Aristeidis Kollias

Aristeidis Kollias
(Αριστείδης Κόλλιας)
Born(1944-07-08)July 8, 1944
Leontari, Greece
DiedOctober 1, 2000(2000-10-01) (aged 56)
Athens, Greece
CitizenshipGreece
Occupationlawyer
Known forhistorical and folklorist research on Arvanites, and other related topics
Awards Honor of the Nation (Albania)

Aristeidis P. Kollias (Greek: Αριστείδης Π. Κόλλιας;[1] Albanian: Aristidh Kola, July 8, 1944 – October 1, 2000), was an Arvanite Greek lawyer, publicist, historian and folklorist. He was also president of the Association of the Arvanites Marko Boçari.

Life

Kollias was an Arvanite. He was born in Leontari (old name: Kaskaveli), Boeotia in Central Greece, a village inhabited mainly by Arvanites.[2] Kollias was raised in an Arvanitika speaking family.[2] In 1968 Kollias obtained a jurisprudence degree in Athens, and worked as a lawyer until 1980, when he started to devote his time to studying the linguistic, folkloric and historical traditions of the Arvanites in Greece.[2] Kollias published in Greek his major work Arvanites and the origin of the Greeks (1983) in Greece and was reprinted later in other editions.[2] In 1985 he along with Thanasis Moraitis and Demetrios Lekkas organised the first music concert in Arvanitika held in Greece.[2] During 1995 he founded Thamiras, a publishing house devoted to printing the works of Arvanite and Albanian authors.[2] Kollias authored two books in both Albanian and Greek on the situation in Kosovo regarding massacres and other human rights violations by Slobodan Miloševic of Albanians in the 1990s.[3] In 1996 Kollias relinquished his position as head of the Arvanite league of Greece organisation to devote his time toward Pelasgian studies.[4] From 1997 onward he published a tri-monthly magazine titled Arvanon and together with Kosovar acquaintances used the publication to discuss issues such as the Kosovo conflict.[4] Kollias advocated for the Albanian Kosovar cause by informing the wider public in Greece and also received backlash for his support.[4] In 2000 Kollias was diagnosed with leukemia and died shortly thereafter on 11 September.[4]

Kollias also published a magazine "Besa". He cooperated and maintained connections with the Albanian diaspora and collaborated with Italian Arberesh, Arbëresh of Corsica, Arbanas of Croatia, Albanians of Kosovo, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Turkey and with intellectuals from around the world.[5]

Recognition

Kollias' contribution to the Albanians' cause was recognized by the Albanian government (both former presidents Sali Berisha and Rexhep Mejdani have decorated him for national merits).[5] In 2004 Bajram Rexhepi, then Prime Minister of Kosovo, consigned posthumously to the widow of Kollias a decoration for her spouse'a contributions in the defense of the rights to the people of Kosovo. In addition, the municipality of Skënderaj made Kollias a citizen of honour of the city of the same name. In 2022 he was awarded posthumously the "Honour of the Nation" decoration (Albanian: Dekorata "Nderi i Kombit"), the highest decoration to be given in Albania.[6]

Legacy

In 1983 Kollias authored a book titled Arvanites and the Origin of Greeks which he reedited several times and was translated into Albanian in 2002.[7] This book was considered important in rehabilitating the Arvanites in post-dictatorial Greek society.[7] Claims made in the book include that alongside the Greeks, Arvanites shared Pelasgian origins thereby making them the "most authentic Greeks" with their language being closer to Pelasgic while asserting that many Greek words had an Albanian etymology.[7] Under the Albanian context this book has been used by Albanians in Albania and Albanian immigrants in Greece as a tool for their rehabilitation as an ancient and autochthonous population in the Balkans.[7] On the other hand, this theory has been rejected by modern scholars and it's seen as a myth.[8] In Albania, the book has been used to "prove" the precedence of Albanians over Greeks and to rehabilitate Albanians as the oldest rooted population in the Balkans.[7] The book has also been used to legitimise the presence of Albanians in Greece, so as to counter the negative image of their communities and of playing a prominent role in the emergence of ancient Greek civilisation and later in the creation of the Greek state.[7]

Works

  • Arvanites and the origin of the Greeks, 1983.
  • Language of gods, 1989.
  • Arvanitas Union statement
  • Corrective Dictionary of Arvanitic words
  • Comparative Dictionary of the Albanian Language
  • Greece trapped in Milosevic Serbs
  • Song of Mercenaries, Greek ancestry
  • Myth and Truth
  • Third funeral of Marko Bocari

See also

References

  1. ^ "Κόλλιας, Αριστείδης Π." biblionet.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2017-02-19.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Millaku 2018, p. 5.
  3. ^ Millaku 2018, pp. 5–6.
  4. ^ a b c d Millaku 2018, p. 6.
  5. ^ a b Millaku, Shkelqim (26 July 2018). "Zbritja e arbëreshëve në Greqi sipas Aristidh Kolës [The Albanian Migration in Greece by Aristidh Kola]". SSRN Electronic Journal. University of Prizren - Faculty of Philology: 2. SSRN 3208565.
  6. ^ Destinacioni, Gazeta (2022-07-19). "Albert Zholi:Aristidh P. Kola merr titullin e lartë "Nderi I Kombit"". GAZETA DESTINACIONI (in Albanian). Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  7. ^ a b c d e f De Rapper, Gilles (2009). "Pelasgic Encounters in the Greek-Albanian Borderland. Border Dynamics and Reversion to Ancient Past in Southern Albania". Anthropological Journal of European Cultures. 18 (1): 8–9.
  8. ^ Schwandner-Sievers & Fischer 2002; Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers and Bernd Jürgen Fischer, editors of Albanian Identities: Myth and History, present papers resulting from the London Conference held in 1999 entitled "The Role of Myth in the History and Development of Albania." The "Pelasgian" myth of Albanians as the most ancient community in southeastern Europe is among those explored in Noel Malcolm's essay, "Myths of Albanian National Identity: Some Key Elements, As Expressed in the Works of Albanian Writers in America in the Early Twentieth Century". The introductory essay by Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers establishes the context of the "Pelasgian Albanian" mythos, applicable to Eastern Europe generally, in terms of the longing for a stable identity in a rapidly opening society.

Sources