by Rigas Feraios (1757 - 1798)

Παρακέλευσις πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας
Language: Greek (Ελληνικά) 
Our translations:  ENG
Τί καρτερεῖτε, φίλοι καὶ ἀδελφοί,
τί δὲν κινεῖσθε μὲ γλῶσσαν, μὲ σπαθί;
Ἰδοὺ καιρός μας ἔφθασε,
ἠμέρα δόξης ἔλαμψε.
Λοιπὸν ὁρμᾶτε, κράζοντες
τὸ ἐλελεῦ, καὶ σφάζοντες.

Δοῦλοι σεῖς πλέον μὴ καταδέχεσθε,
μήτε νὰ ἦσθε, μήτε νὰ λέγεσθε.
Ἐλεύθερα φρονήσατε,
γενναίως πολεμήσατε,
καὶ τ᾽ ἅρματα ἁδράξατε,
ἐχθροὺς τῆς πατρίδος σπαράξατε.

Ὁ Λεωνίδας καὶ Θεμιστοκλῆς,
Ἐπαμινώνδας καὶ μέγας Περικλῆς
δικοί μας ἦσαν πρόγονοι
καὶ τοὺς Διὸς ἀπόγονοι.
Λοιπὸν ὀμῶστε, καὶ σπαθιὰ
γυμνῶστε, γιὰ τὴν πατρίδα.

Confirmed with Η Λυρα του Ἀπολλωνος, Athens, 1850.

Note provided by Johann Winkler: The text above doesn't quite match Randhartinger's melody in stanza 2, line 6, so the following substitution from another version of the poem might be useful here: "ἐχθροὺς κατασπαράξατε". (The score does not explicitly include the second and third stanzas.)


Show a transliteration: DIN | ISO 843

Note on Transliterations

Text Authorship:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Benedikt Randhartinger (1802 - 1893), "Παρακέλευσις πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας", note: the score includes the first stanza and then adds that stanzas 1,2, & 3 are from the book (unfortunately without indicating which book) [sung text checked 1 time]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • ENG English (Johann Winkler) , "Appeal to the Greeks", copyright © 2023, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Johann Winkler

This text was added to the website: 2023-03-31
Line count: 18
Word count: 73