1. Birth – Early Years

Georgios Lassanis was born in Kozani in 1793.¹ At a very early age he lost his father, who was a merchant and was killed on a journey back from Vienna. He received his first education in his birthplace, where he stood out for his performance and brilliance.² At the age of twenty he went to Budapest and worked at the shop of his compatriot Nikolaos Takiatzis, where he fell in love with his daughter and got engaged to her. To his dismay the girl’s parents married her to another young man from Kozani and Lassanis, deeply hurt by the separation, went to Leipzig to study.³ According to a different version, Lassanis left in 1813 for Leipzig, where he studied at the philosophical school of the local university for four years. After he returned to Budapest in 1818, he travelled to Moscow and met Konstantinos Pentedekas, who initiated him into the Society of Friends. But his frequent journeys due to his involvement in the Society of Friends annoyed his father-in-law, who finally broke off the engagement.⁴

2. Activities as a Member of the Society of Friends

During his stay in Leipzig, Lassanis contacted Greek merchants and scholars of Diaspora and was influenced by the speeches of the German idealist philosopher Johann Fichte. His mind was directed to the Greek national issue and after completing his studies in 1817 he left for Moldavia, where he stayed for a while before moving to Russia and finally settling in Odessa (1818). He worked as a teacher at the Greek Commercial School, one of the best educational establishments of Odessa, together with Konstantinos Vardalachos and Georgios Gennadios from Bucharest (both served as principals of the schools).⁵ Lassanis introduced pioneering teaching methods, particularly the monitorial system, which had already been implemented in the German education. At the same time he demonstrated increased intellectual and political activities. He published articles in newspapers, prepared school textbooks, translated German writers, and wrote and directed tragedies put on by the local theatre. As a member of the Society of Friends he promoted the plans of the organisation. Lassanis frequently travelled to other Russian cities, such as Kishinyov (modern Chişinău), Moscow and Saint Petersburg in order to meet members of Greek communities. The list compiled by Panagiotis Sekeris including the names of those initiated into the Society of Friends until 1818 reports Georgios Lassanis as follows: “Georgios Lassanis, son of Ioannes. From Kozani, Macedonia. Age 25. Through Konstantinos Christodoulos Pentedekas. Moscow, March 18, 1818”.⁶ The excerpt clearly indicates the date Lassanis was initiated into the Society of Friends, while the adjective “great” is probably an indication of the esteem some of the members of the Society of Friends held for him and his activities rather than a byname, since there is no such reference in the code lists of the organisation.⁷ Philemon reports that Lassanis was initiated in 1818 by Nikolaos Galatis.⁸

Lassanis became one of the most important and active members of the branch of the Society of Friends in Odessa. In 1819 he met Nikolaos Ypsilantis, together with Antonios Tzounis and Ioannes Ambrosios, and cooperated with him in initiating new members into the Society of Friends, as it happened with the brothers Georgios and Nikolaos Manos, Gregorios Soutsos and Iakovos Rizos Neroulos. The activities of the circle of Nikolaos Ypsilantis displeased the earlier members of the Society of Friends in Odessa and Constantinople, who were suspicious about the creation of a third centre of power.⁹ According to Philemon, the heads of the Society of Friends in Constantinople accused Lassanis of scheming and “were contemplating even strict measures against him”.¹⁰ Τhe leading figures of Constantinople considered that the enthusiasm and the general attitude of the new members of Odessa were putting the Society of Friends at risk.¹¹

3. Acquaintance and Collaboration with Alexander Ypsilantis

The disputes between the two sides were put aside when Alexander Ypsilantis became the head of the Society of Friends. On May 12, 1820, following encouragement from the Odessa members, Lassanis sent a letter to Ypsilantis inviting him to visit the city. The new head of the Society of Friends arrived there in early August of the same year and Lassanis was among the first to meet him. He immediately gained the confidence of the prince, resigned as a teacher at the Greek Commercial School and was appointed his secretary. This was the beginning of a close collaboration and friendship that was to last until Ypsilantis’ death.

