The Greek Nomarchy (1806) is undoubtedly the most popular pre-revolutionary work of Modern Greek Enlightenment, while it would not be an exaggeration to claim that the timeless search for the author's identity is related to one of the greatest mysteries of the publishing scene in Greece in modern times.

The book represents a strong critique of the institutions and elites that sustain slavery. Tyranny is described as a decline of the political system, as around the tyrant thrives a system of parasites and sycophants. On its sharpest pages, the Nomarchy attacks the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the time. With particular sharpness, it considers it co-responsible for spiritual stagnation and social inertia: it denounces the commodification of offices, the threat of excommunication as a tool of subjugation, contempt for education, arbitrariness, and "collaboration" with tyranny.

This text embodies the essence of Greek political radicalism and the quintessence of the transmission of the ideas of 1789 to the Greek peninsula of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the author is not simply "Anonymous," but "Anonymous the Greek."

In 2026, the Greek Nomarchy will celebrate two hundred and twenty years since its publication. In this commemorative edition, the work is transcribed for the first time into colloquial Greek, making it—along with the original text—more accessible and relevant to every Greek man and woman, regardless of age and familiarity with 19th-century texts.

My dear priests, have a purpose that is not at all different. They always try, through the divine, to oppress their fellow citizens. To this day, they have achieved their goal through ignorance and bad education. Covering the most obvious lies with the title of holiness, they filled the weak minds of the people with such superstition that, instead of calling the impossible a lie, they call it holy.

Anonymous the Greek, Greek Nomarchy