Rise To Power
Zacharios' fame grew even more when he defeated the Turks at the Battle of Salesi in Arcadia. A. Kontakis, who was the leader of the village of Agios Petros in Arcadia, and who at first an enemy and later a friend of Zacharias described in his memoirs:
| “ | There are many things about him to describe, and during his era he was constantly fighting tyranny. One would need to write a whole book about it. Kapetan Zaharios was very fast, with a flexible body, average height, strong back, round and handsome face, brown eyes and a scar above his upper right eyebrow, which made him even more handsome. His hair was brown and curly. He had a strong and powerful voice, with a strong will. He was very independent, in which he would never submit to anyone and would never recognize anyone superior to him. He would also never carry money or a wallet wherever he went. | ” |
In 1787, Zacharias invited all the leaders of the klephtic bands of the Peloponnese to a meeting and they formed a kleptho-armatoloi federation of the Peloponnese. This federation brought more power to Zacharias who was made the commader-in-chief of the federation. Meanwhile, he had constructed his own fortress, Barbitsa in the mountains of Mani and from there he launched his raids on the Turks. It was widely thought that Zacharias' aim was for the Turks to meet his demands, however, in reality what he wanted was the liberation of the Peloponnese from the Turks.
Meanwhile, the renowned klepht captain, Androutsos – father of Odysseas Androutsos – was expelled by the Turks from his base in Aegina and escaped on the ship of Lambros Katsonis, an equally renowned pirate captain. They landed in Mani, where they were greeted by Zacharias and a young Theodoros Kolokotronis – a future Greek hero – and took him to his base.
Read more about this topic: Zacharias Barbitsiotis
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