Early Life
Karaiskakis was born either in a monastery near the village of Mavrommati (Greek: Μαυρομμάτι), in the Agrafa mountains (located in what is now the Karditsa regional unit, Thessaly) or in a monastery near the village of Skoulikaria (Greek: Σκουληκαριά) close to Arta. His father was the armatolos of the Valtos district, Dimitris Iskos or Karaiskos, his mother Zoe Dimiski, a nun from Arta and cousin of Gogos Bakolas, captain of the armatoliki of Radovitsi. He was of Sarakatsani decent. He was known also as “The Nun’s Son”.
At a very early age he became a klepht in the service of Katsantonis, a famous local Agrafiote brigand captain. He excelled as a klepht - agile, cunning, brave and reckless - and rose quickly through the ranks, eventually becoming a protopalikaro, or lieutenant.
At the age of fifteen he was captured by the troops of Ali Pasha and imprisoned at Ioannina. Ali Pasha, impressed by Karaiskakis’s courage and intelligence, and sensing his worth as a fighter, released him from prison and put him in the care of his personal bodyguards. He served as a bodyguard to Ali Pasha for a few years before losing favour with the Ottoman warlord and fleeing into the mountains to continue life as a klepht.
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