Some thoughts on the famous Ottoman Corsair by Dimitris Krallis

With the exception of Pittakos the Mytilenean, whose political acumen earned him a place in the Greek pantheon of wisdom, we would hardly enumerate historical figures from the island who, over the centuries, dramatically influenced the history of both Lesvos and the polities that surrounded it. Philosophers, poets, and writers seem to be born on this land, political figures or people who change the course of history with their actions and lives, perhaps less so. But here is an interesting exception. Born in Paleokipos, Lesvos, Hayreddin Barbarossa rearranged the administrative geography of the Aegean with his career. So how did this happen? The son of an Ottoman Sipahi (mounted warrior), who participated in the conquest of the island by the armies of Mehmed II, and Katerina, a (Greek-speaking) Roman widow of a local priest, Hayreddin, his three brothers and two sisters seem to have grown up speaking both Turkish and Greek. The boys became sailors and slowly “graduated” into the world of the corsairs and piracy. Here we will not concern ourselves with the details of their illustrious careers, which took them to every corner of the Mediterranean and eventually brought Hayreddin the Corsair –that Ottoman prefiguration of Francis Drake– to the Sublime Porte and the court of Suleiman the Magnificent.