Leontari, a historic chief village of the province of Megalopolis, occupies a strategic position at the foothills of Mount Taygetos. It is built on the site of ancient Leuktra and, according to tradition, its name derives either from a Byzantine nobleman named Leontarios (or Leontaris), who settled in the area between 1081 and 1118, or from the form of the Byzantine castle which, from a distance, resembled a seated lion. Its location made it an important administrative and commercial centre already from the period of Frankish rule. The area formed part of the Frankish Barony of Veligosti, one of the most significant in the Morea. During the Second Ottoman Period, Leontari once again emerged as an important administrative centre of the Peloponnese due to the settlement of Ottoman officials and the development of a strong Ottoman presence, which remained influential for several decades until Tripolitsa rose as the new administrative and military centre of the region. As the seat of Ottoman administration, Leontari became a site of imprisonment, torture and executions. According to local tradition, after the Orlov Revolt (1770), Turco‑Albanians impaled Christians in the nearby area known as “Paloukorachi.” The Christian inhabitants of Leontari were primarily engaged in trade and also acted as informal “bankers,” lending money with interest. The weekly market functioned as a hub of commercial exchange for the wider region. Most landowners were Ottomans. The surrounding area was active in klepht resistance, with notable figures such as Zacharias Barbitsiotes, Stamatelos Tourkolekas, Anagnostaras, Nikitaras and, of course, Theodoros Kolokotronis. At the outbreak of the Greek Revolution, Leontari played a decisive role, becoming the third provincial capital to be liberated—after Kalamata and Kalavryta—and serving as a base of operations for the fighters. Several members of the Filiki Etaireia originated from Leontari, including Prokopis Papadopoulos, Georgis Dimitrakopoulos, Theodoros Kartsonas, Theodoros N. Leontaritis and Ioannis Th. Leontaritis. A notable female figure of the War for Independence, Konstantina Zacharia, also came from Leontari.