Souliotes

The Souliotes were an Eastern Orthodox community of the area of Souli, in Epirus, known for their military prowess, their resistance to the local Ottoman Albanian ruler Ali Pasha, and their contribution to the Greek cause in the Greek War of Independence, under leaders such as Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavelas. The Souliotes established an autonomous confederation dominating a large number of neighbouring villages in the remote mountainous areas of Epirus, where they could successfully resist Ottoman rule. At the height of its power, in the second half of the 18th century, the community (also called "confederacy") is estimated to have consisted of up to 12,000 inhabitants in about 60 villages. The community was classified as "Greek" in the Ottoman system of social classification because they were part of the Greek Orthodox Church and considered themselves as Greek. However, they spoke the Souliotic dialect of the Albanian language besides Greek, because of their Albanian origins.
The first historical account of rebellious activity in Souli dates from 1685. During 1721–1772 the Souliotes managed to repulse a total of six military expeditions and as a result they expanded their territory at the expense of the various Ottoman lords. As soon as Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman ruler in 1789 he immediately launched successive expeditions against Souli. However, the numerical superiority of his troops was not enough. The siege against Souli was intensified from 1800 and in December 1803 the Souliotes concluded an armistice and agreed to abandon their homeland. Most of them were exiled in the Ionian Islands and with the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence they were among the first communities to take arms against the Ottomans. Following the successful struggle for independence, they settled in parts of the newly established Greek state, with many attaining high posts in the Greek government, including that of Prime Minister. Members of the Souliote diaspora participated in the national struggles for the incorporation of Souli to Greece, such as in the revolt of 1854 and the Balkan Wars (1912–1913) with Ottoman rule ending in 1913.
Etymology.
The Souliotes (; ) were named after the village of Souli, a mountain settlement in modern Thesprotia, Greece. The name Souli is of uncertain origin. It has been suggested by French historian, François Pouqueville, and other contemporary European accounts that this name derives from the ancient Greek region of "Selaida" "Σελάιδα" or "Soulaida" ("Σουλάιδα") and its inhabitants, the Selloi. Another view by Greek historian, Christoforos Perraivos, who came in personal contact with members of the Souliote community, claimed that it derived from the name of a Turk who was killed there. Yet another view based on etymology claims that the word derives from the Albanian term "sul", which can be idiomatically interpreted as 'watchpost', 'lookout' or 'mountain summit'. In a study by scholar Petros Fourikis examining the onomastics of Souli, most of the toponyms and micro-toponyms such as: "Kiafa", "Koungi", "Bira", "Goura", "Mourga", "Feriza", "Stret(h)eza", "Dembes", "Vreku i Vetetimese", "Sen i Prempte" and so on were found to be derived from the Albanian language. A study by scholar Alexandros Mammopoulos (1982) rejects Fouriki's claim that all toponyms in Souli are Albanian and concludes that the toponyms of Souli region derive from various other Balkan languages, including quite a few in Greek. In a 2002 study, Shkëlzen Raça states that Souliote toponyms listed by Fourikis can only be explained through the Albanian language.
Geography and anthropology.
Souli is a community originally settled by refugees who were hunted by the Ottomans in Paramythia, Thesprotia, Greece and southern Albania. Most scholars agree that the first inhabitants settled in Souli in the middle of the 16th century. According to Perraivos the first Souliotes were about 450 families. In time, immigrants from elsewhere, attracted by the privileges of autonomy in Souli, assimilated and were also named Souliotes. The Greek peasants who tilled Souliot land were distinguished by the name of the village in which they dwelt. Clan, class and territorial labels had significance in addition to religion.
The core of Souli consisted of four villages (), namely: Souli (also known as Kakosouli), Avariko (also known as Navariko), Kiafa and Samoniva. In time the confederation expanded and included additional seven villages (). The later became the outer defensive ring in case of an attack. Both groups of villages were also collectively called Souli. Several surrounding villages, c. 50–66, which became part of the Souliote confederation were known as "Parasouli". Parasouliotes could join the Souliotes to armed operations but they had no representation in the Souliote government. In case they displayed distinction in warfare they received permission to settle in Souliote villages and enjoyed the same rights and duties as the Souliotes. At the peak of their power, in 1800, the Souliote community numbered c. 20,000 inhabitants.
