Cretan Anthem

Κρητικός Ύμνος
English: Cretan Anthem
Kritikos Ymnos

National anthem of Cretan State


Lyrics Ioannis Polemis
Music Dionysios Davrangas
Adopted 1898
Relinquished 1908

The Cretan Anthem (Greek: Κρητικός Ύμνος, Kritikos Ymnos), was the national anthem of the Cretan State, adopted in 1898. It was sung to the tune of the Greek national anthem, originally composed by Nikolaos Mantzaros and adapted by Dionysios Davrangas, with new words by the poet Ioannis Polemis, celebrating Crete's bloody struggles for freedom from the Ottoman Empire.

The anthem never gained much popularity, since the Cretans viewed the Cretan State as a temporary measure; the Greek national anthem was the de facto unofficial anthem, and after Crete unilaterally declared its union with the Kingdom of Greece in 1908 (not formally recognized until 1913, after the Balkan Wars), the Greek national anthem was used officially as well.

Lyrics

Μεσ’ το αίμα βουτημένη,

με πληγαίς νωπαίς ακόμα,

απ΄ της Κρήτης τ’ άγιο χώμα,

επεταχθ’ η Λευθεριά•

κι’ αγκαλιάζοντας τη Δόξα

τη δαφνοστεφανωμένη

παίρνει δρόμους κι ανασταίνει

πολιτείαις και χωριά.


Χαιρετούν τον ερχομό της

βροντερόφωνα ντουφέκια,

κι’ αστραπαίς κι’ αστροπελέκια

χύνουν λάμψι περισσή•

και φωνή παλληκαρίσια

απ’ την Ίδη κατεβαίνει

Χαίρε, Κρήτη ανδρειωμένη,

Χαιρ’ ελεύθερο νησί.

External sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/6/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.