Up high on a mountain, under a fir tree, in 1770, a tiny dark-skinned baby was born. He was immediately baptized Theodoros. This little Theodorakis, as they called him throughout his life, could be said to be the embodiment of the Phoenix, the mythical bird that dies and is reborn from its ashes.

I am that bird that approaches the fire, burns, turns to ash, and is reborn again. He was the awaited Messiah of Greece who came to drive away the darkness of twenty centuries and illuminate the homeland once more. This newborn was the mythical Leader, the much-enduring, the resourceful, the crafty Odysseus of Homer, the indomitable Guide of the Nation, the Founder of Modern Hellenism, the National Leader Theodoros Kolokotronis!

A landmark book by the author of great bestsellers: • The Fine Print of History • All in the Light •