 |
| KASOS |
| THE ISLAND OF SEA |
| New York 1998 |
| The Island of Kasos is located in the Southernmost part of the Aegean islands the so called Dodecanissa. |
| Kasos Island is bathed by the Karpathian Sea with Karpathos towards the North East,and Crete to the South West: |
| With accuracy, Longitude : 35 degrees 24 minutes North, |
| Latitude : 36 degrees 56 minutes East |
| The length of the Island is 12 nautical miles, Width 4 Nautical miles, and the area is65 square kilometers. |
| When someone views the Island from the Northern direction it looks like it is divided in two parts, that is why Stefanos Vizantios named it Amfi. |
| Towards North of the Island are several Isles and rocks named: Armathia, Litra, Penticonisia, Porionisi, Makra, Karofilas nisi, Koskino, Mastrogianni, Kolofonas,Strogili, Nissaki, Astakia, Iounia, Avgo. |
| Towards West there are the Isles of Plati, Kourica, and Koufonisia. |
| VILLAGES: |
| The five villages of Kasos are clustered at the northern part of the Island.FRY is the capital, Panagia, Poli, Arvanitochori, and Agia Marina.In the earlier times it is said that there were only three villages Agia Marina as theCapital, Panagia, and Poli, or Castro. |
| POPULATION: |
| The population of the Island before the Holocaust of 1824 was close to 10,000.After the destruction of the Island it was deserted for two decades.Some of the inhabitants were transferred to Egypt as war prisoners, where laterthey flourished in enterprising, education and other professions along with the French and English who controlled the Suez Canal for over a century.. |
 |
| The Kasians in Egypt were holding key positions in Suez Canal including a good number of pilots.The rest who escaped from the Turks scattered in the neighbor Islands who returned to the Island around 1840.In the 1860s a massive exodus started for economic reasons, most of them went to Egyptwhere they were employed to assist in opening the Suez Canal.From then on the population remained around 1,100 till these days.Most of the Kasians nowadays are in Athens, USA, Rodos, Crete, Canada, Australia, and other parts of the world.It is noteworthy that after 1957 when the Egyptians took over the management of the Canal the Kasians of Egypt scattered to other parts of the world, but most of themrepatriated to Greece. |
| The Kasians are numbered as follows by approximation. |
| Kasos 1,100 |
| USA 4,000 |
| Athens 7,000 |
| Rodos 300 |
| Other 2,000: |
| Total 14,000 |
| Above are obtained from various sources, such as the Municipality of the Island,"Kassian Benevolent Society of America" in USA, Kasian Brotherhood in Greeceand include those who are maried to kasian from descent and their children. |
| WHO ARE THE KASIANS AND WHERE THEY COME FROM? |
| Kasos is first mentioned in Homeric poetry Ilias as sending warriors to Troia to fight with the other Greeks against Priamus. |
| The inhabitants of Kasos as well as the neighbor Islands during this period were Dorians according to the Greek history.The Island was abandoned at least two times during the period from 600 BC till 1600 AD. At 1600 ad. sixty Christian families left the region of Konstantinoupolis looking for a place to live away from the Turkish influence.When they landed in Kasos the Island was uninhabited and to their advantage it was also a land difficult to approach from almost every direction.Then they concluded that this is the ideal place to establish their shelter away from the turmoil that was happening in that region. |
 |
| This little community flourished in a short period of time occupying in building ships,transporting goods, mainly wheat from Russia to various Mediterranean ports.They established their own type of Government which apparently was a near perfectsystem if we judge from the following.A letter from a French traveler to the Queen of France in 1770 indicates how happy the inhabitants were those years living on this Island.He gives a thorough description of how people live on this Island, their occupationsand their culture.He concludes with the following words: |
| O f what I have learned on this Island is that there are two basic thinks that contribute to the happiness of man, first is the freedom and second the ownership (referring to home and property in general). |
| If you take the freedom and the property away from a person by force or by an otherway, the out come is that you made a person unmotivated , unwilling to produce,unhappy, and miserable.On this Island you notice that happiness is pictured on the face of almost every one.The Island flourished during the 17th and 18th centuries, this is the time during whichthe Kasian concentrated to shipbuilding, reaching the point to construct tall shipsof up to 1,000 M/T. |
| Although Greece was under the Turkish occupation during this period, Kasians were crossing the Mediterranean and Black Sea carrying merchandise from one port to another uninterrupted.Those who traveled outside Greece in contrast to those who were locked in theseyears had the opportunity to learn of what was going on in the rest of the world.Many of those Kasians joined the "FILIKI ETAIRIA" which was organized ina Russian Port in the Black Sea in 1814 by the forerunners , and initiators of the declaration of the Greek independence, Skoufas, Emmanuel Xanthos, and Tsakalofall three motivated by fervid desire to liberate Greece.The Kasian ships with their crew engaged in this project by investing time and their money.They were very successful in capturing the Turkish ships which attempted to cross theAegean Sea going to Egypt.We found documents referring to many incidents of the attacks against the Turkishfleets.The following incident which is worthwhile to mention pictures the noble characterof the Kasian.During this period of time the Turks were engaged in a very profitable business, thebusiness of the white flesh, but to make their merchandise more valuable they were hunting the most beautiful virgins of young age, take them by force and ship them to the harems. |
