Georgios Karaiskakis
| Georgios Karaiskos Γεώργιος Καραΐσκος |
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Georgios Karaiskakis; lithography by Karl Krazeisen.
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| Nickname(s) | The Nun's Son |
| Born |
January 23, 1780 Skoulikaria, Arta or Mavrommati, Karditsa, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | April 23, 1827 (aged 47) Faliro, Attica, First Hellenic Republic |
| Allegiance |
 Greece |
| Years of service | 1796–1827 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Commands held | Commander of the Army in Central Greece |
| Battles/wars | Greek War of Independence |
Georgios Karaiskakis (Greek: Γεώργιος Καραϊσκάκης), born Georgios Karaiskos (Greek: Γεώργιος Καραΐσκος) (January 23, 1780 or January 23, 1782 – April 23, 1827), was a famous Greek klepht, armatolos, military commander, and a hero of the Greek War of Independence.
Karaiskakis was born 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 (from Arta, Greece, who was also the niece of a local Monastery Abbot) and cousin of Gogos Bakolas, captain of the armatoliki of Radovitsi. He was of Sarakatsani descent.
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.
During the early stages of the war, Karaiskakis served in the militia in the Morea (Peloponnese), where he participated in the intrigues that divided the Greek leadership. Nonetheless, he recognized the necessity of providing Greece with a stable government and was a supporter of Ioannis Kapodistrias who would later become Greece's first head of state.
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