He is a descendant of a well-known family from Epirus. His family moved to Athens. Melas, raised with the dream of a free Northern Greece, had no choice but to become an officer. He studied at the Evelpidon School and graduated with the rank of artillery lieutenant (1891). He was an active member of the National Society and took part in the unfortunate war of 1897, was commander of a squad of field artillery and a comrade-in-arms of Prince Nicholas and Lieutenant Colonel N. Zorbas

Already the struggle for victory in Macedonia had begun, Melas would be one of the first officers officially sent by Greece to Macedonia to organise resistance revolutionary groups against the Pan-Slavist aspirations of the Bulgarians and other Balkan suitors. Melas was given the nickname Captain Mikis Zezas and his sector was Western Macedonia, the area of Korestia, Kastoria, Vitsi, Prespes.

In 1891 he had married Natalia Dragoumi, sister of Ion and daughter of the venerable Stefanos Dragoumi, a Macedonian patriot. Alongside and within the Dragoumis family, Paul became an active member of the Macedonian Comitatus. His son-in-law, Ionas Dragoumis (Tekton also) was appointed to the Consulate of Monastirio and thus informed him first-hand of the activities of the Bulgarian Komitajids. Melas lived in a climate of patriotic fervour for national rights in Macedonia.

In July 1904, while he was serving at the Evelpidon School, he took a 20-day leave of absence and left for Macedonia. He comes into consultation with other fighters (Pyrzas, P. Kyros, Consul L. Koromilas) and they decide definitively to form war liberation groups as soon as possible. He returns to Athens and receives a 4-month leave and sets out on his last fatal excursion. He is accompanied by Cretans and Macedonians a group of 35 men. The arrival of Melas in Macedonia is made known by the Bulgarians and the chief architect Mitros Vlachos, betrays his position (Siatista), to the Turks.

This is how the first Macedonian hero was trapped and killed. Germanos Karavangelis, Metropolitan of Kastoria and a great fighter, officiated and buried his body in the Byzantine church of Taxiarches in Kastoria, where his wife Natalia was later buried next to him. Melas’ death shocked public opinion. Pavlos Melas became a myth and legend in the minds of the Greeks. He became poetry, a novel, a painting, a symbol of the noble struggle. The book by Natalia Melas entitled “Pavlos Melas” includes their correspondence and many biographical and biographical details of his short life.