Pavlos Melas (Greek: Παύλος Μελάς) (March 29, 1870–October 13, 1904) was an officer of the Hellenic Army, and he was among the first who organized and participated in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia.

He was born in Marseilles, France in a family with origin from Northern Epirus. At an early age he moved to Athens to study, and later joined the Army, graduating from the Hellenic Army Academy as a Lieutenant of Artillery in 1891.

Melas, with the cooperation of Kastorian Ion Dragoumis, consul of Greece in then Ottoman occupied Monastir (now Bitola), Christos Kottas,(Greek Macedonian renegade from VMRO) and Germanos Karavangelis, metropolitan bishop of Kastoria, tried to raise money for the economic support of Greek efforts in Macedonia. But after the rise of Bulgarian efforts of the VMRO, and especially after the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie uprising, he decided to enter Macedonia in June, 1904 to assess the situation and to see if there is any possibility of establishing a military unit to fight the Bulgarians (VMRO) and the Ottoman Turks.

In July, 1904 under the alias Captain Mikis Zezas, he reentered Macedonia with a small unit of men and fought against the Bulgarian units of VMRO until October 13, 1904 when he was killed after being surrounded by Turks in the village of Statitsa. The village with coordinates 40° 42' N 021° 16' E has since been renamed Melas in his honour.

After his death, Greek efforts became more intense, resulting to the liberation of Thessaloniki, capital city of Macedonia, in 1912. The fight for freedom, the liberation of Macedonia and the unification with the rest free Greece inspired Hellenism.

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