Odysseas Androutsos

Odysseas Androutsos (; 1788-1790 – 1825; born Odysseas Verousis ) was a Greek armatolos in eastern continental Greece and a prominent figure of the Greek War of Independence.

Born in Ithaca, the son of an Arvanite klepht and privateer from Roumeli and a Greek mother from a family of ''notables'' from Preveza in the Ionian islands. He joined the court of his father's old friend, the Ottoman Albanian ruler Ali Pasha of the increasingly independent Pashalik of Yanina, became one of his commanders and was appointed armatolos of Livadeia in 1816. In 1818 or 1820 he became a member of the Greek revolutionary organization Filiki Eteria.

When Ali Pasha rebelled against the Sultan, Androutsos initially supported Ali, but he abandoned besieged Yannina for the Ionian islands in October 1820. He joined the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and he was distinguished as a commander in the Battle of Gravia Inn in May 1821. As a result of the battle, he was appointed military commander of eastern mainland Greece by the Greek revolutionary government. Androutos was twice accused by the Greek revolutionary government of treachery owing to his negotiating initiative with his Albanian enemies as a means of effective distraction when he could not repel them. In 1824 Androutsos did not take sides in the Greek civil war. After falling out with the rebels in 1825, he asked for and received amnesty from the Imperial court, switching allegiances permanently and joining the army of the Ottoman Albanian ruler Omer Vrioni, pasha of Ioannina. In a battle near Livadeia, he was captured by the units of the revolutionary army and executed a few days later.

Scholars have variously described him as a hero or a traitor to the Greek cause in the Greek War of Independence. In Greece he is today considered one of the most prominent heroes of the Greek War of Independence. Provided by Wikipedia