had martyred around the same time of St. Isidore, why was she not mentioned in the same context with him?

As far as Christianity in Chios, it was not represented in the list of Bishops to attend any of the first three Ecumenical Synods (The first one taking place in 325 AD). It was not until the Fourth Ecumenical Synod in Nicea in Asia Minor in 451 AD that Chios was first represented by a Bishop named Tryphon.

Knowing exactly when she lived would have given a good timeline of history in relation to Varvathos and Parparia.

Agia Markella had never received any recognition of her martyrdom, however, her story was passed down from generation to generation. Agia Markella was also in all likelihood from a mix of Latin and Greek blood from her mother’s side, as her name Markella (Marcela in Latin) may indicate.

My theory is that Agia Markella lived at the time of the first Arab raids on the islands of the Mediterranean. It is said that her father was not Christian. Yet she was from one of the wealthiest families of Volissos. The only time I believe this could have occurred was when the Varvarousi were mixing with Greek populace of that area. That is one of the reasons I believe the Parparousi and the Volissiani both so revere the saint. My theory is that her father was a Varvakorso and her mother a Greek Christian from Volissos. It was common in that era for these types of marriages. The Arab Admiral Mu’ awiya himself had a Christian wife. The Varvakoursi arrived as warriors without women. Their wives undoubtedly had to be Christian. The first Chian Parparousi were of Saracen father and Greek mother. In icons, Agia Markella’s father is also represented in pirate garb. Agia Markella’s story was passed down for centuries until she was made a saint in the 1500’s. According to Zolotas it was the historian Hieronymous that uncovered the story of Agia Markella and after “cleaning it up” he wrote about it as his version, the version we have today. Unfortunately with very few details.

AGIA MARKELLA

VARVARESSOU  TON  VARVARESON  AND VARVATHOS

The beach of Agia Markela, before it was called Agia Markela was called Varvaresou. On this beach it is said that the first Parparousi landed.

The excerpt above is from Zolotas’book where he quotes another Chian historian Vlastos that says that the shores of Agia Markella were called Varvaresso of the Varvareson (Barbaresso of the Barbareson).

Does Varvareso correspond with Varvathos and Barbaria? I think so. The circumstantial evidence is pretty overwhelming in my opinion as to Varvatho’s influence by the Varvakoursi. At least in the timeframe that we are saying the first Parparousi landed on Chian shores. As a note, in Greek, the letter B is pronounced as a V.

The excerpt above from Zolotas’ book says that Parparia may have a relation to Varvathos. The reason for this is that Parparia is also known as Varvaria, thus Varvaria could have come from a variation of the word Varvathos. The variation being Varvathia. We can also see the th and the d being used interchangeably with Varvathos (Barbathos) and Varvados (Barbados). The author goes on to give some examples of other areas and their variations in pronunciation. Conversations with townfolks from Parparia will almost all tell you that tradition says that the town of Parparia was originally by the beach in Agia Markella and that it was called Varvatho and that it moved to its present location because of the pirate raids. Most will also tell you that Parparia is a mispronunciation of Barbaria that used to be the area referred to as today North Africa.  

On my visit to Varvathos and Agios Pantelemonas in the summer of 2005, there were very few remnants of any ancient habitation of that town. From Agia Markella my aunt and me followed a stony road, which is a river during the winter months. The river lead us to Agio Panteleimona and to the Paleokatalimata of Varvathos. This is probably the same road the Varvarousi took when they first landed on Agia Markella beach.

The yellow line indicates the river road from Agia Markella to the chapel of Agios Pantelemonas. The town above is Parparia.

It seems that there are a few rivers that converge in the area of where Varvathos used to be. In the summer the rivers are dry and are used as dirt trails for people and cars. The small church of Agios Panteleimonas stands alongside one of those rivers.  Presently, the small chapel was re-constructed from its ruin state in 1965 from donations from Volissos. My aunt told me that when she was a young child the ruins of this former town were much more visible, at least the stone houses. She said people over the years took apart the stone houses looking for snails. The town of Varvathos seemed to be built on the two sides of the valley of where Agios Pantelemonas was located. The only thing covering it from the sea was the mountain that the river curved around in before emptying out into Agia Markella beach.

