Rodios, Panagiotis

Panagiotis Rodios was born on the island of Rhodes , from where his last name actually comes from. His father, Georgios, was a shipowner, but after the death of his father, Panagiotis did not want to inherit his marine business and sold the only ship of the family. Panagiotis studied in Smyrna at the Philological Gymnasium , with Konstantin Kumas and Konstantin Iconom . He continued his studies in Padua and Paris , where he studied medicine. During his stay in Paris, he wrote articles in the journal Ermis about Logios (Ερμής ο Λόγιος - Scientist Hermes). At the same time, Rodios did translations of ancient Greek writers. In Paris, he met with the Greek Enlightener Adamantius Corais and, through him, with the ideas of the Enlightenment .

With the beginning of the Greek Revolution in 1821, Rodios went to rebellious Greece, where he formed his own detachment, which consisted mainly of French phyllins . Commanding a battalion of the regular army, took part in the capture of the fortress of the city of Nafplion
. In the rank of captain took part in the Battle of Peta ^[1] . After the routing of the regular corps under Peta, the distrust of the idea of ​​a regular army was universal. Rodios, being at the headquarters of the warlord Karaiskakis , was able in 1825 to receive an order from the Kunduriotis government, which gave him the opportunity to proceed with the re-organization of a regular army. By the same order and with the rank of colonel, he was appointed commander of the future formation. Although there were many who wanted to join this unit and there were plenty of available officers, its number was limited to 500 people. The unit received the name "First Greek Regular Line Regiment" ^[2] . Subsequently, he resigned, refusing to serve under the command of the Frenchman Favier , appointed by the government as the commander of a regular regiment. He rose to the rank of major general.

In 1824, Rodios was the interim secretary general of the Provisional Government, replacing Alexander Mavrokordatos . In 1828 and after the reign of Greece was headed by Count John of Kapodistrias , Rodios assumed the post of Minister of War, remaining in this post until 1831. While in this post, he suppressed the rebellion of Tsamis Karatassos against the ruler ^[3] . Historiography notes that Rodios stood at the window of his house during the murder of Kapodistrias. Kapodistrias saw his killers, but pride did not allow him to change his daily path to church. The presence of his loyal Minister of War gave Kapodistrias greater confidence ^[1] . Under Bavarian King Otton, Rodios led the army justice. Politically belonged to the so-called Russian party ^[3] . During the Constitutional Revolution of 1843, he was appointed military commander of the Argolis . He represented Nafplion at the National Assembly of 1843 where he was elected a member of the editorial committee of the new Constitution ^[3] . For several months he again headed the Ministry of War in the government of Alexander Mavrokordatos in 1844 ^[2] and, later, in 1848, in the government of George Kunduriotis ^[2] . He is the author of a number of works on army issues, methods of fighting organization of the army and military education. His most famous work is The Military Leader (Έφορος στρατιωτικού). Rodios died in Nafplion in 1851.

• "Νεώτερον Εγκυκλοπαιδικόν Λεξικόν Ηλίου" τομ.16ος, σελ.666.
• Παναγιώτης Σαβοριανάκης, Στρατιωτική βιβλιογραφία και ιστοριογραφία μετά την επανάσταση του 1821: Η περίπτωση του "Έφορος στρατιωτικού" (Ναύπλιο 1835) και του συγγραφέας της Παναγιώτη Ρόδιου [1]
• paidika.gr Παναγιώτης Ρόδιος (1789-1851)

1. ↑ ^{1 2} Δημήτρης Φωτιάδης, Η Επανάσταση του 1821, εκδ. Μέλισσα 1971
2. ↑ ^{1 2 3} Τριαντάφυλος Α. Γεροζήσης, Το Σώμα των αξιωματικών και η θέση του στη σύγχρονη Ελληνική κοινωνία (1821-1975), εκδ. Δωδώνη, ISBN 960-248-794-1
3. ↑ ^{1 2 3} Στέφανος Παπαγεωργίου, Από το Γένος στο Έθνος 1821-1862, ISBN 960-02-1769-6