As in any country, so in Greece, the existence of the Magical Community is a fact.
In the Greek area, the existence of magic has been recorded since ancient times, with a rich history.
Although, many of the witches and wizards had passed in mythology as common myths and legends.
The first and main figure is Hekate.
Goddess of magic and mother of the most famous witches of ancient Greek mythology, Circe and Medea.
Magic in ancient Greece was quite widespread and directly connected to the ancient gods. Many ancient Greeks were born with magical abilities. This led many to turn to people associated with magic or divinators for their education. In ancient times, there was no state to establish a school or educational institution, as each region had its own City-State. Only if there was no one with magical blood and knowledge of magic did they move to other regions for their training.
The ancient times were peaceful years.
The wizards were embraced and respected.
Often, they worked as advisors for kings, or commanders of armies.
Or they were following the faith of the Gods and becoming their emissaries.
Later, during the years of the Roman Empire 1st - 4th c. AD, but mainly, in the years of the Byzantine Empire 4th - 15th century. AD, the wizards and witches, as well as those who had a direct relationship with them, were prosecuted. Witchcraft was now considered satanic and anti-Christian. The prosecution led to mass killings, which led the wizards to go into hiding or declare a false faith in Christianity. Especially with the Crusades campaign, many were martyred because they refused to embrace a new religion that their leaders imposed on them. Of course, there were many who converted to Christianity to save their lives but continued to use magic in secret.
The Byzantine Empire was succeeded by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th - 19th centuries. A.D..
At that time, the measures became even more draconian.
The Ottomans tried to impose Islam. Christians were cast out just like the wizards.
They turned either to other countries or to embrace Islam and secretly continue to believe in Christianity, the so-called crypto-Christians.
Wizards were even more difficult to hide, so they converted to Islam and at the same time practiced magic secretly and at great risk. Many, in order to save themselves or have a better fortune, did business with the Ottomans and helped them by using magic.
Immediately after the revolution of 1821 against the Turks, Greece was liberated after four centuries. Ioannis Kapodistrias, prime minister of Greece, brought a new order of things. Greece was officially a state and consisted of Peloponnese, Central Greece, Attica, Cyclades, and Sporades. He founded schools and orphanages, as well as did many projects, which so far were new for Greece. The magical community slowly began to regroup. Thus, it was decided, since there was a single state, to create a management group.
In 1833, Greece acquired a monarchy and is now called Kingdom of Greece, with Otto as king.
Then, the capital of the state also changes. From Nafplio, it is moved to Athens.
Three years later, in 1836, a wizarding committee consisting of 15 people had been established.
There were 15 people from every corner of the then united Greece, and they represented the magical communities of each region.
Thus, in 1836, the Delegation of the Magical Community of Greece was officially founded.
In this way, it was recorded how many people there were in each region of said united Greece, who have magical blood.
The administration of the community began secretly with Chiron Damalas as president.
In the same year, the need for a stable and secret place for correct and universal education was also recognized.
In the next two years, with many difficulties, he succeeded and created the first school of magic in Greece.
The school was named "Hecateios Academy" in honor of the mother of magic, Hecate.
The Academy was founded by Glavka Adamakis, specialist in spells, Ippeas Zeritis specialist in transfiguration, and Ofis Venetoulias specialist in making potions.
Educators in their then own areas and committee members.
To do this took months of study, finding space, constructing a building, writing books, listing courses to be taught, hiring staff as well as hiding the school from non-wizards.
Finally, the opening of the school was delayed due to secrecy difficulties with the government at the time, but also due to financial problems.
The school fortunately opened its doors in 1840.
The location was Mount Ossa, or Kissavos, in Thessaly.
The building was outside united Greece, and this was the difficult part of reconstruction, financing, and secrecy.
During the following years, in 1843, there was great disturbance in the Greek area, and great dissatisfaction towards the person of King Otto.
The people rose up and demanded a constitution.
Otto was forced to accept, and after 19 years, in 1862, due to a violation of the constitution, he was expelled by the Greek people.
So in 1864, a new king, George I, second son of the Danish king, Christian, was sent to Greece.
Then, England granted the Ionian Islands to Greece as a gift for the new king.
In this way, the territory grew, and 17 years later, Thessaly and the region of Arta were united with the Treaty of Berlin.
Together with the new king, the constitution was renewed, and Charilaos Trikoupis was declared the new prime minister.
With the union of the Ionian Islands, even more students arrived at the Hekateion Academy.
Until now, the islands did not have easy access to mainland Greece, but with the union, the situation changed.
As the administration of the country constantly changed, the need arose for greater control and better management of the Magical Community.
After all, there were not a few accidents or targeted attacks by wizards.
