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Rigas (or Rhigas), known as Rigas Vélestinlis (), even Rigas Féréos (), born around 1757 in Velestíno (Magnesia in Thessaly) and died in Belgrade, was a Greek writer, littré and patriot, a major figure in the Greek cultural renaissance.

Son of an easy trader, he studied in Zagora, and then, for obscure reasons, left Thessaly for Constantinople. There he continued his education and entered the service of the Phanariotes. As a private secretary, he accompanied one of them, Alexander Ypsilántis, to Valachie, when he reigned in this vassal Christian principality of the Ottoman Empire. Rigas remained there at the service of the Romanian elites after the departure of Ypsilántis, then of the new hospodar, Nikólaos Mavrogénis. He left for Vienna in 1796. Influenced by the ideas of the French Revolution, he multiplied political writings in the service of democracy, freedom and independence of the Balkan populations oppressed by the Ottomans, such as his Thourios or his New Political Constitution. It is considered a precursor to Greece's struggle for independence. Because of his political activities, he was arrested in December 1797 in Trieste by the Austrian authorities and then delivered to the Ottomans. He died strangled in Belgrade on the night of 24 to .

He is most often called Rigas or Rhigas, his baptismal name, common in his native region. Last names do not appear to have been used. He added, as was the tradition for the readers of the time, "Vélestinlis", from the name of his native village of Velestíno. He signed all his writings and acts, public or private, either Rigas (Rhigas) or Rigas "Vélestinlis". As for the Féréos (or Pheraíos), by the name of the ancient city of Phères, at the location of Velestíno, it was used by the Greek scholars of the , defenders of the ancient tradition and of the katharevoica, but not by Rigas himself.

Biography

Early years
Rigas is native to Thessalie, one of the most prosperous regions of Greece in the middle of: a large fertile agricultural plain and villages with a textile proto-industry, mainly the textile cooperative of Ambelákia which produced white and red yarns. The region's wealth enabled it to create and maintain schools where renowned and patriotic scholars taught. The existence of these schools was guaranteed by the "gifts" made to the Ottoman governors, but also by the protection provided to them by the klephtes living on the slopes of Mount Olympus.

Rigas was probably born in 1757. His father, a wealthy Velestíno merchant, was called Kyriazis. He had at least one brother: Constantinos, says Kosta. The paternal fortune allowed Rigas to study. If he went to primary school in Velestíno, he quickly left for the well-known school of Zagora, in the Pelion, where he studied classical authors (the library of Zagora has reached us and it is extremely rich