On October 1, 1820, he accompanied Ypsilantis to Izmail, Bessarabia, where the Society of Friends convened in order to define its action plan. The meeting decided to put off the onset of the Revolution, planned for November, and give priority to the preparations for the struggle in the Danubian Principalities. By order of Alexander Ypsilantis, Georgios Lassanis left on January 1, 1821 for Iaşi in order to organise military corpses in the principalities and initiate the ruler of Moldavia, Michael Soutsos. At first, he disputed with the ruler and the great postelnic Iakovos Rizos Neroulos, mainly over the organisation of the revolutionary army and the participation of the Moldavian guard.¹² However, thanks to Lassanis’ diplomatic efficiency, Soutsos was finally convinced to actively participate in the struggle and offer a great amount of money.¹³

On February 21, 1821, the army under Alexander Ypsilantis crossed the Prut River. On the 23^rd of the same month, Ypsilantis arrived at Iaşi and started the Revolution by publishing the revolutionary proclamation “Fight for your Faith and Fatherland”, whose largest part is attributed to Georgios Lassanis, as it happened with the other revolutionary proclamations of Ypsilantis. On the following day Lassanis was appointed the prince’s aide and chiliarch of the Greek army, while together with Skoufos and Orfanos he became one of the prince’s confidants.¹⁴ Lassanis was later appointed governor of the city of Targovishte and was among the founders of the Hieros Lochos (Sacred Band). On June 7, 1821, he participated in the battle of Dragasani and was only saved thanks to the intervention of Georgakis Olympios.

After the unsuccessful end of the campaign, Alexander Ypsilantis together with his brothers Nikolaos and Georgios, and his confidant Georgios Lassanis left the Principalities and fled to the House of Habsburg, where they were arrested by the Austrian authorities.¹⁵ Alexander Ypsilantis maintained his close friendship with Lassanis until he died.

In January 1827 the fighter from Kozani filed a discharge petition with the Austrian authorities because the bad living conditions prevailing in jail had harmed his health. He was also asking for a passport to travel to Leipzig, but his petition was rejected.

Shortly before he died, in November 1827, Alexander Ypsilantis and his companions were discharged from Theresienstad (modern Terezin) and, after wandering around several Austro-Hungarian cities, they arrived in Vienna on December 10 of the same year.¹⁶ Lassanis and his old servant Kavalieropoulos stood by the side of the prince until the end, as it happened with two friends of the prince, the sisters Lulu Tierheim and Konstantina Razumovski Tierheim.

After Alexander Ypsilantis died in early 1828,¹⁷ Lassanis left for Greece via Munich, where he was accepted by King Ludwig on June 6, 1828.¹⁸ He also visited various German cities and Paris before he arrived in the revolted Greece in July 1828, where he put himself at the disposal of Demetrios Ypsilantis. He participated in the battles of Steveniko, Thebes and Livadeia as well as in the last battle of the Revolution given at Petra, Boeotia. In 1834 he got married to the Achaean Euphemia Lianostafida, but their marriage remained childless.

After the instauration of the modern Greek state, he was appointed general inspector of the army of eastern Greece. He also served as Minister of Economics in Otto’s years as well as prefect of Attica and Aetolia and Acarnania. In 1868 he was awarded the rank of major-general. Lassanis died in Athens in 1870.

4. Writings by Georgios Lassanis

Lassanis wrote school textbooks, theatrical plays, poems, historical and political essays as well as translations of theatrical plays. His most important works are:

1. ΣτοιχειώδηςΕγκυκλοπαίδεια(Elementary Encyclopaedia).

2. ΗΕλλάςκαιοΞένος(Greece and the Foreigner), one-act drama.

3. ΑρμόδιοςκαιΑριστογείτων(Harmodius and Aristogeiton), tragedy.

4. ΟαρνησίθρησκοςτουΜοριά(the Apostate of Morias), drama.

5. ΙστορίατηςΕλλάδος (ΗΤρίτηΕποχή)[History of Greece (Third Era)], historical essay.

6. ΕξηγήσειςγιατηνπροετοιμασίατηςΕλληνικήςΕπαναστάσεως (Aufschlüsse über die Vorbereitungen zur Griechischen Insurrection)(Explanations for the preparation of the Greek Revolution), historical essay.

7. ΣτρατιωτικόντηςΕλλάδος(History of the Greek army), historical essay.

The Lassaneios drama contest, which every year awarded an amount of money to theatrical plays of national interest, was established according to his wish.