Ottoman invasion of Mani (1770)

The failed Orlov Revolt of 1770 was a disaster for Mani. The Maniots were bottled up inside Mani and were forced to pay a tribute of 1,500 groschen to the Ottomans. The Ottomans also appointed a Maniot bey to govern the Maniots. The Ottomans sent parties of Muslim Albanians troops to raid Mani. The Maniots still caused some trouble for the Ottomans with their ships. The Ottoman pasha of the Peloponnese, Hatzi Osman, thought it was his chance to take over Mani once and for all and to impress the sultan. He gathered a large and seasoned group of Muslim Albanians soldiers to accompany him in his invasion of Mani. When the Maniots heard of the Ottoman preparations they gathered their army under the command of Éxarchos Grigorakis and his nephew Tzanetos Grigorakis who were from the powerful clan of Ayeranos and Skoutari in the mountains above Parasyros and waited for the Ottomans to arrive. ==Invasion==

The Ottomans then headed to Skoutari only to find it abandoned except for the Grigorakos' tower in the centre of the town which was garrisoned by fifteen men under the command of Yanis Katsanos. The Ottomans laid siege to the tower, but were repulsed for the first three days by the small force. On the third night Hasan Ghazi, frustrated by not having captured the tower, had it undermined. Once the mine was completed, he loaded it with gunpowder, which he ignited, killing all the men in the tower. The Ottoman army then proceeded to the plain between Parasyros and Skoutari which was called 'Agio Pigada' which means 'Holy Wells' because of the monastery on the hill above the plain being surrounded by wells. The Maniot army advance to Parasyros and sent three brothers as envoys to Hasan Ghazi. They demanded that Hasan Ghazi and his men retreat or they would face to fight the Maniot army. Seeing that his army outnumbered than the Maniot army, he responded by beheading the Maniots' envoys and sending their heads to the Maniots on silver plates. The infuriated Maniot army charged down the hill, and before the Ottomans had a chance to prepare, the Maniots were upon them. The battle ended in a rout with the Ottoman army suffering heavy casualties. The rest of the Ottoman army retreated. The Maniots had nowhere to bury so many corpses, so they threw them down wells. The plain later got the name 'Vromopigada,' which means 'Dirty Wells'. ==Aftermath==

The Ottomans then tried to destroy Zanetos in 1803 and 1807. The Ottomans tried to subdue Mani again in 1815 by capturing Skoutari but the men of Skoutari beat back the attack and in 1821 the rest of Greece declared their independence from the Ottomans. ==Notes==