Gold fever has gripped a small mountainous village in central Greece where a treasure hunter is to begin a state-approved excavation to find the hoard of a notorious 19th-century Ottoman pasha.
Gold fever has gripped a small mountainous village in central Greece where a treasure hunter is to begin a state-approved excavation to find the hoard of a notorious 19th-century Ottoman pasha.
The Greek-Australian treasure hunter, who has declined to identify himself for interviews, claims that the treasure could be enough to alleviate Greece's massive debt woes, Vassiliki village mayor Vaios Ziakas told AFP on Thursday.
"It's an incredible story, let's hope its true," Ziakas said on Thursday.
"The Greek state is entitled to 50 percent of the finds and the municipality will also be given a percentage," he said.
The operation to find the hoard of Ali Pasha is set to begin next week at an undisclosed location near the village, some 352 kilometres (219 miles) northwest of Athens.
Two drills brought from the capital will excavate to a depth of up to 20 metres (66 feet) and cameras will be inserted to help locate the underground chamber believed to hold the treasure, Ziakas said.
Local and central government authorities have approved the dig and municipal officials will be present, he said.
Ali Pasha was an Albanian-born potentate who ruled the area for the Ottoman Empire in the early 19th century, shortly before the Greek revolution that ended the country's four-century Turkish occupation.
He was killed in 1822 in an unsuccesful revolt against the Ottoman Sultan but his treasure was never found. Prior attempts to locate it near his stronghold in the northwestern city of Ioannina have been fruitless.
The village of Vassiliki has links to Ali Pasha, Ziakas said.
It is named after his Greek-born wife who hailed from the area and according to local legend it was considered a haven for Christians fleeing Turkish persecution. It also lies on the pasha's old tax caravan route to Ioannina.
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