The heads of the clans met periodically at the church of Saint Donatos in Koungi in an assembly known as the "Tribunal of the Fatherland". This assembly was the governing body of the Souliotes and composed of the 49 clan leaders, the senior priest of Saint Donatos church and the "Polemarchos" (), the military commander of the armed units who also served as an executive figure in times of peace. Their clan based organization was similar to that of Himara. However, unlike Himara the Souliotes never acquired an official autonomous status by the Ottoman state, but rather grew autonomously while paying taxes to the Ottoman authorities. Souli was not the only autonomous Greek community in the Ottoman Empire able to maintain autonomy due to its martial organisation: other communities included Himara, Mani, Sphakia, Dervenochoria and the warrior societies in Agrafa and Olympus. The community of the Souliotes was rather akin to that of the Catholic Mirdita tribe. According to Greek author and revolutionary, Christoforos Perraivos, whose information is based on local research none of the Souliotes "practises art or business, but all their training from childhood is for arms. With these they eat, sleep and wake and most amazing of all is that many women bear arms and clash with the enemy"
The major clans were the Antonopoulou (akin to the Botsaris clan; from Vervitsa/Tropaia) Kapralaioi (resettled in Messenia), Setaioi (resettled in Messenia), Douskaioi (resettled in Messenia), Dentaioi (resettled in Messenia), Zygouraioi (resettled in Kastoria), Tzavaraioi (resettled in Messenia and Arcadia), Zervaioi (resettled in Boeotia)
The Souliotes wore red skull caps, fleecy capotes over their shoulders, embroidered jackets, scarlet buskins, slippers with pointed toes and white kilts.
History.
1685–1772.
The first historical account of anti-Ottoman activity in Souli dates from the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1684–89. In particular in 1685, the Souliotes together with the inhabitants of Himara revolted and overthrew the local Ottoman authorities. This uprising was short-lived due to the reaction of the local Ottoman beys, agas and pashas.
In 1721, Hadji Ahmed, pasha of Ioannina, received orders from the Sultan to subdue the Souliotes. However, when the later rejected his terms he was unable to break their resistance. The Souliotes managed to counterattack and lift the siege. Other unsuccessful attacks by local Ottoman pashas, agas and beys that suffered the same fate were that of Mustafa Pasha of Ioannina (1754), Dost Bey, commander of Delvinë (1759) and Mahmoud Aga, governor of Arta (1762). During 1721–1772 the Souliotes managed to repulse a total of six military expeditions. As a result, they expanded their territory at the expense of the various Ottoman lords.
In 1772, Suleyman Tsapari attacked the Souliotes with his army of 9000 men and was defeated. In 1775, Kurt Pasha sent a military expedition to Souli that ultimately failed. During the Russo-Turkish War (1768–74), the inhabitants of Souli, as well as of other communities in Epirus were mobilized for another Greek uprising which became known as Orlov Revolt. In 1785 it was the time of Bekir pasha to lead another unsuccessful attack against them. In March 1789, during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792) the chieftains of Souli: Georgios and Dimitrios Botsaris, Lambros Tzavellas, Nikolaos and Christos Zervas, Lambros Koutsonikas, Christos Photomaras and Demos Drakos, agreed with Louitzis Sotiris, a Greek representative of the Russian side, that they were ready to fight with 2,200 men against the Muslims of Rumelia. This was the time when Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman lord of Ioannina.
Resistance against Ali Pasha.
As soon as Ali Pasha became the local Ottoman ruler he immediately launched an expedition against Souli. However, the numerical superiority of his troops was not enough and he met a humiliating defeat. Ali was forced to sign a treaty and under its terms he had to pay wages to the Souliote leaders. On the other hand, as part of the same agreement he held five children of prominent Souliote families as hostages. Ali Pasha launched successive spiring-summer campaigns in 1789 and 1790. Although some Parasouliote settlements were captured the defenders of Souli managed to repulse the attacks. Despite the end of the Russo-Turkish War Ali Pasha was obsessed to capture this centre of resistance. Thus, he looked forward to implement indirect and long-term strategies since the numerical superiority of his troops proved inadequate.
