List of massacres in Greece

The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in Greece.

Ancient Greece

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Massacre of Argos	494 BC	Argos	6,000	Sparta	Argive survivors of the defeat at Sepeia burned alive in the sacred grove of Argos
Olynthus Massacre	479 BC	Olynthus	All inhabitants killed	Persian Empire
Drabeskos massacre	465 BC	Draviskos	Athenian colonists	Thracians	Athenian colonists slain by Thracians. [1]
Massacre of Plataea	431 BC	Plataea	180	Plataea	180 Theban POWs executed
Fall of Plataea	427 BC	Plataea	200	Sparta	200 Plataean and Athenian POWs executed
First massacre of Corcyran oligarchs	427 BC	Corcyra	Unknown	Corcyran popular party	Corcyran oligarchs executed by the popular party
Mytilenean revolt	427 BC	Mytilene	1,000	Athens	Ringleaders of the rebellion executed
Helot Massacre	425 BC	Peloponnese	2,000	Sparta	2,000 Helot slaves executed by Sparta
Second massacre of Corcyran oligarchs	425 BC	Corcyra	Unknown	Corcyran popular party	Corcyran oligarchs executed by the popular party
Destruction of Scione	421 BC	Scione	All of Scione's men killed	Athens	Men killed, women and children enslaved
Massacre of Hysiae	417 BC	Hysiae	All male citizens of Hysiae killed	Sparta
Destruction of Melos	416 BC	Milos	All Melian men killed	Athens	Women and children enslaved.
Massacre of Mycalessus	413 BC	Mycalessus	All inhabitants of Mycalessus killed	Thracian mercenaries of Athens
Corcyra Massacre	361 BC	Corcyra	Unknown	Athens	Many Corcyrans killed
Battle of Thebes	December 335 BC	Thebes	6,000	Macedonian Army	The city was completely destroyed and 30,000 were enslaved
Argos Massacre	315 BC	Argos	500	Macedonian Army	500 Argive senators burned alive
Orchomenus Massacre	313 BC	Orchomenus	Unknown	Oligarchs supported by Macedon
Messene Massacre	213 BC	Messene	200	Demagogues supported by Macedon	200 magistrates and their supporters killed
Maroneia Massacre	184 BC	Maroneia	Unknown	Macedonian Army	Many Maronites killed
Aetolian massacre	167 BC	Aetolia	550	Roman Army	550 Aetolian leaders killed by Roman soldiers.
Destruction of Corinth	146 BC	Corinth	All Corinthian men killed	Roman Army	Complete destruction of the city. Population partly massacred, partly enslaved.
Asiatic Vespers	88 BC	Asia (Roman province)	80,000–150,000	Kingdom of Pontus led by Mithridates VI	Romans and Italians killed. Served as a casus belli for the First Mithridatic War.
Sack of Athens	86 BC	Athens	Unknown	Roman Army	Population partly massacred and large parts of the city burned down.

Roman or Byzantine Empire

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Massacre of Thessalonica	April 390	Thessalonica	7,000	Late Roman army	After orders of Emperor Theodosius I
N/A	1171	Constantinople, Genoese quarter	Unknown	Venetians	Genoese victims. This was not the first time Venetian merchants had gotten out of hand. Given much freedom and power in their trade with the Empire, they had misused this freedom. In response, Emperor Manuel I cracked down on the Venetian merchants and this led to the Byzantine-Venetian war.
Massacre of the Latins	April 1182	Constantinople	Unknown	Usurper Andronikos Komnenos and a mob of his Greek, Eastern Christian supporters	Massacre of Latins/Roman Catholics
Sack of Thessalonica (1185)	9–24 August 1185	Thessalonica	7,000	Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily
Sack of Constantinople (1204) Fourth Crusade	1204	Constantinople	Unknown	Catholics/Crusaders	Orthodox Christians, Constantinopolitans
Venetian-Genoese War	1296	Constantinople	Unknown	Genoese	Venetian civilian victims

