The Italian word vendetta comes from the Latin vindicta and means revenge.
A vendetta is defined as the extermination of families who are in conflict for various reasons, mainly for reasons of honor, or for property disputes. It is also murder committed with the motive of revenge for another murder.
The feud is frequent in the history of Crete, while in Mani it is called Gdikiomos and has differences. In neighboring Albania self-judgment is called Kanun and comes from the Greek word “kanon”.
It is an unwritten moral code, concerning “bessa” and honor, and has led to deadly vendettas.
“Blood is washed with blood”
Often in Ottoman law the crime of homicide was justified only by murder or by “blood redemption”, i.e. by monetary compensation to the victim’s relatives.
But it seems that the origin of the vendetta comes from ancient times. Vengeful retribution has existed since ancient times in Greece, Israel and the Middle East. The phenomenon generally developed in Mediterranean and Arab countries.
Aristotle’s writings refer to the customary “law of retribution” according to which “he who commits an offense only if he suffers what he has done will be properly judged” (Nicomachean Ethics).
What is most striking to scholars is that most ancient societies that practiced equal punishment were theocratic, yet this form of justice was a product of purely human will and was never justified as the command of a god.
The vendetta in Crete
The Cretan – like any other – vendetta is based on the unwritten “law of blood”, which is based on the principles of honor and protection. Reason to start the idiosyncratic war between families is to protect reputation and honor, after some kind of insult.
Feuds began over property disputes, animal theft and trespassing, and intensified when there was murder. But even a simple insult could have a bad end.
The transfer of the obligation of revenge to the next generations has led to an endless cycle of blood with victimized people, whose fault is nothing more than their last name.
The Sargetakis-Pentaris feud that lasted 70 years
The fiercest and bloodiest feud that Crete has known was the one between the Sargetakis and Pentaris families in Chania.
Its duration reached 70 years, while many of those directly or indirectly involved sought refuge in other regions of Greece far from Crete.
Since 1910 the two families have successively killed each other’s members over property disputes.
The feud quietly ended in 1985 after claiming more than 60 victims
The occasion was the election of the President of the Republic. Specifically, the MP Evangelos Pentaris voted for Christos Sargetakis for the highest office!
Other famous cases recorded in the chronicle of Cretan vendettas were the case of the breeder Yiannis Papadosifos, who in 1988 in the Piraeus Court of Appeal killed his son’s murderer and declared that “his soul rejoiced”.
Nowadays, the vendettas in Crete have faded, although in the mountainous and more isolated areas of Chania, Rethymnon and Heraklion, the protection of family honor is still an undisputed principle.
Manic vendetta
Recorded accounts of the Maniatic vendetta show that there are some differences with the Cretan, regarding honor codes and ritual. For example the male children of a “dishonored” family were raised with the sole purpose of taking back the victim’s blood when they grow up.
The purpose of the frenzied vendetta was the dominance between patrias (families). It was about the so-called “gdikyomo” or diciomo – which originally concerned the soi or the family and not the individual. It was the punishment of an act that had been done against the family.
Justice or justice (from ek-dikiomos, justice-avenge) was the way of repaying the wrongdoer to someone
Revenge was caused by public insult, defamation, agricultural damages, political disputes, inheritance disputes, bride-abduction, breaking of engagement, adultery or breach of promise.
The punishment was decided by the family council, while it was not necessary to personally punish the person guilty of the act. The vendetta could also turn against another member of the opposing family. Often the goal was the complete annihilation of the opposing family.
The first strike was never unannounced
The offending side officially declared war, the bells rang, the two opposing parties went to their towers, and from then on any means of destruction was permitted.
The Maniac vendetta lasted, as in Crete, for many years and was transmitted from generation to generation. The main difference in the frenzied vendetta was the so-called “psychic”, the grandiose act that made the spineless enemies, heart-felt friends (soul brothers) and thus ended a vendetta.
The psychic is achieved through the mediation of persons of prestige and power. This is how forgiveness is achieved and enemies become brothers. They prove that they are not murderers, but instruments and enforcers of the unwritten but powerful moral law.
According to another interpretation, the so-called psychic, which put an end to the conflicts, was a confession of defeat by the apologetic family. But when both parties made an equal compromise it was called soul brotherhood.
The great Mani trial that took place in 1871 between the Kaurians and the Kurians went down in history.
The leader of the Kurians was Kaourianos Kouros – Mavromichalis. The feud was so great that it spread throughout Western Mani, so that in order to bring order, the intervention of the army with artillery during the Prime Ministership of Maniati Alexandros Koumoundouros was needed.
The modern vendettas
Vendettas with political-economic motives still exist in southern Italy, where the Mafia dominates and everyone enters the battle for supremacy and omnipotence.
On the contrary, in Afghanistan and in countries of the Middle East, they traditionally and respectfully serve the principle of “an eye for an eye”, so even the vendettas – if they arise – have a small extent.
Source: mixanitouxronou.gr
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