Ο stoning It is an ancient custom. It is an expression of popular anger and retaliation, and it was widely practiced by the Jews.
I will mention two incidents from the history of the Kythira. The first one occurred 1,000 years ago, during the Byzantine period. After the removal of the Sarakinon from the Kythera, on a hill in the north of the island, in the St. George in Kolokythia, near the Saint Pelagia, a settlement had been established with settlers from the across from the Peloponnesian coast. They elected a local ruler to lead them, who soon turned into a petty tyrant. The settlers went to the despot of Sparta and they asked for help. He took three stones and gave them to the settlers, telling them that this was the help he was offering them. When they returned to Kythira, they used the stones to rid themselves of the tyrant.
The second incident occurred during his celebration Saint Theodore in 1799. At that time, Kythira was under the control of Russian-Turks, amid a volatile political situation, the people of Kythira refused to obey their orders, and there was a rebellious upheaval, as well as a rivalry between the rulers and the villagers. Thus, during the festival of Saint Theodore, the indignant villagers stoned the the Giannetto brothers and Panagiotaki Kasimatides by the ruling class. The incident was triggered by the Kasimatides’ insult to the priest during the procession.