Ottoman Greece

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Ottoman conquest of Lesbos	15 September 1461	Lesbos	300	Ottoman Army	300 Italian soldiers massacred by Ottoman Army under Mehmed II.
Peloponnese massacres	March 1770	Peloponnese, mainly Tripolitsa	3,000-10,000 (plus 20,000 refugees)	Albanian irregulars	After the failure of Orlov Revolt.
Preveza massacre	October 1798	Preveza	Unknown	Albanian Muslims	Complete destruction, devastation of the city. The biographer of Ali Pasha, Spyros Aravantinos, states that before the massacre, the population of Preveza was 16,000, while according to the traveler Henry Holland who visited the town in 1812 – fourteen years after the event – there were only 4,000 souls. [2]

Greek War of Independence (1821–1832)

Further information: Massacres during the Greek Revolution

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Constantinople massacre	April–July 1821	Occurred in Constantinople, but contemporary pogrom activities spread in parts of present-day Greece (Kos, Rhodes) [3]	unknown	Ottoman government
Navarino massacre	19 August 1821	Pylos	3,000	Greek irregular forces
Massacre of Samothrace	1 September 1821	Samothrace	1,000 [4]	Ottoman army	Complete destruction, devastation of the island.
Tripolitsa massacre	23 September 1821	Tripolis	6,000-15,000	Greek irregular forces
Chios massacre	March 1822	Chios	20,000–52,000	Ottoman government
Naousa massacre	13 April 1822	Naousa	2,000	Ottoman army
Kasos massacre	7 June 1824	Kasos	500	Ottoman-Egyptian army	Some 2000 women and children taken and sold into slavery
Destruction of Psara	July 1824	Psara	7,000	Ottoman army
Third Siege of Messolonghi	April 1826	Messolonghi	8,000	Ottoman/Egyptian army	Messolonghi received the honorary title of Hiera Polis (Sacred City) by the Greek state.

First Balkan War

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Servia massacre	10 October 1912	Servia, Greece	117	Ottoman Army

Second Balkan War

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Doxato Massacre	30 June 1913	Doxato	500 [5]	Turkish irregulars [6] [7]
Kilkis Massacre	4 July 1913	Kilkis	74		[8] [9]

World War II

Name	Date	Location	Deaths	Perpetrators	Notes
Missiria executions	23 and 24 June 1941	Crete	80+	German paratroopers
Massacre of Kondomari	2 June 1941	Crete	60	German paratroopers
Alikianos executions	2 June 1941 and 1 August 1941	Western Crete	180+	German paratroopers
Razing of Kandanos	3 June 1941	Western Crete	180	German Army troops
Doxato massacre	28–29 September 1941	Doxato	200+	Bulgarian Royal Army
Domenikon massacre	16–17 February 1943	Domenikon	150	Italian Royal Army
Feneos executions	March 1943-June 1944	Feneos	no less than 1,071	mainly OPLA	The local monastery functioned as a concentration camp.
Viannos massacres	14–16 September 1943	Viannos and Ierapetra regions	500+	Generalleutnant Friedrich-Wilhelm Müller leading the 65th Regiment of the 22nd Luftlande Infanterie-Division
Massacre of the Acqui Division	21 September 1943	Kefalonia, Greece	5,000	German Army troops	Dramatized in the film Captain Corelli's Mandolin .
Kommeno massacre	16 August 1943	Kommeno	317	German Army troops
Paramythia executions	19–29 September 1943	Paramythia	201	Cham Albanian paramilitary/German Army troops
Lyngiades massacre	3 October 1943	Ligiades	83	German Army troops
Kallikratis executions	8 October 1943	Kallikratis	30+	Jagdkommando Schubert/German Army troops
Massacre of Kalavryta	13 December 1943	Kalavryta	693	German Army troops
Drakeia massacre	18 December 1943	Drakeia, Mount Pelion	115	4th SS Polizei Panzergrenadier Division
5/42 Evzone Regiment dissolution	17 April 1944	Phocis, Central Greece	200+	ELAS troops	Colonel Dimitrios Psarros also executed.
Pyrgoi (formerly Katranitsa) massacre	23 to 24 April 1944	Pyrgoi	327	German Army troops	[10]
Executions of Kaisariani	1 May 1944	Kaisariani	200	German Army troops
Distomo massacre	10 June 1944	Distomo	218	German SS troops
Massacre of Pikermi	21 July 1944	Pikermi	54	German Army troops	54 Greek civilians were executed by the German occupation force in Pikermi, as retaliation for an attack by the resistance group ELAS. [11]
Massacres of Mousiotitsa	25 July 1943	Mousiotitsa	153	German Army troops
Executions of Kokkinia	17 August 1944	Kokkinia	300+	German Army troops/Security Battalions
Skourvoula executions	14 August 1944	Skourvoula, Crete	36+	German Army troops
Holocaust of Kedros	22 August 1944	Amari Valley	164	German Army troops
Malathyros executions	28 August 1944	Malathyros, Crete	61	German Army troops
The Massacre of Chortiatis	2 September 1944	Chortiatis	146	German Army troops	Perpetrated by Friedrich Schubert
Executions of Meligalas	16 September 1944	Meligalas	c.1,000	ELAS troops
Aigaleo massacre	29 September 1944	Aigaleo	65 official number, [12] estimates up to 150 [13]	German Army troops
Executions of ULEN/Peristeri	December 1944 (Dekemvriana)	Athens	3,000+ (unknown exactly)	OPLA, other minor communist groups

