Island of the Pope

Dimitris Kousouris is a Researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation. He holds a PhD from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and has taught Modern History at the Universities of Crete, Constance, Princeton, Columbia, Chicago, and Vienna. His recent publications include; Histoire des procés des collaborateurs en Gréce (1944–1949) (Presses de I’lnalco: Paris, 2017) and the co-edited volume, Understanding the Greek Revolution of 1821 (Brill: Leiden, 2024).

“This is a very well written study of the Catholic communities in the Aegean Sea during the Greek revolution, a case study for the historical transition from the imperial experiences to the new, for the nineteenth century, reality of the nation-state in-the-making and the new national identities. […] [It] is the only study of the Greek Revolution from the point of view of the Catholic communities in the Levant, combining the local, regional, and international level of analysis.” • Elias Kolovos, University of Crete.“Kousouris’ Island of the Pope is another exciting and immersive addition to the [existing] line of literature. It makes politics and conflicts in the nineteenth-century Cyclades palpable, personal, and engaging. I would argue that it assigned Syros its just position as a protagonist in the history of the Greek Revolution and, probably speaking for many scholars working on the Mediterranean, state that we want more books of this kind.” • CEU Review of Books

• List of FiguresIntroduction: What Happened to the “Island of the Pope”?Part I: The Imperial SettingChapter 1. The Early Modern Aegean Archipelago and the “Island of the Pope”Chapter 2. From the Russian Occupation to the Greek Revolution (1770-1820)Chapter 3. The Outbreak of the RevolutionChapter 4. The Holy See and the Greek Insurrection from the Massacre of Chios to the Congress of VeronaPart II: Revolution in the IslandsChapter 5. Territorial Integration and the Battle for the TitheChapter 6. Nestor Faziolis’ Incursions and the Takeover of the PortChapter 7. On Limits of Sovereignty and Frontiers of CivilizationChapter 8. 1824. The Empire Strikes BackChapter 9. Luigi Maria Blancis and the Adjustment into the New RealityConclusion: Endgame.Chronology of EventsBibliography