In July 1792 Ali dispatched an army of c. 8,000–10,000 troops against the Souliotes. It initially managed to push the 1,300 Souliote defenders to the inner defiles of Souli and temporarily occupied the main settlement of the region. However, after a successful counterattack the Ottoman Albanian units were routed with 2,500 of them killed. On the other hand, the Souliotes suffered minimal losses but Lambros Tzavelas, one of their main leaders, was mortally wounded.
During the following seven years Ali Pasha undertook preparations to take revenge for the humiliating defeat. Meanwhile, he besieged the French-controlled towns of the Ionian coast. Especially two of them, Preveza and Parga, were vital to Souli for the supply of livestock and ammunition. At the fall of Preveza in late 1798, Ali Pasha managed to secure the Souliotes' neutrality through bribery. In particular the bribing of various Souliotes resulted to the weakening of their leadership. In one instance the heads of the Botsaris clan refused to share Ali's bribe with the other clans and a feud arose that led the Botsaraioi to defect to the ranks of Ali Pasha and to leave Souli.
In June–July 1800 a new campaign was mounted by Ali involving 11,500 troops. When this direct assault failed, Ali resorted to long-term measures to subdue the warrior community. In order to isolate the seven main villages of Souli from the Parasouliote villages as well as Parga and Preveza, Ali ordered the construction of tower fortifications around Souli. For two years the Souliotes were able to survive this encirclement by the smuggling of supplies from Parga and from nearby Paramythia and Margariti. Nevertheless, a lack of food and supplies was taking its toll. In April 1802 the Souliotes received a supply of food, weapons and ammunition by a French corvette stationed in Parga. This intervention by the French offered Ali the pretext for a new expedition against them with the support of the agas and beys of Epirus and southern Albania.
Fall of Souli (1803).
In 1803 the position of the Souliotes became desperate with the artillery and famine depleting their ranks. On the other hand, the defenders in Souli sent delegations to the Russian Empire, the Septinsular Republic and France for urgent action but without success. As the situation became more desperate in the summer of the same year Ali's troops began assaults against the seven core villages of Souli. Meanwhile, the British turned to the Ottoman Empire in order to strengthen their forces against Napoleon, the weapons and ammunition supplies were interrupted. Without support from outside and wearied by years of siege, the unity of the Souliote clans started to split. As such two chieftains, Athanasios Koutsonikas and Pilios Gousis, withdrew from the defense.
However, the rest in Souli gathered together in Saint George's Orthodox Church and decided either to fight or die. The remaining Souliotes numbered at no more than 2,000 armed men. The main leaders were Fotos Tzavellas, Dimos Drakos, Tousas Zervas, Koutsonikas, Gogkas Daglis, Giannakis Sehos, Fotomaras, Tzavaras, Veikos, Panou, Zigouris Diamadis, and Georgios Bousbos. They won all the decisive battles. Without food and ammunition, they were forced to withdraw to the fortresses of Kiafa and Kougi, where they lost the last battle on December 7, 1803. Following that, the Souliotes concluded an armistice with Veli Pasha, Ali's son and commander of the expedition. Finding their defense untenable in the long run, they agreed upon a treaty on 12 December which obliged them to abandon their homeland. They were allowed to leave with arms, the necessities of war, foodstuffs and whatever else they wished to take.
A monk named Samuel remained in Kughi refused to surrender and set fire to the powder magazines with a massive explosion that cost him his life. The Ottoman Albanian troops violated this treaty and attacked groups of Souliotes. In one instance a group of Souliote women was attacked when heading to Zalongo and c. 22 of them being trapped decided to turn towards the cliff's edge together with their infants and children rather than surrender. According to tradition (see Dance of Zalongo) they did this one after the other while dancing and singing. Other Souliotes reached Parga, which was under Russian control at the time. They either settled down there or set off for the Ionian Islands.
Exile (1803–1820).
