Born: Unknown, Greece (assumed)
Died: 1803 (circa)
Country most active: Greece
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Every nook of heroic Souli, a little Greek town in Albany, renowned for the courage of its inhabitants, speaks of women’s brave acts, not met with in any other history in the world, was besieged by Ali Pacha’s savage troops. The most glorious page history has given of women’s courage and heroism was written in the “Castle of Dimoula.”
The men were fighting in its ramparts for whole days long, the children and women, fighting by their husband’s side. When the last morsel of bread was gone and they saw themselves falling one after the other, they came to a great but awful decision. Despo Botssi, under whose orders her eleven daughters and grand-daughters were bravely fighting, called them all to a family council to decide what they were to do. Should they surrender to the enemy and deny their faith or die? All in one voice answered that they were ready to die. Then Despo opened the Castle’s powder rooms and after gathering the women and children about her set fire to them crying that in that way the savage tyrants would also perish and bring an end to the suffering of the unhappy Christians. The fire spread and the women and children martyrs were buried under the same dark ruins as were Ali Pacha’s fierce troops. Not a soldier escaped death and so great was the disaster that the Sultan, persecuted and deprived the Albanian tyrant of his dignity.