Odysseas Androutsos was a hero of the Greek War of Independence.
Background
He was born in Ithaca in 1788. However, his family was from the village of Livanates in Phthiotis prefecture. His father was Andreas Androutsos, a klepht and his mother was from Preveza.
After losing his father, Androutsos joined the Turkish army of Ali Pasha and became an officer
However, in 1818 he joined the Friendly Society (Filiki Eteria) which was planning the liberation of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.
Career
In May 1821, Omer Vryonis, the commander of the Ottoman army, advanced with 8,000 men, after crushing the resistance of the Greeks at the river of Alamana and putting Athanasios Diakos to death, headed south into the Peloponnese to crush the Greek uprising. In 1821 Odysseus Androutsos took after a year of siege the fortress of Acropolis. To ensure the occupation he shut the source of the water clock, which had just being rediscovered by chance, to built inside the ramparts to fortify the north-western coast.
Battle of Gravia
Odysseas Androutsos with a band of 100 or so men took up a defensive position at an inn near Gravia, supported by Panourgias and Diovouniotis and their mentor
Vrioni (Vryonis) attacked the inn but was repulsed with heavy casualties (over 400 dead). Finally, he was forced to ask for reinforcements and artillery but the Greeks managed to slip out before the reinforcements arrived.
Androutsos lost two men in the battle and earned the title of Commander in Chief of the Greek forces in Roumeli. Androutsos" glory did not last lougitude
Finally, in 1825, the revolutionary government placed him under arrest in a cave at the Acropolis of Athens.
The new commander, Yannis Gouras, who once was Androutsos" second in command, had him executed on June 5, 1825. Androutsos" sister Tersitsa married Edward John Trelawny, who commanded Androutsos" forces in his absence.