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«The Waters of the peninsula»A historical novelBy Theodoros GrigoriadisThe plot and the charactersYunus, a Turkish priest-student, who left the institution, in Kavala, he wasstudying.Nikiforos, a Greek interpreter from Anhialos, a town now belonging to Bulgaria. Helen, a young, Greek girl, from a small village in Thrace (now in the EuropeanTurkey)The three of them roam the peninsula in search of the «seventy miraculous holysprings» (ayiasmata). The whole area still belongs to the Ottoman Empire but it isevident that things are changing dramatically. The newly transformed Bulgaria isseeking for new territories and has started troubles with the Greek populationespecially in those villages where both Greeks and Bulgarians live.During their journey, they pass by Philippi, Philippopolis, Adrianople,Constantinople, landscapes and lands, abandoned inns, dilapidated churches, half-ruined roads, rivers, bridges, Turkish baths. Lyre-players and drummers in theconstant company of memory, «time’s natural erosion».They are also accompanied by dreams, since only this way can you reach theunachievable. All this is set against the background of the upheavals in theEuropean part of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the century, the outing ofthe Greeks from eastern Rumelia and the division of people into enemies andfriends. Will they eventually find the seventy miraculous holy waters? Where isthe seventieth?The storyThe story begins in 1906 in old Eastern Thrace, a «fruitful place». There, theyoung woman, Helen, is raped by four Turkish soldiers while returning to her homefrom the fields she had been working all day long. After the shocking episode shecan no longer live in her village and sets off for Constantinople to live on herown.The story also follows each of the other three characters in separate routes. Howthe heretical Muslim student, Yunus, abandons his priest school in the beautifulcity of Kavala and hides into the woods. There he lives, alienated from thecivilisation.In the meantime Steven arrives in Thessaloniki where his Greek interpreter iswaiting for him to start their expedition. Their first stop is Lydia, Philippi. InLydia, Apostle Paul had embaptised the first woman during his European tour.Steven as well gets into the holly waters.The relationship between them is not always perfect. They always disagree onpolitical and religious issues. Nikiforos always suspects Steven as a spy who

wants to inform his Government of the latest troubles in the Balkan territory. Inthe end we see that somehow Steven was a kind of spy-reporter.After leaving Philippi they follow the route through the forests to Philipopoli, adifficult way. In the woods they will meet Yunus who will join their company forthe rest of their journey.Steven follows closely the map which was made by Blunt, another British traveller,two hundred years ago. There were the seventy sacred springs, “ayiasmata”dispersed in various places where today Christian churches have been built orancient ruins still exist. According to the old map the seventy “ayiasmata” startfrom Philippi to be found mainly in Constantinople.Many adventures and conflicts are taking place. The most serious is the attack onSteven by rebels of unknown identity. Unfortunately Steven will not be able tocomplete his search. He is killed and the two other men bury him secretly but theyalso get a few of the deads' items especially his collection of “ayiasmata”.The two men continue their route but Yunus is afraid to move in Constantinople.They both enter Turkish baths where they finally exchange identities and words offaith to each other. Nikiforos remains alone in the end and travels on a traintowards Constantinople. On the train he meets Helen who has recently left from hervillage. She tells him that, Anhialos, the hometown of Nikiforos, was destroyed bythe Bulgarians. Nikiforos gets upset to this news.He promises Helen to see her again after finishing his last tasks. Helen goesand stays with a Greek family only singing and dreaming of Nikiforos and theirrejoin. So Nikiforos gets in touch with some Greek authorities who inform himthat the British are looking for Steven and Nikiforos (as well as an “unknownMuslim”) is in danger as a suspect. That proves that Nikiforos was also a spy!Nikiforos decides to leave Constantinople with Helen. He takes her with himdressed as a “European” couple, the get on a ship and leave for Kavala.He has with him small bottles of collected sacred waters. Only the seventieth ismissing. Steven couldn’t catch with the last one. The ship is in great trouble.Nikiforos throws the bottles into the wild sea and it gets calm. The “miracle” wasevident.Eventually the couple arrives in Kavala. Helen gives birth to twins. Their names:Yunus and Nikiforos.The story has an adventurous structure, full of dreaming scenes, magic realism andhistorical references for the beginning of the century. The book follows theroutes, through Bulgaria and towards Istanbul.The relationships between the three men, between the Muslim and the Christian canprove moving. Ideologically is a story full of ideas that bring trouble andturmoil. The appearance of Helen, adds more sensitivity and humor.The Balkan colorful scenery is an ideal place to re -examine what happened topeople and places a few years before the First World War occurred.

Excerpt from Theodoros Grigoriadis’ novelThe Waters of the Peninsula ( pp. 72-81)Translated by Leo Kalovyrnas(The episode comes from the beginning of the story when the three men have alreadyjoined and started their journey into the woods towards Philipoupoli)The sun shone upon them again as they left the forest behind them. The horseslooked very tired. The travellers’ throats were completely dry.Strangely enough after an hour’s walking they did come across a leaning brickbuilding, with an old inn next to it. The road that used to traverse this placewas completely disused. The cross-roads down the road no longer forked; there wasbut one road left. The construction of new roadways towards all kinds ofdestinations had rendered the old paths useless.They dismantled and crept into the derelict inn, which must have at one timehoused a bakery and shops. An old man came out to greet them. There was no oneelse left but him. The travellers saw a tiled courtyard, flanked on three sides bythe wings of the building. The rooms were empty and filthy, with a wooden loggiaabove. They hadn’t been used in a long time.They quenched their thirst at a well situated at one end of the courtyard.The old man explained that the well was bottomless but no one would believe him.He told them that a few years ago a grandchild of his had fallen in, and theynever managed to get her out again. Only Nikiforos listened attentively.Stephen began to wander around, scanning the area for any traces. Could Blunt havealso put up at this place? On the marble tympanum above the doorway the foundationplaque could be read: This building was built in 1830. That meant that Greencouldn’t have put up at this inn, unless there had been an older one its place.Pointing at the date, he asked the old man why the building had been left tocrumble so.The elderly man talked without waiting for the translatory assistance ofNikiforos, who had to stand between the two and speak simultaneously to both ofthem.“The whole area has been deserted,” said the old man. “All the locals havemoved towards the coast. The Bulgarians are pressing in upon us and we aregathering back into Turkey.” He stressed that it was the Greeks who did most ofthe fleeing.The old man feared no one. How much longer did he have to live anyway? “Ispeak both languages, and I may kneel before one altar as easily as beforeanother. As if I know why the Church split up in the first place. I can live withwhomsoever. I just don’t like getting harassed.”Stephen didn’t know whether to look upon such an attitude as adaptability oras chameleonic fickleness.The tiny chapel adjacent to the inn was dedicated to Saint Paraskevi. Thebath beside it was relatively new, built under the trees.Stephen crept into the tiny chapel and noticed that the sacred spring wasshaped like a tunnel. Perhaps the bath’s water and the sacred spring’s water bothflowed from the same source. Be that as it may, Blunt’s book made no suchmention.In the small domed bath, Yunus was already splashing happily. The pool wassmall, a natural cistern carved into the rock, and the water came up to his chin.Darkness had descended. The old man let them have a battered lamp and asked themwhat to prepare for dinner.Stephen called Nikiforos to him as they sat at the wooden kitchen table. He