 This is a view from the area of Varvathos-Paleokatalimata (old ruins) towards Agia Markella. The mountain on the left was the only thing that covered Varvathos from the shore of Agia Markella.

PALEOKATALIMATA NEAR AGIA MARKELLA

This is a satellite shot of the ruins at Agios Pantelemonas. One can see the outline of where houses may have once been.

From Varvathos it was a 15-minute car ride on a dirt road back to Parparia.  It was difficult to imagine a town there since most of the stone houses were completely taken apart. The area, although wild, at one time must have been very hospitable. My aunt told me that when she was younger, the area was full of olive trees and shade. She told me that the fields of Varvathos and Agios Pantelemonas, were now owned by townfolk from Volissos.

One older town person told me that Agia Markella was given to Volissos in a trade between Volissos and Parparia. Volissos used to own Pagousena, which was closer to Parparia. Parparia had Agia Markella, which was closer to Volissos. Volissos was going to sell Pagousena to the town of Nenitouria, but Parparia beat them to the table and as a result gave up much of Agia Markella.

Question to ponder

(When did the Parparousi give Agia Markella to Volisso?)

Another legend says that at a certain timeframe, the people of Varvathos spotted pirates arriving to their shores and prepared a surprise attack and defense instead of fleeing. When the pirates landed, the people of Varvathos surprised them and beat the pirates back to their ships. Their victory was short lived however as, the pirates instead of setting sail and leaving sent back to shore a larger contingent. This time the Varvarousi were not able to hold a defense and were forced to retreat inland towards their town. Their, the women and children, who saw the retreat, took to arms and fought along side the men. This gave the men more courage and together, they were able to push the pirates back again where they got back on their ships and left. After this episode, the Varverousi realized that the pirates would be back and that they would come back more prepared and with even more troops. This is when the people of Varvathos decided to abandon their town by the sea and head inland. It is said that part of the Varvathos populace went to Volissos (in the Pythonas section or district) and the other part of the populace went and started Parparia. It is said that the females from Varvathos that went to Volissos received pendant awards of honor for their bravery in fighting back the pirates.

It is said that the populace that went to Parparia was the populace that had herds of animals. Tradition states that the Parparousi were not farmers of land at first and that they were livestock handlers or herders.

Varvathos must have at one time mixed with Volissos through marriage and increased its lands. Varvathos created its own unique identity and preserved it verbally from generation to generation. Other town’s recognized Parparia’s uniqueness and referred to them as such and accepted them as Orthodox Christians, Chians and Greek.

AGIOS PANTELEMONAS AT THE PALEOKATALIMATA

 It is said that when the Parparousi abandoned Varvatho part of the population went to Volisso to an area called Pithonas (comes from the word Python, because myth has it that a large serpent or dragon lived there). That population still lives in that area of Volisso.

Like most towns in Chios, the Parparousi came from somewhere else. Some towns are older than others. Some owe their origins to ancient Greek settlements, others to Roman or Byzantine settlements and others from the Genoese. The town of Anavatos was founded by carpenters sent by Byzantine Emperor Monomachos to build Nea Moni in the 1000’s AD. Twenty-Four of the Mastixochora in the south of Chios were founded by the Genoese in the 1300’s and 1400’s. Towns like Volissos and Kardamyla are mentioned by historians of the Peloponesian wars between Athens and Sparta. (List other town examples).

 When the Parparousi or Barbarousi or Varvarousi came to the bay of Barbaressou (Present day Agia Markela), they did not feel threatened by anyone attacking them. They settled in the area of Agia Markella, and no one really told them anything. They started their expedition of the area and apparently no intention of attacking for the time being. Before they knew it, they were trading with Volissos and starting their own town. The town of Volissos was probably also witness to the Arab armadas passing by their coast on their way to Constantinople and in all likelihood cooperated rather than fought with an enemy much larger than them. The only time period that his could have occurred was between 663 AD and the early 700’s AD. It is written that at certain point during this time frame, Arabs had taken over trade in the Mediterranean.

