#cave of davelis

[gemsofgreece]

Christos Davelis

The Brigand Captain

Christos Davelis, who is mostly known as Λήσταρχος Νταβέλης (Lístarchos Davélis, Brigand Captain Davelis) in Greece, was a notorious bandit who was active in the regions of Attica and Boeotia in the mids of the 19th century. Although he died young, his life reminds of fictional literature, so much that he became a folk hero of sorts in the collective Greek memory, despite not really possessing heroic virtues.

His real name was Christos Natsios. His birthplace is not certain but it is believed he had some Arvanite-Vlach descent. Christos was initially a shepherd, just like most of his family. He took care of the flocks of a monastery in Mt Penteli. Someday, the abbot approached him and asked him to deliver a letter to a nun in Athens in full secrecy. Overcome with curiosity, Christos gave the letter to someone who could read it for him instead, as he was illiterate. Learning of the letter's contents, he decided to meet that nun himself and he became a frequent visitor of hers. The abbot found out and accused him of robbery. Christos was whipped and exiled to Euboea island.

There he fell in love with the daughter of a priest (he did appreciate the religious vibe apparently), although she was already betrothed to a prosperous shepherd. The shepherd seeked revenge and led Christos Natsios to the authorities claiming he was a deserter they were after, called Nastos. Christos failed to convince them his surname was different. He managed to flee though and he escaped to the mountains, under the alias Davelis.

There he joined the bandit gang of his uncle and soon he created his own, with which he was robbing travellers, shepherds and farmers who lived in Attica, Boeotia, Phthiotis and Euboea. One of his most notorious operations was the kidnapping of the French officer Berteau, who had come to Greece in order to convince the Greek government to not participate in the Crimean War by Russia's side (and against the Ottomans). This operation proved to be his most prolific as the Greek state paid him 30,000 drachmas in gold (an outrageous amount of money back then) to let the French man free.

His reputation grew bigger in 1855 when his gang was active near Marathon and Davelis used the Cave of Penteli as his lair. This cave is still said to have a haunting vibe about it and it is sometimes associated with stories of supernatural incidents.

The Cave of Davelis.

The most famous and decisive point in his life though was his affair with the Italian duchess Luisa Bacoli, who asked the gang's protection in order to visit Delphi safely. Davelis' right hand, Yannis Megas, fell in love with her and went mad when Bacoli responded to Davelis' advances instead. He left the gang, denounced his former lifestyle and joined the police, determined to hunt Davelis down.

This was not even the only duchess seduced by Davelis charms' who was said to have a soft and delicate face, despite his reputation and lifestyle. According to folklore, he also had an affair with the Duchess of Plaisance, Sophie de Marbois-Lebru and there was a tunnel connecting his cave all the way to her villa in Athens.

Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance

Another legend was that Davelis often disguised himself and casually visited Athens, where he conversed in coffee shops with the locals.

Folk art of Davelis.

The police was humiliated often by Davelis , once being surprised by his gang in Menidi and being forced to hand him their weapons. This made the police (and Megas) even more determined to catch him. This finally happened in the summer of 1856, in a proper combat between Davelis' gang and the policemen. Seeing many of his men fall, Davelis offered to fight Megas in a one-to-one duel. Megas leaped furiously at him with a sword but Davelis managed to kill him first, using a gun. His victory didn't last. A policeman killed him with his sword, while Davelis was crying "ούτε ο Νταβέλης στα βουνά ούτε ο Μέγας στα παλάτια" (úte o Davélis sta vuná úte o Méghas sta palátia = "neither Davelis in the mountains nor Megas in the palaces"). His head was put on a stick and left in common view in Syntagma Square in Athens for several days, in the summer of 1856. The head is now kept in the Museum of Criminology in Athens but the access to it is restricted.

The Greek painter Nikephoros Lytras, just passing by, took a photograph of his head, and later took it to Munich where he would be working for a while. While there, he became friends with the German painter Gabriel Cornelius Von Max.

One day when the German artist was in Lytras’s studio rummaging through his files, he came across the portrait of Davelis’ head. He asked Lytras about the identity of his model: “He was the most terrible thief that Greece has ever known, a ruthless, ferocious man” – “And yet,” Von Max countered, “in this picture, I can see that this man met God at the moment of his death. You have the portrait there of a saint; a great saint.”

Lytras thought that Von Max was obviously deranged. “Since he interests you so much, the portrait is my gift to you.” Von Max took away the portrait and used it to paint his most famous work: ‘The Veil of Veronica’; reproduced millions of times.

Sources: x, x

[tgcg]

twinge2: nosebleed in karate class age 10

[indigolament]

some assorted horseshit spawned from tgp discord shenanigans 💯

(go play genesis project it's rad as hell ‼️)

proship dni

[fazgoo-connoiseur-1987]

closer look

[classicfilmpunk]

[sketchxx]

chat I've been thinking (shocking i know) about what would be the worst portal ship thats also gay and came up with doug and cave...

do yall fw it...

