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| τρία από τα βιβλία του Ζαρράφτη έχουν περιέλθει στη συλλογή μου |
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| η προτομή του Ιάκωβου Ζαρράφτη* |
Στα χνάρια του βαδίζουμε κι εμείς, όλοι όσοι εξερευνούμε το νησί και ανακαλύπτουμε τα μυστικά του, μυστικά που εκατό χρόνια πριν, ανακάλυψε και κατέγραψε πρώτος ο Ζαρράφτης.
Ο Ιάκωβος Ζαρράφτης γεννήθηκε το 1853 (ή το 1845 που είναι πιθανότερο) στο Ασφενδιού της Κω. Ήταν παπαδοπαίδι (ο πατέρας του χειροτονήθηκε ιερέας το 1854), γιος του Εμμανουήλ Ζαρράφτη που είχε ρίζες από την Κάλυμνο και της Ανθούσας Χατζηγιακουμή από την Κω (συγκεκριμένα από το Ασφενδιού).
Έκανε τις γυμνασιακές σπουδές του στο Ελληνικό Σχολείο Αθηνών' είχε κλασική παιδεία και πολλές αρχαιολογικές γνώσεις-ήταν ένας λόγιος για την εποχή του, με το δεδομένο ότι εκείνη την εποχή σπούδαζαν ελάχιστοι.
Έζησε φτωχός και άσημος και πέθανε τυφλός κατά τη διάρκεια του μεγάλου σεισμού που ισοπέδωσε την πόλη της Κω ανήμερα του Αγίου Γεωργίου (Κυριακή του Θωμά), 23 Απριλίου 1933, ώρα 08.05, κάτω από τα συντρίμμια της φτωχικής και παμπάλαιας οικίας του μαζί με την κόρη του Ανθούλα, η οποία ήταν μόλις 34 χρόνων.
Η Ανθούλα (10.04.1899-23.04.1933) ήταν τότε παντρεμένη με τον Ιταλό αρχαιολόγο Giuzeppe Lazzara και γι' αυτόν τον λόγο τάφηκε στην Καθολική Εκκλησία. Το σημείο είναι βρίσκεται η οστεοθήκη της μας υπέδειξε η αείμνηστη Ελένη Κλωνάρη, όπως φαίνεται στις φωτογραφίες.
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| στην πόλη της Κω |
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| στη Ζια |
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| η Κατερίνα Ζαρράφτη, απόγονος του ιστοριοδίφη |
My grandfather Giuseppe had many years of work in the field of archaeology where he had had the great opportunity to have known my great grandfather, married into the family and had worked in many parts of Kos and Rhodos and come to know well established archaeologists like Laurenzi, Morriconi and Maiuri as well. In 1948, after after having been granted permission by the British he decided to return to Sicily to his hometown of Longi accompanied by my mother Giacomina. She was only 20 years old at the time. Unfortunately my grandfather fell ill and two years after his return, at the young age of 50, he died leaving my mother orphan and yet once again losing another loved one without being able to enjoy a life with a parent.
Just a question regarding my grandmother's age. In your blog you state that Anthulla was 34 when she died. This is stated also on her lapidary write-up on the photo on your blog but my mother always told me that my grandmother was quite a number of years older than my grandfather who was 33 at the time of the earthquake, he was born in 1900. My mother told us that she herself was born in Rhodes and not in Kos because my grandfather was worried about my grandmother's age who was in her late thirties when she had her. If my grandmother's age is correct as is stated in the photo than the story my mother gave us may not be entirely true but given that she spoke quite often to her father about these matters and her time in Greece was not brief at all, it leaves me in a bit of a quandary as her recollections were quite vivid. A photo that I have at home and is also in my fb profile (albums) shows my mother at the age of 2 sitting on my grandmother's lap. The photo was done in 1931 and my grandmother looks much older than 32 in the photo, I can send you the photo which is also on my profile. The same goes with my great grandfather's Jacobos Zarraftis age. My mother always told us he was born in 1845 and that he was 88 years old when he died in 1933. That date is confirmed In the book written by Βασίλη Σ Χατσιβασιλίου. "Ιστορία Της Νήσου Κο", σελίδα 516. I can send you the photos...It follows from this that if my grandmother's birth date of 1899 is correct than my great grandafther would have had my grandmother at the age of 54 and not 44 as my mother told us. Is there any birth certificates that could prove things either way?
As you can see my fb profile name is "oddid littlehouse".....the name Casella means "littlehouse" and "oddid" is derived from the sicilian first name "pippo" which I have reversed and turned it upside down to make it oddid...
My sincere regards to you and thanks again for you work"
JACOBOS ZARRAFTIS, IN HIS FOOTSTEPS
“When did we start using the meter in Greece?” was the first question that came to my mind when I began studying Zarraftis. Jacobos Zarraftis measured distances in steps in his effort to map everything that existed on the island of Kos, as can be seen in his book Koia, published in 1921, which is something like the “bible” for every “explorer” of Kos.