| In our particular incident there was a Turkish ship loaded with this extremely valuablemerchandise, and I say this because the Sultan was involved according to the document.The merchandise was the most beautiful young girls, all virgins , hunted from Georgianear Russia.Some of the Kasian captains received this information and plotted a strategic plan toliberate those Georgian girls.The Turkish ship was navigating the Aegean Sea bound to Egypt where the shipment was planned to arrive, passing by close to the Kasian waters.The Kasians were impatiently waiting to range the attack, questioning if the Turks altered route.One day as the Kasians were gazing to the horizon they spotted the large frigate with her white sails getting closer to the Island.As soon as they were sure that this was the right ship they chose their best ableman to get involved in this operation.It did not take long for the Kasians to board the Turkish Vessel and capture the crew.The Georgian girls were chained , and during the fight they were extremely panicking knowing not what was waiting for them to come.It did not take long for the girls to understand that they have just rescued from the slavery to the freedom. |
 |
| Some of them were taken back to their homes, others chose to stay on the Island of Kasos, feeling that they were among friends .Unfortunately this kind of operation irritated the Sultan of Turkey and he ordered to clear the situation by burning the Island of Kasos.The Kasians did not estimate that the Turkish war operation against Greece was plotted by both countries of Turkey and Egypt.The first unsuccessful attempt to capture the Island was made in May of 1824 by the war fleet of Mechmet Ali of Egypt who' s desire was to capture and burn the Island not only for political reason, but for revenge also.The second attempt was a month later the 7th day of June, 1824 at the time when the Kasian fleet was engaged in operation in Crete chasing the Turkish ships.This time the Turks succeeded to land a large number of warriors on the Island duringthe night slaughtering women, children and old aged.3,500 were captured and sold to Egypt as slaves, and 3,500 escaped to the nearby islands.The Island was set on fire destroying everything that was left behind.This event we call till now the Holocaust of Kasos Island.The Island was deserted for twenty years, then some Kasians returned. to build their homes again.Those Kasians who survived then without homes , some of them still having theirships continued their trend in other countries outside Greece, from that breed sprangthe new generation of the shipowners who continued the trend generation aftergeneration till today.Some of the Family names who belong to this breed still continue the same trendtill now, Such names are Kouloukoundis, Papadakis, Nikolaou, Rethimnis, Markakis,Diakakis. |
 |
| MUSIC |
| The kasians have their own kind of music, which historically comes from the Byzantinereligious music.The music organs mostly in use are the Lyra, Laute, and Santuri.Lyra is three chord type of violin which the player holds with one hand resting it on one knee, and with the other hand he use the bow to produce the harmonic sound.There are variations of tunes and the player has the freedom to enhance the playaccording to his talent.Lyra and Laute can not be separated and always go together.The strings on the Laute have the same setup as the Quitar but the sound is different.It keeps the rhythm and gives more volume to the sound of music.The Santuri is a wide spread musical organ in Dodecanese and accompanying Lyra and Laute it adds to the quality of musical notes.In the past the Kasians organized parties almost every weekend, and always visited their friend on their name day, where the musicians were always in present with their instruments.Note: If someone desire to here the kasian music there is a site to click on it. |
| RELIGION |
| The ancient Kasians were Dorians according to the history of the Island, and if we judge from the inscription found on the Island they believed in the multiple deity and mostlikely to the twelve gods of ancient Greece. One thing is certain that the name of goddessArtemis appears in several inscriptions on the Island.The Dorians abandoned the Island, but we are not sure what period, and they took their religion with them. |
 |
| The Island was deserted multiple times, and there was a little period that it was servingas a nest for the pirates of the Aegean Sea.The majority of the existing generation comes from the group of 60 Christian familiesimmigrated around 1600 AD from the occupied Greek region of Asia Minor and most likely from Konstantinoupoli if we judge from the fact that Agia Kassiani was buried in Panagia the church of Pera Panagia Village.Agia Kassiani was the lady who was not chosen to be the wife of Byzantine emperorfor the only reason that her answer to the emperor's question put the woman to equallevel with the man.After that she decided to become very religious and finally to be declared as a Saint.It is noteworthy to mention that in the documents of the Island we read that herewas the class of Kanakaries (Kanaka) or the class of the twelve, constituted bythe twelve Kanakaries (men), and the twelve Kanakares(women).They were the rulers so to say of the Island , and all had to have ecclesiastic ranks,by inheritance, and it is mentioned that they are the ansestors of Aaron.Those twelve had the privileges by inheritance , they were the first born, maleor female, and they were obligated to marry one of those with equal previlages.It is also noteworthy to say that all kasians paid voluntarily tithing (the tenth of their Income) for religious porpuses, in monies,services, or products. |
| ARCHIOLOGICAL SPOTS |
| There are several archiologica spots on this Island of which might be of very important discovery.Pesrsonaly I have a personal experience and witness of such findings and particularly in a place place calle Ellinocamara where the archeologist John Tsiragakis show to meand explained that in this particular spot the encient inhabitants use to do sacret seremonies. |
 |
| Also he concluded according to his theory that there was a town in the very near distance, which is now buried approximately 20 meters bellow the surface.For those who desire to have more information about the Island, or want to visitthe place can call, or Email the following Nos. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|