Many wizards, being for many years under oppression and ostracism, stopped hiding their magic, as a result of which there began to be debates and disturbances in various regions or smaller societies.
This resulted in the creation of a stable space and a corresponding government.
The 15 members of the Delegation of the Magical Community of Greece, after continuous assemblies and elections, ended up creating a ministry.
In fact, with the inclusion of the Ionian Islands, new people entered the Delegation and expressed their own ideas, since under English rule, they had knowledge of the corresponding English Ministry of Magic.
In 1900, now in Athens, the official Greek Ministry of Magic was established.
Agos Christoforidis will be appointed minister.
The next step was the creation of councils for each prefecture, where they would be accountable to the ministry.
That way, there would be control and would limit random displays of magic in the world.
Ministry for Magic building became an abandoned neoclassical, former public building in the center of Athens.
Based at Aiolou and Adrianou in Monastiraki, it officially opened its doors in 1902.
Later, in 1912 and 1913, the Balkan Wars began.
Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro allied against Turkey.
This resulted in King George occupying Epirus and part of Macedonia and the North Aegean islands.
He was then assassinated and succeeded by his son Constantine I.
The first Balkan War was followed by the second, during which Bulgaria attacked Greece due to the distribution of territories.
Finally, Greece prevailed with the Treaty of Bucharest.
The borders officially reached up to the river Nestos, while Crete was also incorporated.
This meant new work for the magical community.
The councils, during the wars, did not stop meeting for the protection of the citizens as well as the new members who constantly entered with the union of the new territories.
Also, there was no lack of controversy within the Ministry of Magic.
All these years, they kept a neutral attitude towards the wars and problems of non-wizards.
But there were many who followed Greek politics and were often fanatical.
One of the Ministers of Magic, in fact,
Thrasyvoulos Kavounis had come out openly that he supported Eleftherios Venizelos.
He almost revealed the existence of the Magical Community to the prime minister at the time.
But his advisers intervened and removed him from office.
Immediately after, the ministry was taken over by Dimitra Typaldou.
In 1914, with Eleftherios Venizelos as prime minister, the First World War broke out.
At the same time, we have the national division between King Constantine I and Venizelos.
Finally, Constantine I was expelled, and Alexander ascended the throne.
Greece was reunited under Venizelos.
The end of the war came with the Treaty of Sèvres 1920.
By which Western and Eastern Thrace, and the islands of Imbros and Tenedos were granted to Greece.
Venizelos retires, and Constantine I returns.
Immediately after, before the Greek area could catch its breath, the Asia Minor Catastrophe broke out, lasting for only 2 years until 1922, and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey followed.
In the midst of all these events, the Magical Community worked feverishly to integrate the refugees and to reassure the populace.
So far, the Hekatios Academy has been working normally without disturbances.
But the Ministry was already on edge.
The finances were out of control. They asked for help from the English Ministry of Magic, which they received, and thus, they were able to support the system.
Along with the wars in Eastern Europe,
in Central and Northwestern Europe, another kind of war was being waged.
Rumors about the activities of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald had also reached Greece.
Since 1910, attacks had begun in Western European countries. Mainly France, Germany, and Austria, but even the United States of America.
Grindelwald's movement reached Greece as well, and many were quick to embrace his ideas for ending secrecy and exposing the Magical World to non-magicians.
Many fled Greece and took refuge in Austria, in which Grindelwald had built his fortress, Nurmengard.
Meanwhile, the Greek Ministry had declared a decree that those who declared their support for Grindelwald would be banished or imprisoned if caught.
In the meantime, after the Asia Minor Disaster, there were internal conflicts in Greece.
Some supporters of Venizelos staged a coup d'état, ousting Constantine I and replacing him with George II.
The coup plotters called for elections.
In 1923, the Liberal party won the parliamentary elections.
The abolition of the monarchy followed, and Pavlos Kountouriotis became president.
Some outbreaks of magic had led the government to inspect illegal activities in some areas in South Greece.
That led the wizards to become cautious again.
In 1926, Grindelwald was arrested by the American Congress but then managed to escape and find refuge in France and, in 1927, took over the French Ministry of Magic.
He was followed by several like-minded Greeks, who tried to infiltrate the Greek space again and start a revolution under the nose of the Ministry of Magic.
Then, in 1925, the leadership in Greece was assumed by Theodoros Pangalos with a new coup, where he was in turn expelled by a new coup plotter, Kondylis.
In 1928, Venizelos was re-elected but did not win the 1932 elections due to the financial crisis that began in 1929.
The unstable political life of Greece did not deter the Magical Community, which had begun to flourish.
There was now a controlled situation.
The Ministry, through donations, managed to create jobs, mint coins, police, helped open shops, and create wizard-only areas hidden in plain sight.