References

1. "The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, DRABESKOS (Sdravik) Macedonia, Greece". Perseus Digital Library (in Latin). Retrieved 2024-01-12.
2. Παπασταύρος, Αναστάσιος Ι. (2013). "Ο ΧΑΛΑΣΜΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΕΒΕΖΑΣ" (PDF). Αλή Πασάς – από λήσταρχος ηγεμόνας (in Greek). Apeirotan. p. 106.
3. Clair, William St. (2008). That Greece might still be free (New ed., rev., corr., and with additional ill. and updated bibliography. ed.). Cambridge: Open Book Publ. pp.  4–5. ISBN   9781906924003. massacred+1821+constantinople+greeks.
4. Charles Vellay, L'irrédentisme hellénique, 1913, 329 pages. page 131:
5. Kramer, Alan (2008). Dynamic of Destruction: Culture and Mass Killing in the First World War. OUP Oxford. ISBN   9780191580116.
6. Report of the International Commission to Inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars, published by the Endowment Washington, D.C. 1914, p. 83 "While emphasizing the heavy responsibility which falls on the Bulgarian officers for this catastrophe, we do not hesitate to conclude that the massacre at Doxato was a Turkish and not a Bulgarian atrocity."
7. The Nation and Athenæum. Nation Publishing Company Limited. 1914.
8. "<italic>Report of the International Commission to inquire into the Causes and Conduct of the Balkan Wars</italic>. [Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of Intercourse and Education, Publication No. 4.] (Washington, D. C.: Published by the Endowment. 1914. Pp. 413.)". The American Historical Review. April 1915. doi:10.1086/ahr/20.3.638. ISSN   1937-5239.
9. Hooton, E. R. (2014). Prelude to the First World War: The Balkan Wars 1912-1913. Fonthill Media.
10. Gkaidatzis, Rafail (23 April 2024). "Η Σφαγή των Πύργων: 80 χρόνια από το δεύτερο μεγαλύτερο ολοκαύτωμα των Ναζί στην Ελλάδα". parallaximag.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 13 December 2024.
11. "21 Ιουλίου 1944: H θυσία των "54" στο Πικέρμι". ertnews.gr (in Greek). 21 July 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
12. Δεδούση, Μαρία (2022-09-29). "Σαν σήμερα: 29 Σεπτεμβρίου - Το Ολοκαύτωμα του Αιγάλεω, ακόμη μια ατιμώρητη σφαγή αθώων". CNN.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2022-10-03.
13. "Τα θύματα εκ της βαρβάρου επιδρομής εις το Πυριτιδοποιείον – Οι νεκροί ανέρχονται εις εκατόν πενήντα". efimeris.nlg.gr (in Greek). Retrieved 2022-10-03.