Chios Prison

Chios Prison Review

In 1822, in the tiny Prison, 75 leading Chiotes were jailed as hostages before they were hanged by the Turks, part of the worst massacre committed during the War of Independence. The Turks drove out the Genoese in 1566, and Chios, spurred by Samians who had fled to the island, joined the rest of Greece in rebellion in the early 19th century. The revolt failed, and the sultan retaliated: the Turks killed 30,000 Chiotes and enslaved 45,000, an event written about by Victor Hugo and depicted by Eugène Delacroix in The Massacre of Chios. The painting, now in the Louvre, shocked western Europe and increased support for Greek independence. Copies of The Massacre of Chios hang in many places on Chios.