5 euro – 200 Years from the Chios Massacre

The inhabitants of Chios rose up against Ottoman rule on 11 March 1822, incited by the revolted Samians led by Lykourgos Logothetis. The Sultan, infuriated with the defiance of the Chiots, who enjoyed a privileged status, dispatched Kara Ali and his fleet against the island. Heavy bombardment was followed by the landing of 7,000 Ottoman troops. The poorly planned uprising was easily suppressed, as Logothetis and the Samians abandoned the island to its fate. All of Chios was set ablaze and tens of thousands of Christians were massacred or enslaved. The events provoked outrage across Europe, sparking a new wave of philhellenism. In June 1822, the Greeks heroically avenged themselves with the burning of the Turkish flagship by Konstantinos Kanaris, in which Kara Ali himself was fatally injured. The Chios massacre was immortalised by Eugène Delacroix in his painting Scène des massacres de Scio and by Victor Hugo in his poem L’enfant.