Hetairy
The hetairie , also hetairie or hetairia ( Greek ἑταιρία hetairía ) was the name for a friendship association in ancient Greece . In a formal function that corresponded to the phratry in Athens , the hetairie is for Creteoccupied. In Athens, hetairies were mainly used in the 5th century BC. Called club-like associations with often anti-democratic political orientation. It goes to the hetairies of nobles in the 6th century BC. BC, the social and societal advantages through this network of relationships - z. B. in the form of support in family feuds - enjoyed. In late antique legal sources, hetairie denotes a professional community and corresponds to the Latin collegium . In modern Greek εταιρία means "society" (as in German both in the sense of an association and in the sense of a company).
The ancient hetairy
Since the 5th century BC in ancient Greece, hetairy was the name given to the associations of men for the purpose of mutual support in applications, lawsuits and the like against the overwhelming pressure of the people. In turbulent times and in group struggles, these hetairies gained increased importance and, organized as secret societies, whose members took oaths, gained great influence. During the Peloponnesian War in 411 BC , the oligarchical hetairies in Athens tried to A coup d'état which, through treacherous association with the enemy, paralyzed the defensive power of the state and led to the rule of the thirty tyrants .
The name has been preserved in Greece until recently as a term for a fraternization. The innocuous name was even transferred to learned associations outside the borders of Greece, for example to the k. k. Austrian Societät to Bologna, on an association of Greeks in Vienna establishing a Lehrerseminar which met in 1816, and the 1816 formed to Odessa mercantile Association of Asphaisten or underwriters .
In the various attempts of the New Greeks to make themselves independent, the name was primarily used for two connections, a scientific one, the Philomusians , and a political one, often mentioned in the Greek struggle for freedom.
Scientific hetaery
The scholarly hetary of the Philomus, that is, the association of the friends of art and science, which was founded in Athens in 1812 , was supposed to establish schools and distribute scientific journals throughout Greece, as well as a fund for the excavation and preservation of antiquities. A library and a museum were to be built in Athens, the task of which was to publish the Greek classics in the original and in translations. Fundraising was planned to support individual young Greeks at European universities. It soon grew into a large league which founded two educational institutions or lycees, one in Athens, the other in Milias in Thessaly , and maintained them through contributions from members.
Scholars and statesmen, ministers and princes from almost all nations let themselves be admitted , among which count Kapodistrias and Archbishop Ignaz should be mentioned as born Greeks. The association is said to soon have over 80,000 members. All wore a ring with the image of a night owl (as a symbol of Athena , wisdom) and the centaur Chiron with a boy ( Achilles as a symbol of strength) on his back.
Despite its significant resources, this association came to a standstill with the outbreak of the Revolution in 1821, was re-established in 1824 with its earlier purposes, but has been extinguished since it had partially lost its original purpose through the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece.
Political hetairy
The political hetary of the 19th century owes its origin to the Thessalian Konstantinos Rigas . He recognized the awakening desire of the Greeks for freedom and allied himself with educated and patriotically minded men in a hetaera which was supposed to bring a certain consistency in all endeavors aimed at the independence of Greece from Turkey. He was counting on the participation of Napoléon Bonaparte , with whom he therefore entered into closer relations during his Italian campaign in 1797.
Rigas' execution in 1798 did not lead to the desired success. However, his efforts stimulated the enthusiasm and the will to unite among the Greeks, so that in 1814 a new hetary arose in Odessa , the purely political hetary of the Philics (member of the Greek Patriotic Society Philiki Etaireia - Φιλική Εταιρεία, at that time a secret society for liberation Greece). Their goal was also the independence of Greece. Only Greeks were accepted into it, and no member was allowed to belong to another secret society at the same time. Those to be admitted had to undergo an examination with regard to their way of life, their attitudes and their financial circumstances and take an oath of piety, a love of the country and freedom. Each member had the right to accept anyone who, in their opinion, possessed the required qualities.
All members initially committed themselves to voluntary monetary contributions to the so-called national treasury. The whole thing was directed by an Archie and was divided into several grades or classes. Apostles were sent out to recruit new members, especially to win over the independent Kleften and Armatolen , as well as for individual social purposes. In addition, the hetary in the main places of the Turkish Empire had its agents and ephors, who ensured the expansion of society and especially had to monitor the steps of the Turkish government. The hetary had three bathmi, that is, degrees or degrees: the chiefs or blamides, the councilors or systemsi, and the priests or hiereis. The members recognized themselves, like the Freemasons , by certain signs of the hand and positions of the fingers.
When everything was ready for an uprising and the Russian general Prince Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828) was given the catenary, he caused the catastrophe in 1821 by his failed elevation in the Danube principalities. During the revolution and the struggle for freedom, several members of the hetary who remained in contact with Russia often exerted a harmful influence.