Now, the Ministry has numbered over 2000 workers since the day of establishment, in the central building, and another 4 to 5 thousand throughout the then united Greece.
In 1935, George II returned, and in 1936, the dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas began.
But at the same time, Grindelwald's activity in Europe was getting stronger with the aim of being elected president of the International Confederation of Wizards. Ultimately, he fails and declares open war on the non-wizards.
Despite his defeat, he continued to rise to power throughout Europe in the years that followed, building his own army. Open warfare between him, his followers, and his enemies began at the same time as the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
All those who were secretly trying to recruit more followers of Grindelwald, they started attacking and terrorizing non-wizards, making it hard for the government to ignore those actions.
The Ministry of Magic had to interfere and used memory charms to the people.
That was when the need for the King and the President of the coup, to know the existence of the Magical Community, appeared.
The information was too much to deal with, so the leaders of the state were reassured that the Ministry of Magic had full control, and there was no fear of uprisings or revolutions.
In 1939, the Second World War broke out in Europe.
Initially, Greece remained neutral until 1940.
Italy wanted to invade Greece without resistance.
On October 28, 1940, Ioannis Metaxas responded negatively to Mussolini's ultimatum and declared that Greece was going to war.
The Greco-Italian war took place in the mountains of Albania, from where the Italians attacked, with Greece victorious.
Then Italy's ally Germany declared war on Greece and in April 1941 invaded from the Bulgarian border.
German forces advanced in a flash, and by May, they had occupied all of mainland Greece and Crete.
Thus, for four years, from 1941 to 1944, Greece was under German Occupation.
For the Greek Magical Community, the beginning of the war was not something to worry about.
But when war was declared by Italy, fear spread immediately, especially for those living in northern Greece.
Immediately after the invasion of Germany, difficulties began.
Hekateios Academy was closed for the first time since its foundation.
The whole country was at the mercy of fate, wizards, and non-wizards, and a large population of civilians died due to starvation.
The National Resistance was created against the forces of occupation, where many magicians became members.
Also, many soldiers were those who served but also were called to fight on the fronts and were magicians.
They, as we know from records of the time, used magic to neutralize the enemy, defying secrecy.
On the contrary of the wizards who helped their country, the followers of Grindelwald found the opportunity to make the situation more difficult.
Ministry officials had to deal with the rebels and arrest them for crimes against the law.
The Greek Ministry was once again on the edge.
In 1944, Germany was defeated, and its troops withdrew, leading to liberation.
At the same time, Grindelwald's downfall came after his epic battle with Albus Dumbledore.
Resulting in Grindelwald's permanent imprisonment in Nurmengard, the prison he himself had created for his enemies.
Also, Dumbledore became known throughout Europe for his victory, gaining the respect of the entire Magical Community of Europe, and was declared President of the International Confederation of Wizards.
After the war, the Ministry regained its old power.
Now, having a stable system, the Hellenic Ministry of Magic began the connections, cooperation, and communication with foreign Ministries, and became a member of the International Confederation of Magicians, and signed the Statute of Secrecy.
Immediately after in Greece, George Papandreou, then, formed a government of national unity with members from the exiled Greek government as well as from the local resistance organizations.
With the end of the Second World War, a Civil War begins that will last three years between (1946-1949) and will lead to social and political polarization in the country.
In 1947, Paul I ascended the throne, and the Dodecanese were united with the rest of Greece.
As a social phenomenon, urbanism began to develop especially from the 1950s, i.e., the mass flight of the population from the countryside to the cities and especially to the capital, Athens. At the same time, in the area of the economy, there are rapid steps of economic development
Important figures in Greece at that time were Konstantinos G. Karamanlis and George Papandreou, who both served as prime ministers.
In the midst of all this, the Magical Community regained its former glory.
People were working again, had money, and went out freely, especially in the exclusively magical streets that were buzzing with life. These roads were created after the population moved from the countryside to the big cities.
The Hekate Academy was opened, and life went on normally again.
Major modernizations were made in the legislation, economy, education, and general promotion of life in the Magical Community.
The Ministry was in constant communication with the countries abroad, where many wizards had taken refuge during the wars.
Also, it had now become important to inform the respective leader of the country and the King about the existence of the Magical Community, with the aim of their smooth cooperation.
In 1964, Constantine II became king, and in 1967, the country's democratic government was overthrown in a coup, and for seven years, a military junta, initially under Colonel George Papadopoulos, took power.
In 1973 and 1974, the Polytechnic revolt and the Turkish invasion of Cyprus took place, events that signal the collapse of the regime and the full restoration of social freedom.
During the junta period, things were just as difficult for the Magical Community.
Gatherings were more difficult and transportation, especially at night.
Fortunately for the Hekatios Academy, there were no operational problems.