Three of Zarraftis’ books have come into my collection.
Restless and tireless for years, he walked the entire island many times and, starting from the Knights’ Castle of Nerantzia in the town, he mapped the location of antiquities he discovered, measuring the distance between them by pacing it out. In essence, he carried out the first archaeological and geographical/anthropogeographical survey on occupied Greek territory! In the rest of free Greece, many years passed before a similar archaeological mapping was undertaken.
The bust of Jacobos Zarraftis
Step by step he walked, in complete concentration so as not to lose count, with meager supplies for fieldwork—like a solitary pilgrim wandering through plains, along mountain paths, beside rivers and streams, torrents, springs, and shepherds’ huts, stopping at small chapels to rest, to see, to record, and to explain everything: nature, toponyms, mythological names, and antiquities.
In his footsteps we too walk, all of us who explore the island and uncover its secrets—secrets that a hundred years ago Zarraftis himself was the first to discover and record.
Jacobos Zarraftis was born in 1853 (or perhaps in 1845, which is more likely) in Asfendiou, Kos. He was a priest’s child (his father was ordained in 1854), the son of Emmanouil Zarraftis, who had roots in Kalymnos, and Anthousa Chatzigiakoumi from Kos (specifically from Asfendiou). He completed his secondary studies at the Hellenic School of Athens; he had a classical education and significant archaeological knowledge—he was a scholar for his time, considering that very few studied in that era.
In 1903 he was hired as an assistant worker by the German professor of Archaeology Herzog. He essentially contributed to the discovery of the Asklepieion, but all the credit went to Herzog. Alongside his archaeological activities, he also engaged in preserving elements of our folk culture, collecting linguistic and ethnographic material from Kos and the surrounding islands for foreign scholars.
He lived poor and obscure and died blind during the great earthquake that leveled the town of Kos on St. George’s Day (Thomas Sunday), April 23, 1933, at 08:05 in the morning, under the rubble of his humble and ancient house, together with his daughter Anthoula, who was only 34 years old.
Anthoula (10.04.1899–23.04.1933) was then married to the Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Lazzara, and for this reason she was buried in the Catholic Church. The exact spot where her ossuary lies was shown to us by the late Eleni Klonari, as seen in the photographs.
The bust of Jacobos Zarraftis is located on Ippokratous Street, outside the Ecclesiastical Museum, almost opposite the 1st General Lyceum of Kos. It is the work of Nikos Arbilias and was purchased for a symbolic sum by the Cultural Association “Philetas.” A few years later, “Philetas” donated it to the Municipality of Kos, and in 2005 it was placed in its current location.
There are two streets on the island of Kos that bear the name of Jacobos Zarraftis. One is in the town of Kos, continuing from Megalou Alexandrou Street after Rotonda Square, and the other is the main road of Zia.
In Zia, I had the chance and joy to meet Jacobos Zarraftis’ great-great-granddaughter, Katerina Zarrafti, and talk briefly about her ancestor and his love for Asfendiou.
Katerina Zarrafti, descendant of the historian-antiquarian.
After all this, I wanted to know where he was buried. I thought that his importance for the island of Kos was so great that he must surely have had a prominent place in the old cemetery. While it was very easy to find where his daughter Anthoula was buried, it was not so easy to locate Zarraftis’ grave. Kostas Kostoglakis (whom many have described as “the new Zarraftis”) mentioned something about mass burials after the earthquake, but according to historian Vasilis Chatzivasileiou, “Zarraftis, like all the Orthodox victims of the 1933 earthquake, were transferred and buried in the cemetery of St. John the Baptist, the ‘Seven Steps.’ After many years the graves of the earthquake victims were opened and the bones were transferred to the ossuary of the same cemetery.”
In response to the question of mass burials, Konstantinos Kogiopoulos stated: “From the research I conducted, nothing is mentioned about mass graves after the earthquake; besides, the people of Kos had family graves. Possibly some people from Pyli or Kalymnos were temporarily buried. I have some reservations about the diaspora newspapers, which often exaggerated. I do not know where Zarraftis is buried, nor does Laurenzi, who wrote after the farewell speech, mention anything. Where his last daughter, Afrodo, was buried might help us find the family grave.”
So far, I have not been able to locate the exact spot where Zarraftis was buried, although I searched the entire old cemetery and the ossuary. The investigation continues…
Zarraftis was a historian/antiquarian. In the dictionary, I found that these terms refer to someone who searches, who investigates thoroughly, and who seeks historical evidence, as the word comes from the ancient verb difao (= to examine in detail, to search carefully). That is what I will do too!
After the publication of the article, I received the following message from a great-grandchild of Jacobos Zarraftis (translation follows).
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