The name of Christos Davelis has become a Greek legend. He was a hardened highway robber, a loved and feared outlaw, a ladies’ man, and had a treasure cave named after him.
Christos Natsios (his real name) was born in Steiri, a village in Boeotia, to a family of shepherds from Epirus in 1832. This was shortly after Greece was liberated from Ottoman rule. When he was young, he worked as a shepherd in the pastures of the Daou Monastery in Penteli until one day his life changed dramatically.
A hegumen gave him a letter to deliver to a nun. Out of curiosity, the young shepherd took it to someone to read it since he couldn’t read himself. He found out that it was a lover’s letter and decided to meet the nun himself. Natsios was a handsome young man and the nun surrendered to his charms. When the hegumen found out, he was enraged and accused Natsios of theft. He was arrested and was consequently severely beaten with a cane. After this event, he returned to his village.
There, he fell in love with the daughter of a priest and had an affair with her. However, the priest had arranged for his daughter to marry a rich farmer. When the farmer discovered that his future bride had had an affair, he decided to avenge himself against the young man. He pointed Natsios to a Greek army detachment looking for a deserter named Nastos. Natsios tried to convince them that his name was not Nastos but to no avail. Hence, he escaped and took to the mountains.
Once on Penteli Mountain, he joined a gang of bandits led by the famous Kakarapis, a cousin of his mother. Soon he formed his own gang and adopted the nickname Davelis. They robbed travelers, villagers, and shepherds from the Attica, Evia, Boeotia, and Phthiotida regions.
Another pivotal moment in Davelis’ adventurous life was when the Italian duchess Luisa Bacoli arrived in Greece hoping to hire the gang for protection on her trip to Delphi. The duchess fell in love with Davelis. That angered his second-in-command, Yiannis Megas, who was also lovestruck by the duchess. Such was his obsession with her that he left the gang and joined the Gendarmerie, swearing that he would chase down Davelis.
Davelis’ most famous feat took place in 1855 when his gang kidnapped a French high-ranking army officer who had arrived at Piraeus Port with the mission to prevent Greece’s participation in the Crimean War on the side of Russia. In order to release the French officer, Davelis demanded a ransom of 30,000 drachmas in gold. This was exorbitant for the time. The Greek government had no choice but to pay the ransom immediately in fear of sparking a serious diplomatic dispute that would potentially lead to the interference of foreign powers in Greek politics.
Davelis’ legend grew in dimension when he found shelter in a cave on Penteli Mountain, considered to have been haunted, as a hideout. The cave is part of a subterranean complex linked to many other caves. It has been associated with supernatural phenomena. In ancient Greece, it was a place of worship of the god Pan and the Nymphs cult. In the Middle Ages, Christian hermits used the cave as their home and built a church at its entrance. Later, it was used by heretical monastic groups that split from the Orthodox Church.
Eventually, it was named the Davelis Cave. Urban legend has it that Davelis has hidden substantial treasures in its depths.
In 1856, the gang operated mainly in Athens. In a show of strength, the Davelis gang entered the suburban Menidi gendarme station and forced the gendarmes to surrender all their guns. The humiliating incident angered the Gendarmerie and a merciless hunt down of Davelis was ordered. Davelis and his men went to hiding while he corresponded with Duchess Bacoli, who offered him safe passage to Italy. Somehow the letters exchanged were intercepted by Davelis’ nemesis, his former partner, Yiannis Megas.
On July 12, 1856, a gendarmerie detachment, led by Yiannis Megas, located the gang near the village of Zemeno in Boeotia. A heavy engagement ensued. Davelis, seeing his overpowered comrades fall one after the other, challenged Megas to a fatal duel.
Megas, still vengeful, rushed to cut off Davelis’ head with his lance, but Davelis managed to attack and kill him first. A gendarme shot Davelis fatally, while reportedly shouting, “Neither Davelis in the mountains, nor Megas in the palaces.” For several days thereafter, the gendarmes nailed Davelis’ head to a pole they erected at Syntagma Square for public view.
This added to the legend of Davelis. For decades to follow, tidbits of the life and feats of the legendary bandit, whether true or imaginary, fueled the imagination of Greeks. Among the legends surrounding Davelis was that he often disguised himself to hang out at Athenian cafes to chat with patrons.
Another legend was that he was the lover of the Italian Duchess of Piacenza (Δούκισσα της Πλακεντίας in Greek) who had a mansion on Penteli Mountain. Supposedly, he visited her through an underground tunnel beneath the Davelis Cave.
The name Davelis has become engraved in the collective mind of Greeks. He was a larger-than-life bandit who was admired and feared at the same time, and the cave named after him will keep his name alive for generations to come.
