Zacharias Barbitsiotis

[1] Zacharias "Barbitsiotis" Pantelakos was born on 22 October 1759 in the town of Varvitsa, Laconia, though his family originated from Mani.

Zacharias, wanting revenge, went to the town of Loggastra in northern Laconia where he joined a band of klephts under the command of kapetan (chieftain) Mantzaris.

[3] Zacharios' fame grew even more when he defeated the Turks at the Battle of Salesi in Arcadia.

[3] In 1787, Zacharias invited all the chieftains of the bands of klephts in the Peloponnese to a meeting, and they formed a klepht-armatoloi federation.

The reason for this increased interest into Zacharias' capture was because it had been revealed that together with Tzanetos and other prominent Maniots, he had been conspiring with Napoleon Bonaparte, who had sent them French weapons.

[1][3] Seremet, knowing that capturing Zacharias without any casualties was nearly impossible, decided to assassinate him.