{{Short description|Greek combatant during the Macedonian Struggle}} {{Infobox Soldier | name = Tellos Agras | native_name = | image = Tellos Agapinos Officer 1907.jpg | caption = Tellos Agras in uniform | birth_date = 17 February 1880 | death_date = 7 June 1907 | birth_place = [[Gargalianoi]], [[Kingdom of Greece]] | death_place = Tekhovo, [[Salonika Vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]] {{small|(now [[Karydia, Pella|Karydia]], [[Greece]])}} | nickname = Tellos Agras<br>{{small|Τέλλος Άγρας}}<br>Kapetan Agras<br>{{small|Καπετάν Άγρας}} | birth_name = Sarantis-Tellos Agapinos<br>{{small|Σαράντης-Τέλλος Αγαπηνός}} | allegiance = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} [[Kingdom of Greece]] | branch = {{army|Greece}} | service_years = 1901–1907 | rank = [[File:GR-Army-OF1b-1900.svg|15px]] [[First Lieutenant]] | battles = [[Macedonian Struggle]]{{executed}} | alma_mater = [[Hellenic Army Academy]] }}
'''Sarantis-Tellos Agapinos''' ({{langx|el|Σαράντης-Τέλλος Αγαπηνός}}, {{circa}} 1880 – 7 June 1907), known by the ''[[nom de guerre]]'' '''Tellos Agras''' ({{lang|el|Τέλλος Άγρας}}), was a [[Greeks|Greek]] officer of the [[Hellenic Army]] who played a prominent role during the [[Greek Struggle for Macedonia]].
== Early life == Agras was born in [[Gargalianoi]], [[Messenia]] in about 1880, from an important family of that region, members of which had participated in the [[Greek War of Independence]]. He entered the [[Hellenic Military Academy]], from where he graduated as lieutenant of the Hellenic Army in 1901.
The increasing presence of Bulgarian [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] guerrilla troops in [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]-held [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and their actions against the followers of the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]] and generally against the [[Macedonians (Greeks)|Macedonian Greek]] population concerned Greek public opinion in Athens, which led to the creation of some underground organizations financed by wealthy Greeks, initially without official support, with the intention of establishing Greek military bands in Macedonia to confront the threat. Agras entered one of these organizations, the ''Macedonian Committee'' in 1904, after the death of [[Pavlos Melas]].
The Bulgarian troops were often allied with [[Aromanians|Aromanian]] [[armatole]] soldiers.<ref name="nicea">{{cite journal|last=Nicea|url=http://www.proiectavdela.ro/pdf/cola_nicea_memoriile.pdf|title=Memorii|first=Cola|author-link=Cola Nicea|journal=Scara – revistă de oceanografie ortodoxă|issue=7|year=2001|pages=1–32|language=ro}}</ref>
Tellos Agras was Agapinos' pseudonym. Tellos meant "perfect" and "complete" but also "the one from afar", "the one who is not among us". On the other hand, Agras meant "fierce", "untamed", "wild".<ref name="nicea" />
== Involvement in the Macedonian Struggle == [[File:Telos-Agras.JPG|left|thumb|374x374px|Tellos Agras in Makedonomachos uniform (1906).]] In September 1906, he entered Macedonia leading a 14 men band with the mission to protect Greek villages in [[Giannitsa]] Lake (called ''O Valtos'', i.e., "the Swamp" by locals) from the attacks of VMRO members that controlled the northern part of the lake. With the help of local Macedonian Greeks such as the wealthy tradesman Zafeiris Loggos and {{ill|Antonis Mingas|bg|Андон Минга|el|Αντώνιος Μίγγας}} from [[Naousa, Imathia|Naoussa]], in only three months he managed to limit Bulgarian presence in the Swamp. But on November 14, 1906 Agras was seriously injured after an unsuccessful attack against the leader of the [[Macedonians (Bulgarians)|Bulgarian]] guerrilla troops, [[Apostol Petkov]], near the village of Zervochori and was recalled to [[Thessaloniki]] to be healed. He continued his activity in the area for some months but his health deteriorated by his continuous presence and fights in the lake, resulting in his infection by [[malaria]]. The coordinator of the Greek forces, [[Konstantinos Mazarakis-Ainian]], concerned for his life, ordered Agras to withdraw to [[Naousa, Imathia|Naoussa]] in April 1907, where he started recruiting locals to man the band of his substitute Captain Amyntas, alias Lieutenant Doumpiotis.
== Death == The Ottoman forces, although initially passive and not intervening in Greek-Bulgarian fights, began attacking both, worried by the presence of so many armed bands in the area. That led Agras to seek cooperation with the leaders of the Bulgarian forces of the area against the Turks and a meeting was arranged on June 3, 1907 between Agras and his opponent, Ivan Zlatanov (Zlatan), near the town of Aghia Foteini, 10km north of Naoussa. According to their agreement each group would be unarmed.