Many Souliotes entered service with the Russians on Corfu, where they became an important component of the "Greek Legion". This was a regiment of irregulars organized by the Russians among mainland refugees; it not only included Souliotes, but also Himariotes, Maniots, and Greek klephts and "armatoloi". The formation of this unit was undertaken by the Greek-born Russian colonel Emmanouil Papadopoulos. Its organization was laid down by Papadopoulos in a leaflet in Greek titled "Explanations on the establishment of a legion of Epiro-Souliotes and Himaro-Peloponnesians in the service of His Imperial Majesty Alexander I ...". He recognized that Souliotes and the others were already naturally trained in irregular tactics and did not have to conform to the Western regular tactics. This unit was eventually named "Legion of Light Riflemen". The Souliotes participated in campaigns in Naples in 1805, Tenedos in 1806, Dalmatia in 1806, and during the defense of Lefkada in 1807.
With the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and the détente between Russia and France, the Russian forces withdrew from the Ionian Islands and the French occupied them. The Souliotes and other components of Russian units entered service with the French in various units, such as the "Battaglione dei Cacciatori Macedoni" and the "Régiment Albanais" (Albanian Regiment), terms which did not have their later ethnic connotation, but were instead stylized terms that described the soldiers' general origins or mode of fighting. Colonel Minot, the commander of the regiment appointed as battalion captains mostly the leaders of Souliote clans who enjoyed the respect among the soldiers. Among them were: Tussa Zervas, George Dracos, Giotis Danglis, Panos Succos, Nastullis Panomaras, Kitsos Palaskas, Kitsos Paschos. Fotos Tzavellas, Veicos Zervas.
During the Anglo-French struggle over the Ionian Islands between 1810 and 1814, the Souliotes in French service faced off against other refugees organized by the British into the Greek Light Infantry Regiment. Since the Souliotes were mostly garrisoned on Corfu, which remained under French control until 1814, very few entered British service. The British disbanded the remnants of the Souliot Regiment in 1815 and subsequently decommissioned their own two Greek Light Regiments. This left many of the Souliotes and other military refugees without livelihoods. In 1817, a group of veterans of Russian service on the Ionian Islands traveled to Russia to see if they could get patents of commission and employment in the Russian army. While unsuccessful in this endeavor, they joined the "Philike Etaireia" ("Company of Friends"), the secret society founded in Odessa in 1814 for the purpose of liberating Greek lands from Ottoman rule. They returned to the Ionian Islands and elsewhere and began to recruit fellow veterans into the "Philike Etaireia", including a number of Souliot leaders.
In general the training experience of this period, as part of a regular army, would also serve its cause in the Greek revolution, where Souliotes along with the other warlike groups would form the movement's military core. In 1819, Ioannis Kapodistrias, foreign minister of Russia and latter Governor of Greece visited Corfu. There he was concerned about the potential role the various exiled warlike communities, among them the Souliotes, could play in the forthcoming armed struggle for the liberation of Greece. Latter in 1820, when the Ottoman Sultan declared war against Ali Pasha both sides requested the military assistance of these exiled communities. Thus, Kapodistrias encouraged the latter to take advantage of this opportunity in order to liberate their homelands.
Participation in the Greek War of Independence.
The Souliotes were among the first communities like the rest of the other Greek exiles in the Ionian island, encouraged by Kapodistrias that revolted against the Sultan in . They had already secured at December 4, a short-term alliance with Ali Pasha, and were aware of the objectives of the Philike Etaireia, but their struggle had initially a local character. The negotiations of the Souliotes with Ali Pasha and other Muslim Albanians had the full approval of Alexandros Ypsilantis, leader of the Philike Etaireia, as part of the preparations for the Greek revolution. In this alliance the Souliotes contributed 3,000 soldiers. Ali Pasha gained the support of Souliotes mainly because he offered to allow the return of the Souliotes in their land and partially because of Ali's appeal based on shared Albanian origin. Οn December 12, the Souliotes liberated the region of Souli, both from Muslim Lab Albanians, who were previously installed by Ali Pasha as settlers, and Muslim Cham Albanians who meanwhile defected and fought with the Ottoman side of Pasho bey. They also captured the Kiafa fort.
