Athanasios Petimezas
Athanasios Petimezas or Petmezas (
Life
Athanasios Petimezas was born c. 1767 at Soudena near Kalavryta.[1] As a child, possibly around the age of ten, he was taken by the Turks to Smyrna, with the intention to make him a Janissary.[1] After six years, Petimezas was able to escape, secretly boarding a ship bound for his native Peloponnese. On the way, the ship was boarded by Tripolitanian corsairs, who took the crew captive to Tripoli. There Petimezas remained imprisoned for some time, until his winning a jumping contest resulted in being let free.[1]
Once back in his home, Petimezas became a
After that, he resumed his attacks against the local Turks, and in 1785 he joined the union of armatoloi of the Peloponnese initiated by
In 1800, he was able to return, as the Ottomans again awarded him the armatoliki of Kalavryta and
Family
His sons Vasileios and Nikolaos fled to British-held Zakynthos, and later became important leaders in the Greek War of Independence.[3] Other branches of the Petimezas family also played a role in the War of Independence, and provided several generals of the independent Greek state.[3]
References
Sources
- Doganis, Th. (1930). Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Πέμπτος: Νάβα–Σαρακηνοί [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume V: Nave–Saracens] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. pp. 314–315. OCLC 31255024.