10 Facts About Aristeidis Kollias

Aristeidis Kollias was president of the Association of the Arvanites Marko Bocari.

Aristeidis Kollias was born in Leontari, Boeotia in Central Greece, a village inhabited mainly by Arvanites.

In 1968 Kollias obtained a jurisprudence degree in Athens, and worked as a lawyer until 1980, when he started to devote his time to studying the linguistic, folkloric and historical traditions of the Arvanites in Greece.

Aristeidis Kollias published in Greek his major work Arvanites and the origin of the Greeks in Greece and was reprinted later in other editions.

Aristeidis Kollias authored two books in both Albanian and Greek on the situation in Kosovo regarding massacres and other human rights violations by Slobodan Milosevic of Albanians in the 1990s.

In 1996 Aristeidis Kollias relinquished his position as head of the Arvanite league of Greece organisation to devote his time toward Pelasgian studies.

Aristeidis Kollias advocated for the Albanian Kosovar cause by informing the wider public in Greece and received backlash for his support.

In 2000 Aristeidis Kollias was diagnosed with leukemia and died shortly thereafter on 11 September.

Aristeidis Kollias cooperated and maintained connections with the Albanian diaspora and collaborated with Italian Arberesh, Arberesh of Corsica, Arbanas of Croatia, Albanians of Kosovo, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Turkey and with intellectuals from around the world.

In 1983 Aristeidis Kollias authored a book titled Arvanites and the Origin of Greeks which he reedited several times and was translated into Albanian in 2002.