The uprising of the Souliotes, inspired the revolutionary spirit among the other Greek communities. Soon they were joined by additional Greek communities (armatoles and klepths). Later, in January 1821, even the Muslim Albanian allies of Ali Pasha signed an alliance with them. The successful activity of the various Greek guerilla units in Epirus that time, as well as their alliance with Ali Pasha constituted a great advantage for the objectives of the Filiki Eteria. The coalition with Ali Pasha was successful and controlled most of the region, but when his loyal Muslim Albanian troops were informed of the beginning of the Greek revolts (and massacres of local Muslims) in the Peloponnese they abandoned it and joined the Ottomans. However, when the Greek War of Independence broke out this coalition was terminated and they participated in several conflicts. On the other hand, Ali Pasha's plans failed and he was killed in 1822. In September 1822, was dispatched to Fanari, Preveza, to supervise evacuation of the Souliotes after their capitulation.
The Souliotes were represented by Fotos Boboris in the First National Assembly at Epidaurus, the first legislative body of the provisional Greek Government, in December 1821 – January 1822. The same Assembly appointed Notis Botsaris as Minister of War. Boboris was born in Preveza from a family originating from Himara.
The Souliote leaders Markos Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas became distinguished generals of the Independence War. However, several Souliotes lost their lives, especially when defending the city of Missolonghi. Lord Byron, the most prominent European Philhellene volunteer and commander-in-chief of the Greek army in Western Greece, tried to integrate the Souliotes into a regular army. Scores of Souliotes were attached to Lord Byron in 1824, attracted by the money that he was known to bring with him.
Aftermath and legacy.
After the successful struggle for independence the Souliotes could not return to their homeland because it remained outside the borders of the newly formed Greek state. They mostly settled in Agrinio and Nafpaktos. In 1854, during the Crimean War, a number of Greek military officers of Souliote descent, under Kitsos Tzavelas, participated in a failed revolt in Epirus, demanding union with Greece. Until 1909, the Ottomans kept a military base on the fortress of Kiafa. Finally in 1913, during the Balkan Wars, the Ottomans lost Epirus and the southern part of the region became part of the Greek state.
Members of the Souliote diaspora that lived in Greece played a major role in 19th- and 20th-century politics and military affairs, like Dimitrios Botsaris, the son of Markos Botsaris, and the World War II resistance leader Napoleon Zervas.
After their expulsion at 1822 the population of the region was significantly reduced. In the last Greek census of 2001, the population of the community was 748. The seat of the community is in Samoniva.
Identity, ethnicity and language.
In Ottoman-ruled Epirus, national identity did not play a role to the social classification of the local society; religion was the key factor of classification of the local communities. The Orthodox congregation was included in a specific ethno-religious community under "Graeco-Byzantine" domination called Rum millet. Its name was derived from the Byzantine (Roman) subjects of the Ottoman Empire, but all Orthodox Christians were considered part of the same millet in spite of their differences in ethnicity and language. According to this, the Muslim communities in Epirus were classified as "Turks", while the Orthodox (Rum), were classified as "Greeks". Moreover, national consciousness and affiliations were absent in Ottoman Epirus during this era.
The Souliotes were also called Arvanites by Greek monolinguals, which amongst the Greek-speaking population until the interwar period, the term "Arvanitis" (plural: "Arvanites") was used to describe an Albanian speaker regardless of their religious affiliations. It has been recognized that speaking Albanian in that region “"is not a predictor with respect to other matters of identity"”. During the Greek War of Independence the Souliotes identified entirely with the Greek national cause, while a common language was not enough for an alliance with the Albanian speaking Muslims. On the other hand, due to their identification with Greece, they were considered "Greeks" by both their Ottoman and Muslim Albanian adversaries. Moreover, religiously, they belonged to the Church of Constantinople, part of the larger Greek Orthodox Church. Latter Greek official policy from the middle of the nineteenth century until the middle twentieth century, adopted a similar view: that speech was not a decisive factor for the establishment of a Greek national identity. As such, the dominant ideology in Greece considered as "Greek" leading figures of the Greek state and obscured the links of some Orthodox people such as Souliotes had to the Albanian language.
Contemporary and 19th-century accounts.
