1800: Kyra Frosini, Ioannina socialite
Add comment January 11th, 2019 Headsman
The Greek socialite Kyra Frosini was executed in Ioannina on this date in 1800 as an adulteress.
Euphrosyne Vasileiou, to use her proper name, was the niece of the Bishop of Ioannina who made use of the frequent business absences of her wealthy Greek husband to carry on a torrid affair with the son of the Ottoman governor. This set her up to be the most famous prey in a dragnet when that legendary governor, Ali Pasha, decided that a morality crackdown was in order.
She was arrested along with 17 other women on January 10, and the very next night all save one were drowned at Ali Pasha’s order in Lake Pamvotida. It’s not known for certain why Ali Pasha did this, although it’s generally presumed that Kyra Frosini was the primary target for reasons surely ultimately tracing in some fashion to the sensitivity of her liaison.
Her death incensed the Greek community and it adhered itself in legend more than fact to that country’s growing national aspirations. She’s been the subject of various artistic products ever since, from verse to opera to screen; you’ll need Greek for the dialogue in this 1959 Grigoris Grigoriou product but the closing plummeting-into-water scenes translate visually.
On this day..
- 1915: Mewa Singh, Sikh martyr-assassin - 2020
- 1769: John Martin Andrew, John Fielding prey - 2018
- 2017: Christopher Wilkins, straight talker - 2017
- 1957: Jack Gilbert Graham, terror of the skies - 2016
- 1830: William Banks, housebreaker - 2015
- 1909: The Pollet gang, breaking the French moratorium - 2014
- 1951: Harley LaMarr, dutiful son - 2013
- 1801: Chevalier, bomb plot scapegoat - 2012
- 2010: Salah ibn Rihaidan ibn Hailan Al-Johani, Medina serial rapist - 2011
- 1897: The Thirteen Martyrs of Bagumbayan - 2010
- 2003: Nobody in Illinois - 2009
- 1944: Galeazzo Ciano and four other Italian Fascists - 2008
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Arts and Literature,Capital Punishment,Death Penalty,Drowned,Execution,Greece,History,Mass Executions,Ottoman Empire,Sex,Women
Tags: 1800, 1800s, adultery, ali pasha, ioannina, january 11, kyra frosini
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