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The Maniots () or Maniates () is the traditional name for the native Greeks inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula in the southern Peloponnese region of Greece. They have historically been known as Mainotes, and the peninsula as Maina.
In the early modern period, Maniots gained a reputation as fierce and proudly independent , who engaged in piracy and blood feuds. They lived mainly in fortified villages and "tower houses" built as defenses against "Frankish" (see Frankokratia) and Ottoman Empire invaders.
The Maniots claim to be descendants of the ancient Sparta and heirs to their Militarism culture. Modern observers noted Maniots' self-identification as warriors ready to "preserve their liberty" with arms.
One of the Maniot variety's properties—shared with Tsakonian and with dialects spoken around Athens until the 19th century—is the divergent treatment of historical (written <υ>). Although this sound merged to everywhere else, these dialects have instead (e.g. versus standard 'wood')..
These varieties are thought to be relic areas of a previously larger areal dialect group that used to share these features, and was later divided by the penetration of Arvanitika in much of its area, in the late Middle Ages.
Other features of the Maniot dialect include the palatalization of , i.e. the realization of as ( or before . This feature is shared with many southern dialects of Greek; especially Cretan Greek.
In Outer Mani, Surname end in -eas, while surnames of Inner Mani end in -akis, -akos, or—less frequently— -oggonas.
| "If any ship come to anchor on their coast, many arm themselves and go to the place, over against where the ship doth ride; some of them will be in priests habits, walking by the sea side, with their wallets, in which they will have some wine and bread. Their companions lye hid behind the bushes at some convenient post. When any strangers come ashore, who do not understand their language, the feigned priests make signes to them, shewing them their bread and wine, which they offer to them for money, by which the strangers being enticed from the sea side (and it may be to sit down and taste their wine) the hidden Manjotts come and make their prey. The priests will seem to be sorry, and endeavor to make the strangers to believe they were altogether ignorant of any such design. So a white flagg is put out, and a treaty held with the ship for their ransome. The priests endeavor to moderate the price, shewing a great deal of respect to their companions, who are clothed in Turkish habits. Many ships have been thus served." |
| Bernard Randolph, Present State of the Morea.. |
Historically, Maniots were notorious pirates. Piracy was their main source of income into at least the 18th century.. Local Eastern Orthodox Church priests blessed the raiding ships before departure; sometimes priests joined the pirate crews. Most of the Maniot pirates came from Mesa Mani (Μέσα Μάνη, 'Inner Mani')..
Vendettas could go on for months, sometimes years, and usually ended when one family was exterminated or left the town. In some cases (like the killing of a murderer) vendettas would be concluded after the 'guilty' individual(s) were killed. In other cases vendettas, particularly long-running ones, were ended in a peaceful to terms or exchange of property. In the case of long vendettas, families often agreed upon a temporary treva (τρέβα, 'truce') in order to allow for harvests or the attendance of religious ceremonies; when the treva ended, the killing could resume.
A cornerstone of the Maniot's vendetta culture was the agreement that all vendettas immediately stop in a universal treva whenever the community faced a Turkish threat. The longest known treva was announced by the Mavromichalis clan when war was declared on the Ottoman Empire in March 1821, beginning the Greek War of Independence. Vendettas continued after Greek independence.
The Maniot vendetta culture is considered one of the most vicious and ruthless of all the Mediterranean vendetta cultures. One of the last large scale vendettas on record required the Greek Police, 1,000 Greek Army soldiers, and 200 Greek Navy sailors to stop.
Mani became a refuge during the 4th-century Migrations Period of Europe. When the Slavs and Pannonian Avars entered the Peloponnese (the latter triggering the Avar–Byzantine wars of 568–626), refugees from northern Greece and Macedonia fled south into the mountainous terrain of Mani. The 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus wrote that the Maniots were not conquered by the Slavs and were descended from the ancient Byzantine Greeks.. Historian David Armine Howarth states: "The only Greeks that have had an unbroken descent were the clans like the Maniotes who were so fierce, and lived so far up the mountain, that invaders left them alone.".
Maniot individuals share a significant amount of their genome with each other, indicating a high degree of relatedness. They are also genetically isolated from other Greek populations, though they show some overlap with people from Sicily and southern Italy. This is attributed to the Maniots having the lowest levels of Slavs genetic ancestry in the Peloponnese. Maniots from East Mani have very little Slavic ancestry (0.7–1.6%), while those from West Mani and Lower Mani have higher, but still relatively low, amounts (4.9–10.9%). The rest of the Peloponnesian population has a higher percentage of Slavic ancestry (4.8–14.4%).
This genetic isolation suggests that the Maniots may be descended from the ancient Dorians. Their historical separation from the rest of the Greek population, preserved through geography and social practices, has contributed to their distinct genetic identity.
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