The Souliotes had a strong local identity. Athanasios Psalidas (1767–1829), Greek scholar and secretary to Ali Pasha in early 19th century stated that the Souliotes were "Greeks fighting the Albanians". He cites an 1821 source which distinguishes Souliotes from "Arvanites". Moreover, stated that they are part of the Cham population, the later being according to Psalidas 
people of either Greek or Albanian origin, while the villages of Souli were inhabited by "Greek warriors". 
French diplomat and historian François Pouqueville stated that they are descendants of the "Selloi", an ancient Greek tribe that inhabited the region in antiquity. Adamantios Korais, major figure of the modern Greek Enlightenment states in 1803 that the Souliotes are the "pride of the Greeks". During the Greek War of Independence Kitsos Tzavelas in his speech to the Third National Council of the provisional Greek government in 1826 stresses the sacrifice of the Souliotes for a common fatherland.
Amongst Western European travelers and authors traveling in the region during the nineteenth century, they described the Souliotes in different terms, while most of them were based on claims they have heard or read rather than on research-based evidence, dependent on their guides, without any knowledge of Greek and Albanian and having probably misunderstood the cultural and political reality of the region:
In a letter to Lord Byron dated October 1811 British traveler Hobhouse expressed views that he was uncertain about the language and dress of the Souliotes, but he suspected that they "do not wear the Albanian dress & do not speak Albanian". In 1813 Hobhouse stated the Souliotes "are all Greek Christians and speak Greek" and resembled more "the Albanian warrior than the Greek merchant". French historian Claude Fauriel described the Souliotes in 1814 as "a mixture of Greeks and Albanian Christians" who were originally refugees that settled in the Souli mountains. British traveller Henry Holland wrote in 1815 that they were of "Albanian origin" and "belonging to the division of that people called the Tzamides" (Chams). R. A. Davenport stated in 1837 that were some people who believed that the "nucleus of the Suliote population consisted of Albanians" who had sought refuge in the mountains after the death of Skanderbeg, while other people claimed shepherds settled Souli from Gardhiki which in both cases was to escape Ottoman rule. In 1851 British traveler Edward Lear wrote the "mountains of Suli" were "occupied by Albanians" in the early medieval period and stayed Christian after the surrounding area converted to Islam. Traveler Henry Baerlin referred to the Souliotes as shouting their defiance in Albanian to "threatening Greek letters sent by Ali Pasha" during their wars. Traveler Brian de Jongh stated that the Souliots were of Albanian descent and "refugees from Albania [...] a branch of the Tosks", that kept "their Albanian mother tongue and Christian faith. A NY Times article from 1880 calls the Souliotes a "branch of the Albanian people" and referred to Souliote women like Moscho Tzavella as exemplary of "the extraordinary courage of the Albanian women... in the history of the country.
Greek historian Constantine Paparrigopoulos (1815–1891) stated that the Souliotes were "a mixture of Greeks and Hellenized Albanians" while "the Albanian tribe fortified the most noble the combatitive spirit of the Greek, and the Greek inspired in the Albanian the most noble sentiments of love of one's country, love of learning and the rule of law". In the nineteenth century, the ethnic and geographical terms "Albanian" and "Albania" were used often to incorporate the people of the area and southern Epirus, now part of Greece.
Historiography.
One tradition maintains that the Souliotes were remnants of an Albanian contingent that fought at the Battle of Kosovo, while another tradition maintains that they were part of the last personal guard of Skanderbeg. Long after the Albanian migrations of the 15th century into central and southern Greece, newer waves of Christian Albanian speakers, in particurlar Arvanites such as the Souliotes migrated to Zagori in Greek Epirus, who before settling there spoke mostly Albanian. Many of them were already bilingual upon their arrival in Zagori, due to the immigration of Greeks to Souli and the Albanian-speaking population within Souli, such as the valley of Souli (Lakka-Suliots) having close contact with the Greek-speaking population of the wider area (Para-Suliots).