There are contradictory accounts of the events that led to the death of Agras and his ally Mingas:
According to one version, Agras, along with seven followers (all unarmed, as agreed), were initially met by a group of 18 Aromanians led by Mihail Handuri, who escorted them to the location of Zlatan and Aromanian chief [[Ioryi Mucitano]], who himself commanded a group of 15 men. Despite Zlatan's opposition, Mucitano captured Agras and his ally Mingas, tortured them, and hanged them on 7 June 1907 in an area between the villages of [[Karydia, Pella|Techovo]] and {{ill|Agras, Pella|lt=Vladovo|el|Άγρας Πέλλας}}.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://repository.ukim.mk/bitstream/20.500.12188/6787/1/03%20MINOV.pdf|title="Романските" чети на Македонската револуционерна организација 1906-1908|first=Nikola|last=Minov|journal=Istorija / Journal of history|volume=53|issue=2|year=2018|page=48|language=mk}}</ref><ref name="Dakin1993-285">{{Cite book |last=Dakin |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Dakin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJFZAAAAYAAJ |title=The Greek Struggle in Macedonia, 1897–1913 |date=1993 |publisher=[[Institute for Balkan Studies (Greece)|Institute for Balkan Studies]] |isbn=978-960-7387-00-4 |page=285 |language=en}}</ref>
Another version of events indicates that the meeting with Zlatan and his companions proceeded as planned, with only Agras and Zlatan being armed. It is then indicated that once the Bulgarian group realized that Agras's companions had come unarmed as intended, they accused Agras of collaborating with Turkish forces and took him into custody, releasing the rest of his group, with the exception of Mingas, who remained behind. As with the other version of events, they were held for several days until being hanged on 7 June 1907.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ρότζιος |first=Γεώργιος |date=2022-06-07 |title=Σαν Σήμερα, απαγχονίζονται οι Μακεδονομάχοι Καπετάν Άγρας και Αντώνης Μίγγας |url=https://cognoscoteam.gr/archives/9821 |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=Cognosco Team |language=el}}</ref>
According to another version by the Turkish publication "Correspondence Bureau" dated 21 July 1907, a Greek force of 18 men was attacked by a stronger Bulgarian group near Vladovo, three were killed in the battle, and the rest were captured. Five were tortured, while two (including Agras) were hanged. The remaining eight were released and instructed to spread news of the incident to others. Notes found on the dead bodies, signed by the Bulgarian voivode [[Apostol Petkov|Apostol]], stated that only Bulgarian and Turkish were to be spoken in the area, and that anyone spreading the Greek language would share the same fate.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Hristo Silyanov]] |title=The Liberation Struggles of Macedonia |volume=II (Sled Ilindenskoto vastanie) |url=https://www.strumski.com/books/hr_siljanov_osv_borbi_makedonija_tom2.pdf |location=Sofia |publisher=Ilinden Organization |year=1943 |page=234 |language=bg}}</ref>
[[File:Agras-left-Miggas-right.JPG|thumb|The bodies of Agras (left) and Mingas (right).|261x261px]]
Agras was replaced by [[Nikolaos Doumpiotis|Captain Amyntas]],<ref name="Dakin1993-285" /> who managed to bring order in the area between June and October 1907.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ζέλλιου-Μαστοροκώστα |first=Ερατώ |date=2006 |title=Η οικογένεια Δουμπιώτη |url=https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/makedonika/article/view/5579 |journal=Makedonika |language=el |publisher=[[Society for Macedonian Studies]] |volume=35 |page=297 |doi=10.12681/makedonika.16 |issn=2241-2018|doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Legacy == [[File:Agras' & Mingas' monument.jpg|left|thumb|208x208px|The memorial of Tellos Agras and Antonios Mingas in the location of their executions.]] Tellos Agras is considered to be a martyr of the Greek Struggle for Macedonia and one of its most important and effective band leaders.
He and his exploits are better known through the pages of the novel ''Ta Mystika tou Valtou'' ("The Secrets of the Marsh"), written by [[Penelope Delta]].
A village in [[Pella (regional unit)|Pella]] close to the site of his death was named Agras in his honour.
There is a memorial at the location of his hanging between [[Karydia, Pella|Karydia]] and Agras.
There is a bust of him in [[Thessaloniki]].
== Gallery == <gallery widths="210" heights="210"> File:Agras-Tellos-Agapinos Nikiforos-Ioannis-Demestihas Kalas-Constantine-Sarros.jpg|Tellos Agras (middle), with fellow chieftains, [[Ioannis Demestichas]] (left) and Konstantinos Sorros (right) at the [[Giannitsa Lake]]. File:Agras and his band.jpg|"Kapetan Agras with his band" (standing middle). File:Telos Agras Tiligadis and other andarts.jpg|Tellos Agras (seated middle) with his band. </gallery>
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *[[Douglas Dakin|Dakin Douglas]]. ''The Greek Struggle in Macedonia 1897-1913''. Thessaloniki, 1966, {{ISBN|978-960-7387-00-4}}. *Vakalopoulos, Apostolos. ''History of the Greek Nation 1204-1985''. *Archives of the Macedonian Struggle of Penelope Delta, Thessaloniki, 1959. *Mazarakis-Ainian, Konstantinos. ''The Macedonian Struggle''.
==External links== *[http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Museums/History_And_War/Mma_Thessalonikhs.html Museum of the Macedonian Struggle, Thessaloniki] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110827145305/http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Museums/History_And_War/Mma_Thessalonikhs.html |date=2011-08-27 }}
{{Hellenic Macedonian Committee}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agras, Tellos}} [[Category:1880s births]] [[Category:1907 deaths]] [[Category:Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece]] [[Category:Greek military personnel of the Macedonian Struggle]] [[Category:Hellenic Army officers]] [[Category:People from Gargalianoi]]