[oldschoolfrp]

"Fleeing the rage that consumed their feuding families, Juliana and Orlando fled to the Cave of Echoes, where it is said every wish is granted." (Dave De Leuw cover for AD&D module UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave by Dave J Brown, Tom Kirby, and Graeme Morris, with a bit of inspiration from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, TSR UK, 1983)

[skishie]

drew @hydatiid ‘s versions of them,,,, 

[gloomysundayxx]

Undead Undead Undead

[adreciclarte4]

PJ Harvey and Nick Cave, 1996 by Dave Tonge

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Fingal’s Cave in Scotland

Photographer: Dave Newbould Photography

[panelswithoutpeople]

The Flintstones No.1 - A Clean Slate

by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh

[be-themessenger]

🎀Attention 80s music fans!🎀

hey ! what do you lot think abt creating a tumblr community about new wave/post-punk/synthpop rpf ??

we could:

🎀do art trades!

🎀 talk our fanfictions (respecting the terms of decency ofc)!

🎀discuss band lore!

🎀thirst Very Unhingedly over our old men!

who's in ?

[aetherceuse]

[ Intercom Bing! ]

" Cave Dave Johnson here. Aether Foundation’s motto? Do the impossible. And if that doesn’t work, try something weirder. No one has ever been quite this ambitious, and we plan to keep it that way, by any means necessary. I’m talking corporate espionage and unlimited resources—because when you’re working on creating new realities, you don’t exactly have time to worry about little things like ethics. You want to work for Aether? Sure, we have the resources, the technology, and the research opportunities to potentially bend the fabric of the universe. But it’s all about how fast you can run when that thing we created starts trying to kill us. You ready to dodge a giant flying chimera? 'Cause that’s your Monday. Monday’s reminder: if you survived the weekend, you can survive anything. Except maybe the chimera. But that’s a totally different problem. "

Lusamine glances up at the speaker mounted on the ceiling of her office, and sighs.

" Perhaps it is time to retire that artificial intelligence program from the security system, " she speaks to herself, raises a brow, and then dismisses the idea. Sometimes it's funny when the AI gets weird and freaks the associates out.

[sleepy-nancy]

I Wish You Were a Girl {{JAYMZ HETFIELD X DAVE MUSTAINE, PT.1}}

Saw a tiktok post earlier, i was inspired haha

They r my divorced parents who loved each other very much /trust

Angst, slight fluff in the end idkk(also to the people who wanted this ‘fic, I apologize if it aint up to ur expectations 🥲👌🏻)

ALSO I THINK THIS SONG RLLY FITS THIS FIC !!!

——————————————————————————

James and Dave were supposed best friends. Although, their feelings for each other began to change after awhile of hanging out.

Dave, had an attraction for James. Though, he didn’t like the idea of falling inlove with a boy. While James, he didn’t care if he fall inlove with a boy, but if it’s Dave.. it’s a big no to him.

So of course the friendship between them was.. interesting to say the least. Until one certain night.

Metallica had just finished another gig, they were just as drunk as you think they would be. Especially Dave. Hence, caused him to come up to James.

“James?” Dave tapped James’ shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“Yeah? What’s up?” James turns to Dave.

“Can we talk in private, real quick?”

“Sure.”

Dave lead James to a more secluded area. Where the two of them were alone, the tension grew upon the two boys. Their eyes locked together.

“So um..” Dave muttered, his voice suddenly going soft.

It was very fucking clear what he was feeling, James just knew about it.

“I know what you wanna say.” James cuts off Dave as he was gonna speak.

“You like me.”

“….” Dave couldn’t say anything back, as he knew it was true.

“Listen, Dave. I don’t mind it. But.. I swear, I can’t feel this way towards you.”

Dave was sad, but he felt the same. He didn’t like the idea of him being inlove with boys after all. But still, he couldn’t simply stop his attraction of James.

“I..” Dave muttered.

“I wish you were a girl.” He finally got his thoughts off.

“What?” James questions, abit stunned.

“I do wish you were a girl.”

James just looked at Dave, with a odd look on his face. He never expected Dave to say that. Ever.

“I genuinely don’t know what to say…”

Dave looks up to James slightly, slight tears welling up on his eyes. This affected him. It did. It was all complicated, a complicated feeling and friendship they had.

Eventually, James walks away. Leaving Dave alone, left with his own thoughts. He was confused, and a feeling of slight dread was on his mind. Knowing the later hangouts with James will and can be awkward.

***

The very morning later, Dave was in his bed. Staring to the ceiling mindlessly. His eyes turned blurry, as he saw himself tearing up, crying afterwards.

———————————————

Not much on part 1, i know, but i just got finished hanging out with some friends at a mall sooo yeahh feel free to suggest any ideas for part 2 :33

Thx for reading !!

[oldschoolfrp]

Encountering a barkburr in a magical forest (Dave De Leuw back cover for AD&D module UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave, TSR UK, 1983)