Skoufas was born in 1779 in
Kompoti, near
Arta. His father's surname was "Koumparos". He worked at various times as an
apothecary, a commercial secretary and a
hatter (from which he took the name Skoufas). Skoufas left as a merchant for the
Russian Empire for business purposes. While there, he became acquainted with
Athanasios Tsakalov and
Emmanuil Xanthos. The three men came up with the idea of founding a secret organisation to prepare the ground for Greek independence. So, the
Filiki Eteria was founded in 1814 in
Odessa. Skoufas dedicated the rest of his life to the cause. For this purpose he went to
Moscow but his ideas did not meet with the approval of many people of the local Greek community. In 1818, the three partners moved to
Constantinople to further their cause, but in July of that same year Skoufas fell ill and died. == References ==