A Brief History of the Balteas
Family from Stavropigi of
Exo Mani and Messinia, to
Varousi in Lakonia*

By Aris Poulimenakos, genealogist,
and Nikos Balteas

Foreward by Donald George McPhail, Editor
of Mani: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

Translation and notes by Mary Papoutsy,
publisher of HCS.


*The original article appeared in Greek in the
May-June issue (Volume 10) of the magazine
Mani: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. Posted to
HCS with permission of the editor.

The surname Balteas we encounter today only in a very small number of families. The ancestral place of all these families in Mani is the village Stavropigi, which was formerly called Varousi and belonged to Lakonia until 1938. Since that time it has become part of Messinia. It is now, in other words, a village of what is called Messinian Mani.

The First Appearance and Etymology of the Surname "Balteas"

The oldest recorded entry for the name Balteas is found in a sale document of 1807 (Fig. 1). The [text of the] document reads as follows [in English]1:

1807 july varousi

I, the widow of Giorgakis Anastaseas am selling the house plot that I got from

Frilingeas . . . . according to the estimate which Markeas and Balteas

render and I hereby certify the above through this testimony.


Dimitrakis Koutoufareas, setting forth the above, I sign[ed] as a witness.2

Fig. 1

In this document of 1807 we find the surname Balteas identical to the one today. 1807 nevertheless is a [year in a] relatively small record period during which the old Maniot suffix for surnames changes in large numbers from "-akis" to "-eas." Compare with the following record of 1809 (Fig. 2), likewise a record of sale:

With my presence, I myself testify, stasinos yianeas, together with my

wife, [that] I made an exchange with Mr. Dimitrakis Koutoufareas

. . . . and we have remained pleased for two days, hereby signing 1809 September 17

Giorgakis Baltakis, signed and witnessed.3

Fig. 2

1Notations in brackets throughout the article represent elaborations added by the translator to aid readers. Items enclosed in parentheses are those of the authors.

2The English translation omits some details of the description of the plot.

3Once again, the English translation omits details of the property.