| Cyril Mango’s hypothesis that the lengthy poem on Daskaloyiannis derives from moirologia and shorter poems on the deeds and end of the Sphakian revolutionary is not based on sound argumentation. It does not take into account the long time interval required for the process of integration and re-creation to occur. The song was composed by Barba Pantzelios a mere 16 years after the events it narrates, and was copied down by Anagnostis, son of Papasifis Skordylis. It first circulated as a manuscript and was later printed, as well as being preserved via oral tradition. However, difficulties involved in memorising the song led people to curtail or alter it. Shorter versions were also created, to which singers occasionally added new elements, either out of personal inspiration or through confusion with other similar songs. |