Psara

Psara lies 81 km (50 mi) northwest of Chios, 22 km (14 miles) from the northwestern point of the island of Chios and 150 km (93 mi) east-northeast of Athens. The length and width of the island are about 7 by 8 km (4 by 5 mi) and the area is 43 km² (17 sq mi). The highest point on the island is "Profitis Ilias" (512 m (1,680 ft)). The municipality has total area of 44.511 km² (17.186 sq mi).[3]

The flag of Psara today is based largely on the island's famous revolutionary flag created by Psariot locals in 1824. The original flag is made of white cloth bordered with red; it bears the symbols of Filiki Eteria in red (a large cross atop a crescent, a spear, and an anchor); wrapped around the anchor is a green snake. Written in red capital letter above the cross and broken up by it is the islands name, ΨΑΡ–ΡΑ. On either side of the Filiki Eteria symbols, in red capital letters, are the words ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ Η ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ (Eleftheria i Thanatos, 'Liberty or Death').[4][5] The modern flag uses a very similar design but omits the island's name from the top and has added a yellow bird flying near the mouth of the snake.[6] The flag was carried during the War of Independence by Psariot ships.[7]

An original 1824 flag of Psara is preserved at the National Historical Museum of Greece.[4]

It has been inhabited since the Mycenaean period, its inhabitants relying on the sea to make a living as the island is treeless and rocky with little shrubbery.

Homer, Strabo, Cratinus, Suda and Stephanus of Byzantium referred to the island as Psyra (Ancient Greek: Ψυρά and Ψύρα)[8][9][10][11][12] and Psyrian (Ancient Greek: Ψυρίαν).[11] The island had a city also called Psyra.[9][13]

The islanders' sole source of livelihood has always been fishing, mainly for the locally abundant slipper lobsters, and shipping, with some tourist development in recent years.

There was a proverb which was used: Psyra celebrating Dionysos (Ancient Greek: Ψύρα τὸν Διόνυσον ἄγοντες).[10][11] Because Psyra was a poor and small island which could not produce wine, the proverb used in reference to people who were reclining at a symposium but not drinking. It was also used to things which displayed poverty.[10] Another proverb about Psyra was also used in order to show poverty, You regard Sparta as Psyra (Ancient Greek: Ψύρα τε τὴν Σπάρτην ἄγεις).[11]

After the destruction of Psara by Nikolaos Gyzis.

Psara joined the Greek War of Independence on April 10, 1821. A noted native naval leader of the time was future Prime Minister of Greece Constantine Kanaris and Dimitrios Papanikolis. The island was invaded on June 21, 1824 by the Ottoman navy.

On July 4 the resistance of the Psariots ended with a last stand at the town's old fort of Palaiokastro (alternative name Mavri Rachi, literally "black ridge"). Hundreds of soldiers and also women and children had taken refuge there when a Turkish force of 2000 stormed the fort. The refugees first threw a white flag[14] with the words "Ἐλευθερία ἤ Θάνατος" ("Eleftheria i Thanatos", "Freedom or Death"). Then, the moment the Turks entered the fort, the local Antonios Vratsanos lit a fuse to the gunpowder stock, in an explosion that killed the town's inhabitants along with their enemies — thus remaining faithful to their flag to their death. A French officer who heard and saw the explosion compared it to a volcanic eruption of Vesuvius.

A part of the population managed to flee the island, but those who did not were either sold into slavery or killed. As a result of the invasion, thousands of Greeks met a tragic fate. The island was deserted and surviving islanders were scattered through what is now Southern Greece. Theophilos Kairis, a priest and scholar, took on many of the orphaned children and developed the famous school the Orphanotropheio of Theophilos Kairis. Psara remained in the hands of the Ottomans until it was recaptured by the Greek navy on 21 October 1912 during the First Balkan War.

The destruction of Psara by the Ottoman Turks was conducted in retaliation for blowing up the ship of a Turkish Admiral by the revolutionary Dimitrios Papanikolis (who was from Psara). It inspired the poet Andreas Kalvos to write the ode "To Psara" (Greek: "Εἰς Ψαρά"); perhaps more famously, the event also inspired the poet Dionysios Solomos — the author of the Hymn to Liberty — to write in 1825 a poem (or epigram) about it called "The Destruction of Psara" (Greek: "Ἡ καταστροφὴ τῶν Ψαρῶν"):[15][16]

Bronze medal of 1924 commemorating the holocaust of Psara.ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ Η' ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ,ΟΛΟΚΑΥΤΩΜΑ ΨΑΡΡΩΝ - 24 ΙΟΥΝΙΟΥ 1824 (FREEDOM OR DEATH,HOLOCAUST OF PSARA - 24 JUNE 1824).

Constantine Kanaris.

• Constantine Kanaris (1793/1795-1877) admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Greece
• Dimitrios Papanikolis, admiral
• Nikolis Apostolis, admiral
• Ioannis Varvakis (1745-1825), admiral, caviar merchant and benefactor.

• List of settlements in the Chios regional unit
• Masada (a similar heroic mass suicide in Jewish history)

• https://web.archive.org/web/20070611074035/http://www.chios.com/island/psara.htm (also in German and Greek)
• http://www.sansimera.gr/archive/articles/show.php?id=156&feature=H_katastrofi_ton_Psaron%5B%5D (The destruction of Psara, in Greek)
• http://www.ptolemais.com/shmaies/epanastatimena.htm (The flags of the rebellious islands (Psara), in Greek)