During the early nineteenth century exile in Corfu, the Souliote population was usually registered in official Corfiot documents as "Albanesi" or "Suliotti", as "Arvanites" in onomastic catalogs for foreigners and as "Alvanites" (Αλβανήτες) in a divorce document by the wife of Markos Botsaris. According to Greek Corfiot historian Spyros Katsaros, he states that the Corfiot Orthodox Greek speaking population during the period of 1804–14 viewed the Souliotes as "Albanian refugees ... needing to be taught Greek". While K.D. Karamoutsos, a Corfiot historian of Souliote origin disputes this stating that the Souliotes were a mixed Graeco-Albanian population or "ellinoarvanites". The Hellenic Navy Academy says that the Souliotic war banner used by Tousias Botsaris and Kitsos Tzavellas before and during the Greek War of Independence bore the inscription "descendants of Pyrrhus", the ancient Greek ruler of Epirus. Other Greek historians such as Vasso Psimouli state that the Souliotes were of Albanian origin, spoke Albanian at home but soon began to use Greek when they settled in 14th century Epirus. Kalliopi Nikolopoulou describes them as a hybrid community consisting of Greeks and Arvanites.
Other academic sources have inferred that they were Greek-speaking and of Albanian origin. Whereas some other academic sources have described the Souliotes as being "partly hellenized Albanian". Scottish historian George Finlay called them a branch of Chams, which American ethnologist Laurie Kain Hart interpreted as them having initially spoken Albanian. British academic Miranda Vickers calls them "Christian Albanians". The Canadian professor of Greek studies Andre Gerolymatos has described them as "branch of the southern Albanian Tosks" and "Christian Albanians of Suli".
Classicist David Brewer has described them as a tribe of Albanian origin that like other Albanian tribes lived by plunder and extortion on their neighbours. American professor Nicholas Pappas stated that in modern times the Souliotes have been looked upon as Orthodox Christian Albanians who identified themselves with the Greeks. Arthur Foss says that the Souliotes were an Albanian tribe, that like other Albanian tribes, were great dandies. British historian Christopher Woodhouse describes them as an independent Greek community in the late 18th century during the resistance against Ali Pasha.
Thus, for Greek authors the issue of ethnicity and origins regarding the Souliotes is contested and various views exist regarding whether they were Albanian, Albanian-speaking Greeks, or a combination of Hellenised Christian Albanians and Greeks who had settled in northern Greece. The issue of the origin and ethnicity of the Souliots is very much a live and controversial issue in Greece today. Foreign writers have been equally divided.
Written accounts of the Souliotic language.
A written account on the language Souliotes used is the diary of Fotos Tzavellas, composed during his captivity by Ali Pasha (1792–1793). This diary is written by F. Tzavellas himself in simple Greek with several spelling and punctuation mistakes. Emmanouel Protopsaltes, former professor of Modern Greek History at the University of Athens, who published and studied the dialect of this diary, concluded that Souliotes were Greek speakers originating from the area of Argyrkokastro or Chimara.
Further evidence on the language of the Souliotes is drawn from the Greek-Albanian dictionary composed in 1809 mainly by Markos Botsaris and his elders. Titos Yochalas who studied the dictionary concluded that either the mother tongue of the authors was Greek or the Greek language had a very strong influence on the local Albanian dialect, if the latter was possibly spoken in Souli. Robert Elsie noted that the dictionary contains 1,484 Albanian lexemes and "is important for our knowledge of the now extinct Suliot dialect of Albanian". Yochalas counted 1494 Albanian and 1701 Greek entries. Of the Albanian entries, the 528 are loans from Greek, 187 loans from Turkish, 21 loans from Italian and 2 from other languages. In the early twentieth century within the Souliote community, there was an example of Souliote still being fluent in the Albanian language, namely lieutenant Dimitrios (Takis) Botsaris, a direct descendant of the Botsaris' family.
The correspondence of the Souliotes to both Christian and Muslim leaders was either written in Greek or translated from Greek. This fact combined with the national sentiment they expressed led Greek scholar Emmanouel Protopsaltis to assert that the basic ethnic and linguistic component of Souli was Greek rather than Albanian.
Souliotes in folk art and culture.
Theater plays and poems were produced during and soon after the Greek Revolution of 1821 for the Souliotes in general, and for certain heroes or events, such as Markos Botsaris or the Dance of Zalongo.
The overwhelming majority of the Souliotic cycle of folksongs is in Greek, which is interpreted by Pappas as a testimony to the Greek orientation of the Souliotes. There are also Albanian folksongs in the Souliotic cycle.