The Traces of Greek Diaspora in a Russian Cemetery

Abstract

During the centuries of Ottoman Occupation of Greece many Greek merchants traveled through the Balkan countries and established  Greek tradehouses in many European cities: In Triest, Marseille, Budapest, Bucarest and Moscow, among others. 

This article presents the epigrams  on the tombs of two Greek merchants  of the wellknown families of Zosiimas and Hatzikonstas in the Donskoy cemetery in Moscow in the late 18th and early 19th century. In the epigrams one can discover  the  life conditions  and the mentality of these adventurous  Greeks, who, with no material means,  managed to create huge fortunes, which they later dedicated to the cause of the Greek Revolution and the  creation of the modern Greek State.