The terrain on Chios was not designed for easy travel on foot, especially for travel to Chora, where the bigger trade market was. The easiest method to travel from the eastern part of the island to the west or north to south would have had to have been by ship. With no land road from Chora on the east and north western part of the island, there must have been various ports. Agia Markella must have fit this distinction and may have been an Arab or Moslem enclave before it dissipated with the Arab demise. There is a field in Varvathos which pertains to Parparia which is called Mustafa. I’m not sure if it may have anything to do with that first settlement.

Question to ponder

What was Barbaresou (Agia Markella) called before?

 Were the Varvakoursi pirates who attacked the neighboring islands or other parts of Chios? Were we part of a pirate network in and around the various islands? It seems very plausible.

Kaloulimen, a beach area of Parparia, which in Greek can translate into “Kalo Limani” which means good port or even Turkish “easy port” could have been a pirate base at one time.

Did the first Parparousi speak Greek? It is very probable. At least some of them. Greek was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean for centuries before it became the official language of the Roman Empire.

The Parparousi of today themselves have inherited many unique words of various origins. Obviously this is from the various influences of the many rulers that the island has had over the years. In the very beginning this may have included slaves the first settlers of Varvathos might have brought to their town. They probably also spoke another sort of “lingua franca” which incorporated Greek, Latin, Phoenician and Arabic and maybe even Berber words. This made up language during that era was common in the Mediterranean, especially by traders.

It was no accident that the other towns of Chios called people from Varvathos Varvakorsi (Barbacorsi-pirates) or Varvarousi (Barbarousi). They didn’t get that name for nothing. They got it because that is exactly what they were. Pirates don’t just land on your front door step and people don’t take notice. One just has to look at history to see when this could have possibly occurred, a time when this was historically feasible, a time when there was a good reason for it to happen. The window of opportunity for the Varvarousi to enter Chios stayed open briefly and quickly closed.

The first Parparousi were probably a few hundred men with a few slaves. The Parparousi probably started exploring the areas around the beach and started to co-exist with the other towns in the area, especially Volissos. As it is highly likely that they did not arrive with any women, the result was that they probably began to inter-marry with the Greeks. As a further result, this how the Varvakoursi were eventually Christianized and Hellenized. The children of the Parparousi were being brought up as Greek Orthodox Christians. The town that the Parparousi started, Varvathos, began to grow and the Parparousi were quickly immersed into Christianity and Hellenised. Although seafarers and traders at first, the Parparousi slowly phased out that ability as seafarers and became more like farmers and herders. After a few generations they were no longer Barbary Coast or Saracen pirates. They were now Roman Orthodox Christians of the Greek speaking Byzantine Empire. The only thing that remained was the name they were given by the inhabitants of Chios. In addition, the children and grandchildren of the Parparousi did not forget who their forefathers were and passed this fact down from generation to generation.

The Parparousi revitalized the area they settled, increased the population of the area, brought their ways of life, music and traditions and mixed them with the people from Volissos. When it got too crowded in Varvathos and Volissos, the Parparousi, expanded and according to one source created Pyrama and Parparia. These were not a lazy or weak people. They were self-starters, inventors, and educators. They built two towns on two hills out of stones. Stones they brought from distant quarries.

Volissos was without a doubt the biggest town and owned most of the lands. It is possible that Pyrama and Parparia were outposts of Volissos. One saying is that Pyrama actually means perasma, which is Greek means “a passing point”. It is possible that the area of modern day Parparia may have been land belonging to Volisso that Parparousi took over through inheritance of inter-marriage with women of Volissos. An individual from the town of Pyrama waged a confrontation against Volissos at one time to fight for the lands around Pyrama that Volissos was refusing to relinquish. The people of Pyrama herded their livestock in those fields. Volissos made concessions and Pyrama was given town status.

Historically, there were some other towns presently extinct near Volissos that covered the land between modern day Parparia and Volissos. Between Pyrama and Parparia there was a now extinct town called Kidonas. No one really knows when it ceased to exist. An individual from Pyrama told me a folktale dealing with pirates and the town of Kidonas. He said that during a carnival celebration, three pirates snuck into the festivities of the town disguised and made off with one of the maid