Peristera Kraka

Statue of Peristera Kraka in Siatista; raised in 1990.

She was born in Siatista, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire in 1860.[1][2] Her brother Goulias Krakas was a rebel commander.[1][2] When the 1878 Greek Macedonian rebellion began, she asked to join his forces, which he initially declined.[2] One day, the Ottomans visited her to take her for interrogation, but she managed to escape dressed as a man, and went to find her brother in order to join his forces.[1][2] There, she was initially treated with suspicion by her comrades, but she soon won their respect.[2] The Ottomans managed to kill her brother; either by arresting and flaying him alive, or during a shootout between them and his group.[1][2] Peristera (18 years old at the time)[1] was then proclaimed unanimously as the new commander of the rebel group, which consisted of over 40 men, and became known as "Kapetan Spanovangelis".[1][2] She fought valiantly in the broader region of Kozani and Kastoria for the next six months.[1][2] She also located her brother's killers, and avenged his death.[2] Her actions became known outside Greece, and the French newspaper Le Papillon called her, the Joan of Arc of the 19th century.[2] She stopped her guerrilla activity and returned to Siatista when the Turks granted her amnesty; mediated by the Metropolitan of Sisanion and Siatista Agathangelos, who welcomed her in the church of Saint Demetrios.[1][3] This amnesty was violated by the Turks, and Peristera was forced to leave Macedonia (which was still under Ottoman rule) and take refuge in Thessaly.[1][2] She settled in Ampelonas, where she met with a comrade of hers, named Nikolaos Apostolou (or Perdikas).[1] She married Apostolou in 1882, with whom she eventually had two daughters, named Anneta and Eleni.[1][2] Apostolou was once arrested and imprisoned in Aegina; being accused of robbery.[1][2] Peristera went to Athens and requested to meet with King George I, from whom she asked amnesty for her husband.[1][2] According to tradition, she participated in a shooting match at the Shooting Range of Kaisariani, where she competed with the best shooters and won all of them.[1][2] The King admired her shooting skills, and thus granted the requested amnesty.[1][2] After 8 years of marriage, Apostolou was murdered in 1890.[1] In the Greco-Turkish War of 1897, Peristera's house was burned down by the Turks.[1] Around 1898, Peristera was married for a second time, to someone named Papagianopoulos; with whom she had one son, named Charilaos.[1] Her second husband also died in 1902.[1] Peristera lived the rest of her life in Ampelonas; devoted to raising her children.[1] She died in 1938.[1][2] In 1990, a statue was raised in her honor, at her native town of Siatista.[1]