Военное училище эвэлпидов
Zafeiriou was born in Corinth in 1871. After studies in the Hellenic Military Academy, he was commissioned as an Artillery 2nd Lieutenant in 1894. He fought in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. At the outbreak of the First Balkan War he served in the staff of the Army of Epirus and later the 8th Infantry Division which was formed of it. After the Balkan Wars he attended the École Militaire in Paris.