Unfortunately, many were wrongly caught by the regime, exiled, tortured, and killed under false accusations of being communists.
Parallel to the events in Greece, in England, the Wizarding Community was in the first Wizarding War. The period of 1970 to 1980 was dominated by the darkest wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort. It caused great turmoil, fear, and panic in both the Wizarding and non-Magical communities of England. He had mostly pureblood wizards on his side, as well as dark creatures such as werewolves, vampires, and giants. His aim was to dominate the entire English Magical Community at first and spread to Europe later. His followers believed in the same values as he did, that magic should only be reserved for the purebloods, and that non-magicians are inferior.
Lord Voldemort was supposedly the darkest of wizards in the Wizarding History.
It seemed he was trying to continue Grindelwald's vision at first.
Many wizards from Greece hurried to join him, as they believed in the cause.
In Greece, it wasn't really spread, but there were some parties that formed in secret, given the fact the country was under the military junta, and they wanted to start a revolution.
After the fall of the junta in 1974, things changed. Greece breathed the air of freedom again.
In the following years, Greece gained political stability, and in 1981, it became a member of the European Economic Community, which greatly strengthened the country's position, politically and economically, in the international arena.
At the English Wizarding Community, in 1981, Voldemort was defeated in an attempt to annihilate the Potter family's son, Harry, while he was a baby. Thus, Harry was named the Boy Who Lived, after surviving from the killing curse.
Those who supported the Dark Lord fled back to the country, and all the secret organizations froze, stopping their action.
In the periods 1981-1989, 1993-1996, the prime minister in Greece was Andreas Papandreou, and Konstantinos Mitsotakis in 1990-1993.
Both great politicians, with much power.
In mid-1995, Lord Voldemort returns and begins to rebuild his army, starting the second Wizarding War.
By 1997, he had fully recovered to the power he possessed in the first Wizarding War.
Following the same course of action and ideology, he became master of the English Magical Community.
He finally breathed his last at the great battle of Hogwarts in May 1998, at the hand of Harry Potter,
thus marking the end of the war.
The Hellenic Magical Community sent help as much as it could during those years, as well as receiving several wizards who sought refuge.
Meanwhile, the Greek Ministry persecuted those who stood by Voldemort's side and imprisoned them.
In 2001, Greece became a member of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and in 2002 adopted the common European currency, the Euro.
This did not deter the Magical Community, which retained the Drachma as currency and already had its own bank.
Later, from 2009 until 2018, Greece fell into an economic crisis due to public debt.
For several years, the country was under harsh austerity measures.
Eventually, 50% of the debt is written off.
The world was in a state of impoverishment, and expensiveness was red-hot.
This did not leave the Magical Community unaffected either, where spending had decreased and taxation had increased as well.
From 2014 onwards, there has been a recovery and rise in revenue.
However, expensiveness does not cease to exist, reduced compared to previous years but constantly present, and fluctuates over the years.
Prime Ministers were:
Kostas Karamanlis (2004-2009)
George Papandreou (2009-2011)
Loukas Papademos (2011-2012)
Panagiotis Pikrammenos (2012)
Antonis Samaras (2012-2015)
Vasiliki Thanos (2015)
Alexis Tsipras (2015-2019)
Kyriakos Mitsotakis (2019-2023)
Ioannis Sharmas (2023)
Kyriakos Mitsotakis (2023)
The respective Ministers of Magic were:
Tryfon Skafidas (1970-1976)
George Alafouzos (1976-1980)
Ioanna Alexandropoulou (1980-1986)
Panteleimon Naxakis (1986-1991)
Akindynos Katsoulakos (1991-1993)
Diamantis Diamantopoulos (1993-1996)
Vasiliki Karamanou (1996-2000)
Alexandros Andriotis (2000-2004)
Philip Axiotis (2004-2009)
Charalambos Demertzis (2009-2015)
Triton Ioakeimidis (2015-2020)
Akrivi Haniotaki (2020- )
Today, therefore, we are in a new era.
Technology has invaded everyone's lives even in the Magical Community.
The early years of the technological boom were very positive and helpful.
But now it has passed into the realm of the uncontrollable.
Young people nowadays are influenced from a young age, which creates many problems in control and secrecy.
The Greek magical community immediately adopted technology into their lives along with the technological development in the rest of Greece.
Electricity is used on a daily basis for electrification, domestic, and work use.
Everything works just like in the non-magical world, with only minor differences.
There are home telephones and electrical household appliances.
However, mobile phones and above all the use of social media and any form of internet are strictly prohibited.
This started in the last 6 years, in which social media is very easy to betray secrecy.
Children of magical families learn from an early age about secrecy.
But when it comes to non-wizard children, there is a committee responsible for informing these families.