Tzanetos Grigorakis

[2] Grigorakis was born in 1742 at Skoutari of Gytheio, Laconia, and was a member of a famous Maniot family, Grigorakides, which was a leading local warrior clan.

Tzanetos was the father of Pierros (Πιέρρος, Peter) and Tzortzis (Τζωρτζής, George), or Tzortzakis Grigorakis, who later became the ancestor of the Tzortzakides branch.

Later, in Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774, he appeared in the Ionian Islands, together with Anagnostaras and Christoforos Perraivos, to serve with the rank of major in the Imperial Russian Army forces under the commands of the Greek-Russian general Emmanouil Papadopoulos.

To get revenge, he gathered about 3,000 Maniots, campaigning against the Ottomans in the castle of Passavas, and captured and slaughtered the 700 families living in and around of it- men, women, children, no one was left.

[7][8] The refusal of support and assistance to the Kastanian chiefs[note 2] in 1780, objectively served the plans of Kapudan Pasha Hassan, so the Ottoman military leader did not forget it and, in 1782, Tzanetos Grigorakis became the Bey of Mani.

[12] The Russo-Turkish War termination treaty took place in 1792, but Lambros Katsonis refused to abide by the agreement while hosted in Mani to Achileion, so the Ottomans asked Grigorakis to chase him and arrest him.

[11] Grigorakis alerted Katsonis to leave and hid his officers and sailors in the villages of Mani, so the Ottomans captured 11 empty ships.

Grigorakis convened a war council, were Demetrio also participated, and decided to resist with a direct counterattack from many points with small army units.

The Ottoman troops in the area were numerous and the local Capetaneoi preferred not to take the risk to attack Antonbey, so Tzanetos fled to Zakynthos to retaliate later.