a learned society with a particular interest in antiquities. Pittakis is said to have met and befriended Lord Byron during the latter's visits to Athens in 1809–1810. Teresa Makri, the sister of Pittakis' wife Aiketerini, is generally considered the inspiration for the 'Maid of Athens' of Byron's 1811 poem. Greek War of Independence After growing tensions and preparations throughout the early months of 1821, the Greek War of Independence began in March 1821. When rebel villagers from Attica entered the city on behalf of the revolutionaries in April, the Turkish garrison retreated to the Acropolis. Ottoman forces briefly recaptured the city in July, but largely departed in August, leaving only a small force behind, whereupon the population rebelled again, forcing the Turks back to the Acropolis and beginning the First Siege of the Acropolis, which would continue until 10 June. Pittakis was a member of the Filiki Eteria (), a nationalist secret society formed to oppose Ottoman rule in Greece. He was present in Athens during 1821–1822, and a member of the irregular Greek force that besieged and eventually retook the Acropolis. He may have witnessed, or participated in, the massacre of several hundred Turkish prisoners from the siege in June 1822: his mentor Fauvel, the French vice-consul, sheltered some of the survivors in his home until the arrival of two French warships allowed their evacuation. He later claimed credit for the 1821 rediscovery of the klepsydra, an ancient spring on the Acropolis, which ensured a fresh water supply to the Greek forces who occupied the site between 1822 and 1827. However, the discovery was also claimed by the Greek military leader Odysseas Androutsos and by the Swiss scholar Felix Stähelin, and is likely to have originally been accidental. During his service in 1822, he acquired the manuscript of the Chronicle of Anthimos, a history of Athens written by Ioannis Venizelos, which Pittakis would eventually publish in 1853. He also spent time on the islands of Aegina and Salamis during 1821–1822, where he recorded several inscriptions that had been moved there from Athens on account of the fighting. For his service in the War of Independence, he was later awarded a 'certificate of patriotism' by the Athenian city government. His brother was killed and buried on the Acropolis during the war, either during the first siege or the second, which took place in 1826–1827. During and after the war, Pittakis